The New Guinea singing dog or New Guinea Highland dog (Canis familiaris or Canis lupus dingo) is an ancient (basal) lineage of dog native to the New Guinea Highlands, on the island of New Guinea. Once considered to be a separate species in its own right, under the name Canis hallstromi, it is closely related to the Australian dingo. The dog is relatively unusual among canines; it is one of the few to be considered "barkless", and is known for the unusual "yodel" style of vocalizing that gives it its name.
In 1989, the Australian mammalogist Tim Flannery took a photo of a black-and-tan dog in Telefomin District. He noted that these dogs lived with local tribal peoples in the mountains, and that feral populations lived in the alpine and sub-alpine grasslands of the Star Mountains and the Wharton Range. The photo was published in his book, Mammals of New Guinea. In 2012, Australian wilderness-adventure guide Tom Hewett took a photo of a tawny, thick-coated dog in the Puncak Mandala region of West Papua, Indonesia. In 2016, a literature review found no definitive evidence that the earliest possible dogs, within captive populations of New Guinea singing dogs, were wild animals; successive generations of puppies were raised as members of village populations, thus being domestic dogs.
In 2020, a genetic study found that the New Guinea Highland wild dogs were genetically basal to the dingo and the New Guinea singing dog, and therefore the potential originator of both.
Taxonomy
In 1999, a study of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) indicated that the domestic dog may have originated from multiple grey wolf populations, with the dingo and New Guinea singing dog "breeds" having developed at a time when human populations were more isolated from each other. In the third edition of Mammal Species of the World published in 2005, the mammalogist W. Christopher Wozencraft listed under the wolf Canis lupus its wild subspecies, and proposed two additional subspecies: "familiaris Linnaeus, 1758 [domestic dog]" and "dingo Meyer, 1793 [domestic dog]". Wozencraft included hallstromi – the New Guinea singing dog – as a taxonomic synonym for the dingo. Wozencraft referred to the mtDNA study as one of the guides in forming his decision. The inclusion of familiaris and dingo under a "domestic dog" clade has been noted by other mammalogists. This classification by Wozencraft is debated among zoologists.
The New Guinea singing dog's taxonomic status is debated, with proposals that include treating it within the species concept (range of variation) of the domestic dog Canis familiaris, a distinct species Canis hallstromi, and Canis lupus dingo when considered a subspecies of the wolf. In 2019, a workshop hosted by the IUCN/SSC Canid Specialist Group considered the New Guinea singing dog and the dingo to be feral dogs Canis familiaris, and therefore should not be assessed for the IUCN Red List.
Taxonomic history During the Torres expedition to the south coast of New Guinea and the Torres Strait in 1606, small dogs were recorded by Captain Don Diego de Prado y Tovar:
On 26 October 1897, the Lieutenant-Governor of British New Guinea, Sir William MacGregor, was on Mount Scratchley, Central Province, Papua New Guinea. At an elevation of he recorded that "animals are rare," but listed "wild dog." MacGregor obtained the first specimen and later Charles Walter De Vis wrote a description of it in 1911. De Vis summarised from his description that:
... it is not a "truly a wild dog"; in other words that there was a time when its forebears were not wild. ... But if we decide that this dog is merely feral, of a domestic breed run wild, as dogs are apt to do, how are we to account for its habitat on Mount Scratchley?
In 1954, collectors for the Australian Museum observed these dogs around villages situated at on Mount Giluwe in the Southern Highlands Province. In 1956, Albert Speer and J. P. Sinclair obtained a pair of singing dogs in the Levani Valley that was situated in what is now Hela Province (formerly part of Southern Highlands Province). The two dogs had been obtained from natives. The dogs were sent to Sir Edward Hallstrom, who had set up a native animal study center in Nondugi, and from there to the Taronga Zoo in Sydney, Australia. In 1957, Ellis Troughton examined the two singing dog specimens from the Taronga Zoo and classified them as a distinct species Canis hallstromi in honour of Hallstrom.
Original description Troughton described the type specimen as follows: Specimens. – Male holotype, female allotype, in possession of Sir Edward Hallstrom at Taronga Zoological Park, Sydney, for eventual lodgment in the collection of the Australian Museum.General characters:Muzzle or rostral region short and narrow in contrast with the remarkable facial or bi-zygomatic width, imparting the strikingly vulpine or fox-like appearance. This comparison is sustained in the narrow body and very short bushy tail which measures little more than one third of the combined head-and-body length, with the width of the brush a fraction under . The fleshy, softly furred, triangulate ears remain erect, though rounded and curved forward in conch-like fashion.Colour (Ridgway) of the head a clear tawny brown; the back a darker russet-brown owing to the admixture of blackish-brown hairs, the darker hairs enclosing a yellowish "saddlemark" somewhat more conspicuous in the female. Outer shoulders and hips clear ochraceous-tawny; tail about tawny-olive brindled above with blackish-brown, tip white; four paws whitish. Underparts a light buffy, a dark mark across the jaw separating the light chin-spot from the pale undersurface.Dimensions of Holotype:Head and body approximately ; tail exactly , less brush; heel to longest toe, less nail, ; dew-claw from base to ground, ; ear, length from outer base to tip , midwidth ; longest vibrissa ; length of head to extremity of sagittal crest (approx.) and bi-zygomatic width ; rear molar to incisor ; width across incisors ; height of upper canine .
