Canine

Canines are members of the Canidae family, which includes wolves, dogs, coyotes, and golden jackals, among other species. This genus is defined by its moderate to large size, huge, well-developed skulls and teeth, long legs, and comparably short ears and tails, as well as its massive, well-developed skulls and dentition. 

Taxonomy of Canines

• The kingdom of canine is Animalia.

• Canines belong to the phylum Chordata.

• The class of canines is Mammalia.

• The order is Carnivora.

• The family of canines is Canidae and the subfamily is Caninae.

• They belong to the tribe Canini and the subtribe Canina.

• The genus of canines is Canis.

• There are six extant species and nine extinct species of canines.

The Six Extant Species are :

• Canis Aureus (Golden Jackal)

• Canis Familiaris (Domestic Dog)

• Canis Latrans (Coyote)

• Canis Lupaster (African Golden Wolf)

• Canis Lupus (Grey Wolf)

• Canis Simensis (Ethiopian Wolf)

The Nine Extinct Species are:

• Canis Antonii 

• Canis Armbrusteri

• Canis Chihliensis

• Canis Edwardii

• Canis Etruscus

• Canis Falconeri

• Canis Mosbachensis

• Canis Palmidens

• Canis Variabilis

There are currently six species of canines. Let us discuss in detail the characteristics and habitat of all six species.

Golden Jackal (Canis Aureus)

• The Golden Jackal is a wolf-like canid from south-east Europe, south-west Asia and Southeast Asia.

• The golden jackal is similar to the grey wolf, but it is smaller, lighter, has a more elongated torso, a less pronounced forehead, shorter legs and tail, and a narrower and more pointed muzzle than the grey wolf. The legs are lengthy in comparison to the body, and the feet are short and narrow.

• Males are 71–85 cm tall, while females are 69–73 cm tall.

• Males weigh 6–14 kilogrammes, while females weigh 7–11 kilogrammes.

• Male and female golden jackals have shoulder heights of 45–50 cm.

• The golden jackal's skull is smaller and less substantial than the wolf's, with a lower nasal region and shorter facial region; the skull projections are conspicuous but weaker than the wolf's; the canine teeth are huge and robust but relatively thin, and the carnassial teeth are weaker.

• The golden jackal's fur is coarse and short, and the basic colour is golden, ranging from a delicate creamy yellow to a dark tawny depending on the season. 

• The back fur is made up of a mix of black, brown, and white hairs, giving it the impression of a dark saddle, similar to that found on the black-backed jackal. 

• The underbelly is bright ginger to cream colour. The light marks on the throat and chest of individual specimens can be recognised. 

• High-elevation jackals coats are more buff-coloured than their lowland counterparts, whereas rocky, mountainous jackals coats are greyer. The tip of the bushy tail is tan to black.

• The jackal moults twice a year, once in the spring and once in the fall. The spring moult begins in the middle of February if the winter was warm, and in the middle of March if the winter was chilly.

• The spring moult lasts 60–65 days; if the animal is unwell, only half of its winter fur is shed. The head and limbs are the first to moult in the spring, followed by the flanks, chest, belly, and rump, and finally the tail.

• Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, India, Nepal, and Bhutan are all home to the golden jackal in South Asia.

• Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan are among the Central Asian countries where they can be found.

• Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Syria, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen are among the Southwestern Asia countries where it can be found.

• Albania, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Russian Federation, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland, Turkey, and Ukraine are some of the European countries where it can be found.

• The omnivorous diet of the golden jackal allows it to eat a wide variety of things; this diet, together with its tolerance of arid weather, helps it to exist in a variety of habitats.

• The golden jackal's diet consists of tiny birds, rodents, small vertebrates, insects, carrion, fruit, and some vegetable matter, and these skull traits are related to the jackal's diet of small birds, rodents, small vertebrates, insects, carrion, fruit, and some vegetable matter.

• Golden jackals are monogamous, meaning they will only have one partner until they die.

• Each year, female jackals have only one breeding cycle, with mating lasting up to 26–28 days.

• The gestation period is 63 days long, and the births are timed to meet with the annual availability of food.

• Golden jackal pups develop aggression at a younger age than wolf and dog puppies, at the age of 4–6 weeks, when play-fighting frequently escalates into uncontrolled biting meant to harm.

