Dollface thread.
Wildlife enthusiasts and scientists alike have been astonished at the discovery of the world's first dog-fox hybrid in Brazil.
The jaw-dropping discovery began in 2021 when an animal rescue team was dispatched to reports of an injured animal in Vacaria, Rio Grande do Sul.
A hit-and-run incident had left the creature severely injured and the Environmental Patrol transferred it to the veterinary hospital of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS). From the hospital, the animal went to the Center for Conservation and Rehabilitation of Wild Animals.
"For us biologists and veterinarians, it is normal to look at all animals differently. We're trained to look for what's common and what's different when we look at an animal. And that's what happened," researcher Cristina Araujo Matzenbacher told Newsweek. "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."
When the animal didn't accept food usually offered to dogs, she was given small rats which she accepted.
A paper published in August 2023 revealed the discovery of the dog-fox hybrid. First the team employed cytogenetics and genetics techniques to delve deeper into the case of the unusual animal.
This helped them determine the number of chromosomes in the animal's cells, which turned out to be 76, revealing a significant clue in the investigation.
"In Rio Grande do Sul, only the Chrysocyon brachyurus has 76 chromosomes, however, this species is very different in the phenotype when compared with the dogxim," Rafael Kretschmer told Newsweek.
Pampas foxes typically have 74 chromosomes, while domestic dogs have 78. During reproduction, offspring inherit half of their chromosomes from each parent. For dogs, this means they contribute 39 chromosomes to their offspring, whereas pampas foxes contribute 37.
The combination of gametes from a dog and a pampas fox results in a total of 76 chromosomes—matching the chromosome count found in the dogxim.