An accident in Brazil led to the new discovery of the first dog-fox hybrid. The Center for Conservation and Rehabilitation of Wild Animals and the veterinary hospital of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), conducted testing and research, and later came to the conclusion that the animal was the first known dog-fox hybrid (also known as dogxim.) When the discovery of the animal was first brought to the media, it was too late as she had already died. This news brought interest and sorrow to others.
In November 2021, an unknown animal was brought to the veterinary hospital of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS). During the examination of the new animal, the vets had found that the hybrid was a female. From there, the animal was then transferred to the Center for Conservation and Rehabilitation of Wild Animals. Upon arriving at the center, she immediately started to peak the interest of the researchers and doctors there as they had never seen such an animal. “She had eyes resembling a domestic dog, and long ears resembling a pampas fox, although she had a dark coat and barked like a dog,” said Cristina Araujo Matzenbacher, one of the researchers.
The animal was once again transferred to the Federal University of Pelotas (UFPEL) Thales Renato Ochotorena de Freitas because of her mixed traits and interesting behaviors. She displayed interesting eating habits, like not wanting to eat store bought dog kibble, but preferring to eat more wild foods of mice and small rats. At the university, genetic testing was done by the researchers and revealed that the animal had 76 chromosomes. What made this interesting is the hybrid had an inbetween value of chromosomes of a wild fox and domestic dog, because a fox has 74 and a domestic dog has 78. After more additional testing, it was shown that the hybrid’s mother was a pampas fox, which gave the pup her mitochondrial DNA. Such research later on helped discover a mix of genetic material from both domestic dogs and pampas foxes in her nuclear DNA, which advanced their confirmation that she was a hybrid.
This discovery brought much curiosity and joy to the scientific and veterinary community as there had been no previous evidence of past existence of the dogxim and was thought to be impossible. Many questions of interest were raised and brought to the university from the scientific communities.
The scientific communities was shocked by the species’ death. After the university made a phone call, it was discovered the animal had passed away. “We only discovered that she died because I called Mantenedouro São Braz to request some recent photos of the hybrid. … They did not answer me about the exact date and cause of her death.” Said Dr Rafael Kretschmer, of the Universidade Federal de Pelotas.
As news of her discovery was finally brought to the media, the scientific community was disappointed and still had unanswered questions. Dr Rafael Kretschmer also mentions “We are very sad about her death, especially because we do not have the answers about the exact date and the cause of her death,”. As Flavia Ferrari was looking over the hybrid, it was indicated that the female was healthy and showed no signs of illness. The hybrid’s death was and still remains a mystery.
Even though this scientific discovery led to disappointment, the dog-fox hybrid opened many more possibilities to the world. The media hopes to see more breakthroughs with the scientific and veterinary communities.