• Females reach sexual maturity after 10–11 months, whereas males reach sexual maturity after 21–22 months.

• The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List classifies the golden jackal as Least Concern due to its vast distribution, which includes being common throughout its range and having large numbers in regions where food and shelter are plentiful.

There are Seven Subspecies of Golden Jackal Which are as Follows:

• Persian jackal (Canis aureus aureus)

• Indochinese jackal (Canis aureus cruesemanni)

• Pannonian jackal (Canis aureus ecsedensis)

• Indian jackal (Canis aureus indicus)

• European jackal (Canis aureus moreoticus)

• Sri Lankan jackal (Canis aureus naria)

• Syrian jackal (Canis aureus syriacus)

[Image will be Uploaded Soon]

Domestic Dog (Canis Familiaris or Canis Lupus Familiaris)

• The domestic dog is a wolf descendent that has been domesticated. The dog is descended from an extinct ancient wolf, and the contemporary grey wolf is its closest living relative.

• Prior to the development of agriculture, the dog was the first species to be domesticated by hunter-gatherers over 15,000 years ago.

• Dogs have become specially adapted to human behaviour as a result of their long contact with humans, resulting in a huge number of domesticated individuals and the capacity to subsist on a starch-rich diet that would be insufficient for other canids. They are regularly fed with the dog food of some famous brands such as pedigree or royal canin puppy food which provides good nutritional supplements.

• Over millennia, the dog has been selectively bred for a number of circumstances, sensory capacities, and morphological characteristics.

• Dog breeds come in a vast range of shapes, sizes, and colours. Hunting, herding, pulling cargo, protection, supporting police and the military, friendship, therapy, and assisting disabled people are just a few of the functions they play for humans. Because of their impact on human culture, they have earned the moniker "man's best friend."

• Dogs are the most diverse mammal on the planet, with over 450 breeds recognised worldwide.

• Most breeds were developed over the previous 200 years from a limited number of founders, and dogs have undergone fast phenotypic change and have evolved into today's modern varieties as a result of artificial selection enforced by humans.

• With the exception of the number of bones in the tail, all healthy dogs have the same skeletal structure, regardless of size or breed, albeit there is significant skeletal variance across breeds. The majority of dogs' tails contain 26 vertebrae, however, some dogs with naturally short tails have as few as three.

• Vision, hearing, smell, taste, touch, and sensitivity to the Earth's magnetic field are among a dog's senses.

• Domestic dogs have two coat types: double, which is common in dogs from colder locations and consists of coarse guard hair and soft down hair, and single, which just has the topcoat.

• Dog tails come in a variety of shapes, including straight, straight up, sickle, curled, and corkscrew.

• Elbow and hip dysplasia, blindness, deafness, pulmonic stenosis, cleft palate, and trick knees are all conditions that some dog breeds are prone to.

• Dogs have a wide range of lifespans, although the average lifespan is between 10 and 13 years for most varieties.

• Both males and females domestic dogs reach sexual maturity at the age of six months to one year.

• Fertilization usually occurs two to five days after ovulation; the embryo attaches to the uterus 14–16 days after ovulation, and a heartbeat can be seen seven to eight days later.

• Dogs give birth to their litters between 58 and 68 days after fertilisation, with an average of 63 days, though gestation times vary. A litter of six puppies is considered average.

• The sterilisation of animals, usually by removing the male's testicles or the female's ovaries and uterus, to remove the ability to reproduce and lower sex drive, is known as neutering.

• Neutering male canines decrease the difficulties associated with hypersexuality. Neutering, on the other hand, raises the risk of urinary incontinence in female dogs, prostate cancer in males, osteosarcoma, hemangiosarcoma, cruciate ligament rupture, obesity, and diabetes mellitus in both sexes.

• Dogs are classified as omnivores. Dogs from agricultural communities have more copies of amylase and other starch digesting genes than wolves, which contributes to their capacity to thrive on a starch-rich diet. Small puppies are fed with royal canin puppy food to which provides most of the nutrients during their development stages.

[Image will be Uploaded Soon]

Coyote (Canis Latrans)

• The coyote, often known as the prairie wolf or brush wolf, is a North American canine species. It is slightly smaller than its near relative, the wolf, and the closely related eastern and red wolves. It has a similar ecological niche in Eurasia as the golden jackal.

