If you throw a dog into the wild from an early age, will it "return" to its ancestors and become a wolf?
Let's start with a few pictures.
Isn't it like the "rhubarb" wandering in the fields of our rural China?
In fact, these "rhubarb" are scientifically called "Australian wild dogs", and they have inhabited the Australian wild for generations and belong to a self-reliant "wild animal".
To say that the appearance of this dog is a little different from the familiar "rhubarb", it may be that its two pairs of proud long legs ~ the figure does not have to be deliberately maintained, it is very good....
Self-supporting "Australian rhubarb"
In the vast region of Australia, the "Australian rhubarb" has no natural enemies, almost at the top of the food chain, and even caused australian wild dogs to become infested, which not only has a great impact on the local ecological environment, but also poses a great threat to the lives of locals.
Of course, similar to the situation of hares, which also give Australians a lot of headaches, "rhubarb" is not Australia's own creatures.
According to scientific research, about 8000-5000 years ago, Southeast Asians crossed the equator to the south (at that time Australia and New Guinea still had land connections), moved to some small islands around Australia, and successively entered the Australian mainland.
Along with them " to the south " , there are these "rhubarb" that have been domesticated by humans.
Distribution of dingoes
Seeing the strange animal of the dog, the Aboriginal people of Australia, who have always been conservative and rejected, unexpectedly and quickly accepted this new thing.
However, after the Australian Aborigines obtained these yellow dogs through trade and adoption, they did not use the dogs as a source of animal protein, nor did they use them to hunt and look after the house (probably without any belongings), but simply regarded them as "life partners" and "warm babies" - used to "warm the bed" when sleeping.
On those cold nights, the Australian Aborigines would sleep in the arms of his dogs.
The Australian Aborigines of the late 18th century in the movie "Mary Bryant's Strange Journey" - they rely on "dogs" instead of clothes!
To this day, there is still a proverb in The Australian Aborigines - "Night of Three Dogs", which means that the weather on this day is particularly cold, so cold that you need to hold three dogs to sleep.
However, the population base of The Australian Aborigines has always been small, and the tribe size is small - before the white invasion, they had been in the primitive Paleolithic society, extremely sparsely distributed, forming tribes of hundreds of people, living everywhere on the water and grass.
But the dog's reproductive ability is quite strong. Therefore, gradually, a large number of "ownerless dogs" began to wander in Australia's vast grasslands, deserts and mountain bushes, living a "wild survival" that made a living completely alone, and became a complete "wild dog".
After all, there is no way to choose - stray dogs in other areas live around urban or rural human settlements, and can rummage through garbage every day; while Australian Aborigines have no agriculture at all, there is no sedentary life, and dogs have to return to the wild and become wild animals.
A dingo at Brisbane Zoo. Many Chinese tourists laughed at it - this Tu'ao really has never seen the world, and even raised the Chinese pastoral dog in the zoo
By the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century, when whites colonized Australia on a large scale, this strange "wild dog" was soon discovered.
The livestock kept in captivity by the whites, from time to time, became the meal of the wild dogs, especially their "destructive power" on sheep far exceeded that of other carnivores.
In addition, unlike wolves, Australian rhubarbs have a "wild" in their name, but they are still dogs.
A long-legged Australian rhubarb with melancholy eyes
Earlier, pure carnivorous wolves gained the ability to digest starch in the process of being domesticated into dogs by humans, and gradually evolved into omnivorous animals ~ which also formed the biological basis for dogs and humans to live together - after all, they can eat together to get through one piece.
Therefore, wild dogs, like humans, are omnivorous animals, and people eat them, and they all eat them - so that, rather than other wild animals that have a clear sense of "distance" from humans, dingoes are more willing to approach human settlements, to rummage through the kitchen waste discarded by humans, "by the way" to open the meat, and to "taste" the various fat livestock raised by humans.
For centuries, wild dogs have caused enormous distress to Australian farmers. Historically, Australian farmers have regularly organized groups to hunt wild dogs to artificially limit the number of "Australian rhubarb" to maintain ecological balance.
Australian rhubarb stealing chickens
While physically "eliminating them," they also tried their best to shield these "uninvited guests."
For example, one of the longest constructs in the world is a protective fence spanning more than 8,000 kilometers in southeastern Australia. It was built in the 1920s to isolate dingoes to protect farm animals.
At the same time, some farmers will also choose to engage in some "psychological deterrence", such as hanging the wild dogs that have been killed at the entrance of the village to warn the "Australian rhubarb" who are ready to invade the village in the future....
At this time, where did the "animal protectionists" in the West go?
Of course, in addition to isolation and elimination, there are also some wild rhubarbs that have been adopted by humans since childhood and become truly well-behaved "rhubarb".