Lineage
By the close of the last glacial period 11,700 years ago, five ancestral lineages had diversified from each other and were expressed in ancient dog samples found in the Levant (7,000 YBP), Karelia (10,900 YBP), Lake Baikal (7,000 YBP), ancient America (4,000 YBP), and in the New Guinea singing dog (present day).
Mitochondrial genome sequences indicates that the dingo falls within the domestic dog clade, and that the New Guinea singing dog is genetically closer to those dingoes that live in southeastern Australia than to those that live in the northwest. The dingo and New Guinea singing dog lineage can be traced back through the Malay Archipelago to Asia.
In 2016, a literature review found that:
In 2020, the first whole genome analysis of the dingo and the New Guinea singing dog was undertaken. The study indicates that the ancestors of these two dogs arose in southern East Asia, migrated through Island Southeast Asia 9,900 YBP, and reached Australia 8,300 YBP. The study rejects earlier suggestions that these dogs arrived from southern Asia 4,300 YBP or as part of the Austronesian expansion into Island Southeast Asia, which arrived in New Guinea about 3,600 YBP. The genetic evidence is that dingoes arrived in Australia 8,300 YBP and brought by an unknown human population.
In 2024, a study found that the Dingo and New Guinea singing dog show 5.5% genome introgression from the ancestor of the recently extinct Japanese wolf, with Japanese dogs showing 4% genome introgression. This introgression occurred before the ancestor of the Japanese wolf arrived in Japan.
New Guinea Highland wild dog In 2017, the New Guinea Highland Wild Dog Foundation (NGHWDF) announced to the media that in 2016, it and the University of Papua had located and photographed a group of 15 of what it referred to as "highland wild dogs." DNA analysis of scats indicate that these dogs have a genetic relationship with other dogs found in Oceania, including the dingo and the New Guinea singing dog.
In 2020, a nuclear genome study indicates that the highland wild dogs from the base of Puncak Jaya, within the Tembagapura district in the Mimika Regency of Papua, Indonesia, were the population from which captive New Guinea singing dogs were derived. The study revealed that the wild dogs show much more genetic diversity than the captive animals, which are severely inbred. This indicates the wild population is healthy. The size and distribution of the wild population is not known. Mitochondrial DNA indicates that the highland wild dogs possess the A29 haplotype, rather than the A79 haplotype which is found in the New Guinea singing dog. The A29 haplotype is found in dingoes, some New Guinea singing dogs, and some Asian, Arctic, and village dogs. A phylogenetic tree shows the highland wild dogs to be basal to the dingo and New Guinea singing dog, and therefore the potential originator of both.
These dogs live wild in a harsh and remote environment between in elevation, which suggests they are a lineage of proto-dog that is related to the dingo and are not feral village dogs. This has led to some researchers to suggest that the taxon Canis dingo is appropriate for the only truly wild-living dog populations – the dingo, the New Guinea Highland wild dog, and the New Guinea singing dog.
Description
Australian mammalogist Tim Flannery in his book the Mammals of New Guinea describes the "New Guinea Wild Dog" as looking similar to the dingo, only smaller. Most of these dogs in New Guinea are domesticated with large numbers being kept by widows and bachelors, with hunters keeping at least two for assisting them with hunting. These dogs do not bark, and their chorused howling makes a haunting and extraordinary sound, which has led to their alternative name of "New Guinea Singing Dog." Flannery published in his book a photo of a black-and-tan dog in the Telefomin District. He wrote that these dogs live with native people in the mountains, and that there were feral populations living in the alpine and sub-alpine grasslands of the Star Mountains and the Wharton Range.
Compared with other forms of dog, the New Guinea singing dog is described as relatively short-legged and broad-headed. These dogs have an average shoulder height of and weigh . They do not have rear dewclaws.
The limbs and spine of the New Guinea singing dog are very flexible and they can spread their legs sideways to 90°, comparable to the Norwegian Lundehund. They can also rotate their front and hind paws more than domestic dogs, which enables them to climb trees with thick bark or branches that can be reached from the ground; however, their climbing skills do not reach the same level as those of the gray fox, and are similar to those of a cat.
The eyes, which are highly reflective, are triangular (or almond-shaped) and are angled upwards from the inner to outer corners with dark eye rims. Eye color ranges from dark amber to dark brown. Their eyes exhibit a bright green glow when lights are shone on them in low light conditions. There are two features which researchers believe allow New Guinea singing dogs to see more clearly in low light. One is that of their pupils, which open wider and allow in more light than in other dog varieties. The other is that they possess a higher concentration of cells in the tapetum.
New Guinea singing dogs have erect, pointed, fur-lined ears. As with other wild dogs, the ears 'perk,' or lay forward, which is suspected to be an important survival feature for the form. The ears can be rotated like a directional receiver to pick up faint sounds. Their tails are bushy, long enough to reach the hock, free of kinks, and have a white tip.