• A behavioural ecologist once referred to the coyote as the American jackal because it is larger and more predatory.

• Coyote males weigh 8 to 20 kg, while females weigh 7 to 18 kg, though size varies according to location.

• Females are shorter in both body length and height than males, with a body length of 1.0 to 1.35 m and a tail length of 40 cm on average.

• The colour and texture of a coyote's fur vary depending on where it is found. The hair is light grey and red or fulvous in hue, with black and white dispersed over the body.

• Coyotes that live at higher elevations have more black and grey colours than those that live in the desert, which is more fulvous or whitish-grey.

• The coyote is smaller than the grey wolf, but it has long ears and a larger braincase than the grey wolf, as well as a leaner physique, face, and muzzle.

• The smell glands are smaller than those of a grey wolf, but the hue is the same. The colour diversity in its fur is far less than that of a wolf.

• There are 19 recognised subspecies of coyotes.

• Coyotes have mated with domestic dogs on rare occasions, resulting in hybrids known as "coydogs." Because the mating periods of dogs and coyotes do not match, and coyotes are normally hostile to dogs, such matings are uncommon in the wild. Hybridization occurs most commonly when coyotes expand into areas where conspecifics are scarce and dogs are the only option.

• Coyotes and wolves have hybridised to variable degrees, especially in eastern North America.

• Eastern and red wolves are also hybrids of wolf and coyote to differing degrees. The eastern wolf was most likely bred from a mix of wolves and coyotes, with substantial backcrossing with parent grey wolf populations.

• The coyote's range included the Sonoran Desert, adjacent mountain alpine regions, and the plains and mountainous portions of Alberta. The coyote's territory extended after the wolf was eradicated, encompassing fragmented forests from Guatemala's tropics to Alaska's northern slope.

• The coyote eats a wide variety of foods, but it is largely carnivorous, with meat accounting for 90% of its diet. Bison, white-tailed deer, mule deer, moose, elk, bighorn sheep, pronghorn, rabbits, hares, rodents, birds, amphibians, lizards, snakes, turtles, tortoises, fish, crustaceans, and insects are some of the prey species.

• Because of its widespread distribution and abundance in North America, the International Union for Conservation of Nature has designated the coyote as a species of least concern.

[Image will be Uploaded Soon]

African Golden Wolf (Canis Lupaster)

• The African golden wolf, sometimes known as the African wolf, is a canine species that can be found in North Africa, West Africa, the Sahel, northern East Africa, and the Horn of Africa.

• It is descended from a genetically admixed canid with 72% grey wolf and 28% Ethiopian wolf heritage.

• The African golden wolf is a medium-sized wolf that falls between African jackals and tiny grey wolf subspecies, weighing 7–15 kg and standing 40 cm tall in both sexes.

• It has a long nose and ears, but a tiny tail that measures 20 centimetres in length.

• Fur colour varies by individual, season, and geography, but the typical colouration is yellowish to silvery grey, with slightly reddish limbs and black speckling on the tail and shoulders.

• The eyes are amber-coloured, while the throat, belly, and face markings are normally white. Teats are produced in two to four pairs by females.

• The ears of the African golden wolf are longer, and the skull has a higher forehead.

• Senegal, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Guinea, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Western Sahara, Nigeria, Chad, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Kenya, Egypt, and Tanzania are among the countries where the African golden wolf can be found.

• Hares, rats, ground squirrels, and cane rats are the most common prey of the African golden wolf. Lizards, snakes, and ground-nesting birds like francolins and bustards are among the other prey items. Dung beetles, larvae, termites, and grasshoppers are just a few of the insects it eats.

• On the IUCN Red List, it is classified as least concerned.

[Image will be Uploaded Soon]

Wolf (Canis Lupus)

• The wolf, often known as the grey wolf is a huge canine native to Eurasia and North America.

• The wolf is the largest living member of the Canidae family, with males weighing on average 40 kg and females 37 kg.

• Wolves are 105–160 cm long and 80–85 cm tall at the shoulder.

• The wolf is distinguishable from other Canis species by its shorter body and long tail, as well as its less pointed ears and nose.

• The winter fur of the wolf is dense and fluffy, with a short undercoat and long, coarse guard hairs. In the spring, the majority of the undercoat and some guard hairs are shed, and in the autumn, they regrow. The back of the head, particularly the front quarters and neck, has the longest hairs.

