'Wolf DNA' Lurks in Many Modern Dog Breeds

Although wolf-canine interbreeding has been considered extremely rare, the latest research shows that many present-day canines carry a small amount of wolf genes. A surprising study reveals that there is a trace of wolf lurking within the tiny body of a Chihuahua and the gigantic build of a St. Bernard. An international research team from the American Museum of Natural History and the National Museum of Natural History analyzed the genomes of 2,693 dogs and wolves and found that 64.1 percent of purebred dogs carry fragments of wolf DNA. Furthermore, a study of village dogs (free-roaming dogs living in or near human communities) from around the world found genetic traces of wolves in all 280 analyzed pups. Dogs are thought to have evolved from populations of gray wolves, which became extinct during the Late Pleistocene epoch about 20,000 years ago.