Experiments have shown that if the Dingo is artificially bred from the puppy puppy, when they grow up, they do not behave much differently from ordinary dogs (except for a few times, the desire to attack is slightly stronger than that of ordinary dogs), and there is no need for special domestication - as long as you feed on time and touch the hair.
For example, they have a clear response to human commands and gestures, and can show better obedience, unlike wolves, who draw and shout at humans without feeling or complete disregard.
An Australian rhubarb with a "story" in its eyes
In addition, a rare branch of the Dingo , the same rhubarb hair , looks exactly like the New Guinea wild dog of the Chinese pastoral dog , and also comes with an amazing "talent" - melodious singing.
Although the New Guinea wild dog has the appearance of ordinary "rhubarb", its bark is closer to that of a wolf, but it is more melodious and gentle than a wolf howl.
New Guinea wild dogs
Therefore, the New Guinea wild dog is also called the "singing dog".
Its call has been described as "the howl of a wolf with a whale's cry", and it can hear a trace of lingering and mourning, and it is extremely penetrating. Especially when a group of New Guinean singing dogs get together, they will always howl "organized" in different tones, and it will bark for several minutes, sounding like a choir performing, called "the god of dogs".
Of course, there are also those who have been excavated by humans and engaged in "solo singing".
However, whether it is a wild dog on the Australian mainland or a new Guinea singing dog, even if their appearance is still the "rhubarb" appearance of the old ancestors, but in terms of physical function, in order to adapt to the wild environment, it has made many changes in the long years.
For example, their joints and spine are very elastic, like cats, good at digging, climbing and jumping, more athletic than ordinary domestic dogs, showing the nature of wild "predators".
A collective action
But after all, the dingo, it is still not a wolf, and can even be regarded as a semi-wild animal, a semi-domesticated animal. Therefore, it is no problem for us to call it "Australian rhubarb"...
Because it evolved very strong starch digestion in its early days, the dog has been genetically distinguished from its old ancestor wolf, which also constitutes a powerful "survival advantage".
So even if it returns to the wild, the dog, it is still a dog.
For humans, it still carries a certain "reverence" rather than the pure food and competitor relationship in the eyes of wolves.
For example, it is said that "born from the heart", just look at the picture below, the eyes of Australian rhubarb and the eyes of wolves ~ Although these two species are living on their own in the wild, the feeling is still quite different.
So, speaking of which, some people may ask, why doesn't this dingo "unite" with wolves? After a few generations of this, won't it "return to its ancestors"?
After all, it's important to know that the mule (donkey-born) or mule (horse-born) that is combined with a donkey horse has chromosomal defects and cannot breed the next generation; dogs and wolves of any breed can snap at will (as long as they are not too different in size) and can produce healthy and reproductive offspring.
For example, a few years ago, there was news that a stray dog had an "accident" that made the gray wolf belly of the zoo bigger.
However, unfortunately, Australia, that place, there are no wolves!
Australia has also long lived an indigenous "wolf", called the thylacine. However, although it is also called "wolf", as a very primitive "marsupial", it is 18,000 miles away from the canines we know, and there is a natural "reproductive isolation" with dogs, and it is impossible to "combine" directly.
What is even more tragic is that originally, the thylacine was widely distributed in the rainforest of New Guinea, the Australian steppe and other places, but with the continuous tossing of humans, the last thylacine named Benjamin died on September 7, 1936, at the Hobart Zoo on Tasmania Island.
Benjamin 'before he was alive'
Today, we can still see Benjamin's specimen in the museum.
Therefore, for australian wild dogs, in this vast land, there are no jackals, tigers and leopards that are common in the wild in the old world, and rhubarb naturally becomes the top of the food chain proudly, as a local "beast", free to fly themselves.
"Australian rhubarb" stealing livestock
Moreover, they are not afraid to "combine" with domestic dogs - over the years, some of Australia's cattle and sheepdogs, many of which have the blood of "Australian rhubarb".
Even, at present, the Australian government has also included "dingoes" as protected animals, ensuring their certain population size and "pure blood" of rhubarb without hindering animal husbandry as much as possible.
For example, the one in the picture below was put on the positioning logo by humans and "protected" it.
Generally speaking, in addition to guarding their cubs in sensitive environments, Australian rhubarb usually does not actively attack humans, and their conflicts with humans, most of the time, are mostly because of stealing livestock and being chased by farmers.
But how to say, as the only dog that has returned to the wild from the domesticated state, the "hard work" of Australian rhubarb is still very successful - to some extent, it has played the role of a wolf in the old world.
So, if we have the opportunity to see an "Australian rhubarb", we can also cry out in awe - the wolf is coming....