• To retain body heat in cold areas, the wolf can decrease blood flow near its skin. Where the pads come into contact with ice and snow, the warmth of the footpads is regulated separately from the rest of the body and maintained at just above tissue-freezing temperatures.

• The fur of southern wolves is coarser and scarcer than that of northern wolves. Female wolves have smoother furred limbs than males, and their overall coats get smoother as they age.

• The colour of a wolf's coat is determined by its guard hairs. Wolves normally have a mixture of white, brown, grey, and black hairs.

• Wolves were first found in Eurasia and North America. Between sea level to 3,000 metres, the wolf can be found.

• Wolves can be found in forests, inland wetlands, shrublands, grasslands, pastures, deserts, and mountain rocky peaks.

• The availability of prey, winter conditions, cattle numbers, road densities, human presence, and geography all influence wolf habitat utilisation.

• The wolf, like all land mammals that hunt in packs, eats mostly wild herbivorous hoofed mammals. With a pack of 10-15, the wolf specialises in preying on the vulnerable members of huge prey.

• Wild large hoofed mammals and medium-sized mammals make up the majority of the wolf's food. Moose, red deer, roe deer, and wild boar are the most common prey for wolves.

• Wolves consume apples, pears, figs, melons, berries, and cherries throughout Europe. Wolves eat blueberries and raspberries in North America.

• Wolves eat grass as well, which may supply some vitamins but is more likely to be utilised to cause vomiting in order to get rid of intestinal parasites or long guard hairs.

• Wolves are monogamous, with mated pairs typically sticking together for the rest of their lives. If one of the pair dies, the other is soon identified.

• Puppies are frequently born in the spring or early summer in very cold locations like the tundra, after a gestation period of 62–75 days. Young females have four to five children, whereas older females have six to eight children and up to fourteen.

• Based on the global population of wolves International Union for Conservation of Nature classified it as Least Concern.

[Image will be Uploaded Soon]

Ethiopian Wolf (Canis Simensis)

• The Ethiopian wolf, sometimes known as the Simien jackal or Simien fox, is an Ethiopian Highlands canine. It is also known as the horse jackal in southeastern Ethiopia. Its size and structure are similar to that of a coyote, but it is distinguishable by its long and narrow cranium and red and white fur.

• Adults have a body length of 84–101 cm and a height of 53–62 cm.

• Females weigh 11.2–14.15 kg, whereas adult males weigh 14.2–19.3 kg.

• The Ethiopian wolf has short guard hairs and dense underfur, allowing it to survive in temperatures as low as −15 °C. It has an orange to rusty red overall colour with dense whitish to light ginger underfur.

• The Ethiopian wolf is a social species that live in family groups of up to 20 adults, though six wolf packs are most usual.

• Between August and November is when the mating season takes place. Puppies are born between October and December after a 60–62 day gestation period.

• The Ethiopian wolf, unlike most gregarious carnivores, prefers to hunt and eat tiny animals alone. It is mainly active during the day when rodents are most active, yet when hunting mountain nyala calves, it has been recorded to hunt in groups.

• The Ethiopian wolf can only be found in small areas of Afroalpine grasslands and heathlands where Afroalpine rodents live. Its optimal habitat is from 3,200 to 4,500 metres above sea level, with some wolves in the Bale Mountains living in montane grasslands at 3,000 metres.

• The Ethiopian wolf's major prey in the Bale Mountains are big-headed African mole-rats, but it also eats grass rats, black-clawed brush-furred rats, and highland hares. Vlei rats, yellow-spotted brush-furred rats, and goslings and eggs are among the secondary prey species.

• The IUCN has classified the Ethiopian wolf as endangered due to its limited population and fragmented distribution. Expanding human populations pose a threat, resulting in habitat degradation due to overgrazing, as well as disease transmission and interbreeding from free-ranging canines.

[Image will be Uploaded Soon]

Conclusion

Canines are carnivores that devour a wide variety of large and small animals, as well as carrion and plant matter. Canines were possibly the earliest domesticated animals since they are very clever and easy to train. Most species, on the other hand, have been hunted for their pelts, and they are still being hunted, trapped, and otherwise controlled in many areas to reduce predation on livestock and wildlife. Members of the Canidae family are native to every continent except Antarctica and Australia.