Bulgarian wolves have jackal blood in them

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La Striata
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Bulgarian wolves have jackal blood in them

Post by La Striata » Wed Nov 13, 2013 10:03 am

European wolf (Canis lupus) populations have suffered extensive decline and range contraction due to anthropogenic culling. In Bulgaria, although wolves are still recovering from a severe demographic bottleneck in the 1970s, hunting is allowed with few constraints. A recent increase in hunting pressure has raised concerns regarding long-term viability. We thus carried out a comprehensive conservation genetic analysis using microsatellite and mtDNA markers. Our results showed high heterozygosity levels (0.654, SE 0.031) and weak genetic bottleneck signals, suggesting good recovery since the 1970s decline. However, we found high levels of inbreeding (F IS = 0.113, SE 0.019) and a N e/N ratio lower than expected for an undisturbed wolf population (0.11, 95 % CI 0.08–0.29). We also found evidence for hybridisation and introgression from feral dogs (C. familiaris) in 10 out of 92 wolves (9.8 %). Our results also suggest admixture between wolves and local populations of golden jackals (C. aureus), but less extensive as compared with the admixture with dogs. We detected local population structure that may be explained by fragmentation patterns during the 1970s decline and differences in local ecological characteristics, with more extensive sampling needed to assess further population substructure. We conclude that high levels of inbreeding and hybridisation with other canid species, which likely result from unregulated hunting, may compromise long-term viability of this population despite its current high genetic diversity. The existence of population subdivision warrants an assessment of whether separate management units are needed for different subpopulations. Our study highlights conservation threats for populations with growing numbers but subject to unregulated hunting.

http://link.springer.com/article/10.100 ... 013-0547-y
It seems the cases in Ethiopia and Senegal were not one off events. Looks like we have ourselves the Old World equivalent of the Eastern coyote.
I cannot see that wolves are in any way nobler in character than hyenas- Frederick Selous

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Re: Bulgarian wolves have jackal blood in them

Post by melodichowl » Thu May 15, 2014 1:39 am

Is this in similarity to the Ethiopian Wolf? :D

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La Striata
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Re: Bulgarian wolves have jackal blood in them

Post by La Striata » Fri May 16, 2014 8:56 am

melodichowl wrote:Is this in similarity to the Ethiopian Wolf? :D
I do not understand.
I cannot see that wolves are in any way nobler in character than hyenas- Frederick Selous

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Re: Bulgarian wolves have jackal blood in them

Post by FuzzyDesertPaw » Fri Nov 18, 2016 3:08 am

Hm,well it's pretty interesting for me,because I love Bulgaria. Anyway thanks for sharing La Striata :D

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