Meet Dogxim, the world’s first known dog-fox hybrid

this cutie had been hit by a car, and the Brazilian veterinary clinic that nursed her back to health noticed that not only did she look unusual, she didn't behave like a dog

researchers checking her genetics discovered she's both dog and Pampas Fox!

link to paper: X

graxorra/dogxim (pampas fox x domestic dog)

The fact that we now know dogs can hybridize with the Pampas fox is bad news for the exotic pet trade. Inevitably, smugglers are going to start catching Pampas foxes, trading them, and breeding them with dogs, all completely illegally, then sell the offspring as a “cool new pet.”

Uhhh... WHAT

Shelter Rescues Injured Animal—Turns Out To Be World's First Dog-Fox Hybrid

I always thought dogs and foxes couldn't interbreed.

Researchers have discovered a new species of animal that is a cross between a dog and a fox in Brazil after it was hit by a car.

The animal was first discovered in 2021 after it was struck by a car and staff at a veterinary hospital couldn't figure out what kind of animal they were supposed to be treating.

It had some traits of a dog and others of a fox, leading researchers to take an interest in the animal's origins and embark upon a study to get to the bottom of the matter.

The recently published study concluded that the animal, which experts named a 'graxorra' and a 'dogxim', had a pampas fox for a mother and a domestic dog of unknown breed for a father.

The 'dogxim' is the first recorded example of a fox and a dog being able to have offspring together. ... The eyes even have a slight Catlike Feel to them (which is probably from the fox side). Damn I guess Furries making Dog Fox Hybrid OC's now have evidence in Nature that can possibly happen.

First ever dog-fox hybrid discovered in the wild

Published 13th September 2023

A Dog-Fox hybrid was hit by a car in Vacaria Brazil in 2021 and taken to a vet for treatment, in 2023 researchers analysed the genes of the animal's and confirmed it was a world first dog-fox hybrid.

Video and image of dog-fox hybrid, "graxorra” and “dogxim”, a hybrid between a pampas fox and domestic dog

source:

wow I'm learning so much about nature today. I was listening to Grantchester Meadows and wondered whether a "dog-fox" was even a real animal, and as far as I am aware it wasn't at the time, but it is now and it might be the most adorable creature in the universe

now who wouldn't harken to the barking of this little guy

Meet Dogxim, the world's first (discovered) dog-fox hybrid. Her mother is a pampas fox - a false fox - and her father is a domestic dog. Pampas foxes are more closely related to wolves and coyotes than to true foxes.

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. (via)

Hunter and Willow both strike me as people who would absolutely love parenting and would 100% have kids together. And most people roll with Grimwalker biology not being a terribly big problem- at most I've seen a child with no magic or a galdorstone heart. Moringmark's au is probably the most interspecies offspring issues I've seen and that's between luz and Amity. But I've never seen the potential outcome Hunter could be straight up infertile- he wasn't born, after all, perhaps Grimwalkers are by their design meant to be one-off creatures that don't reproduce. Or- maybe worse, honestly, I think it would hurt more- they're not genetically compatible. Plenty of similar species can't crossbreed. Or, actually. No, worse than THAT. Many many hybrids have significant health issues as a result of their conflicting biology. Most are sterile. Ligers are essentially unable to stop growing and struggle beneath their own weight and have heart issues supporting their own bodies. The dogxim (fox/dog) hybrid showed signs of being significantly more susceptible to diseases than either parent. An overwhelming amount of hybrid offspring are stillborn or die in early infancy. Even those that survive childhood tend to be weaker, unhealthy, and often die young. They usually have big issues with their diets and what they can eat. I've never seen anymore touch on it and I think it's an interesting concept to explore with these characters.

So, periodically I get annoyed by how scientists publish research articles and these articles are read by non-scientists who don't fully understand them because they don't know enough background about the subject, but nevertheless write their own articles BASED on the research papers, now through the lens of someone with a poorer understanding, and usually worded to sound more 'attention getting' or frankly click-baity to reach more readers --

Thus resulting in a big game of Telephone whereby the information from actual research papers is turned into a massively oversimplified, single sentence idea that is actually not at all what the original researchers said! And soon it enters the realm of 'common knowledge' that other people with no scientific background, but a casual interest in the subject, and then everyone's favorite animal fact is suddenly 'hyenas are actually cats!!!' Annoys the fuck out of me.

So now I'm going to annoy the fuck out of you.

Yesterday I saw a headline declaring that the first hybrid between domestic dog and fox has been discovered in Brazil! I immediately read it, thinking 'uh woah that shouldn't be possible.'

And...... it's not!

Without getting too far into the confusing world of taxonomy, we currently divide the Dog Family, or Canidae, into two major "tribes" that split apart from a common ancestor long ago: Canini, the True Dogs, and Vulpini, the True Foxes. The branches of Canini and Vulpini split from each other long, long, long ago. Long story short, it all comes down to skull shape.

Canini includes Canis (wolves, coyotes, golden jackals, and domestic dogs), as well as several other genera, encompassing things like true jackals, dholes, African painted dogs, maned wolves, and the confusingly named South American Foxes, or Lycalopex.

Vulpini includes the well-known Vulpes and several others.

Now, Lycalopex species do resemble foxes, and as such many of their common names include the word 'fox,' but this is because of convergent evolution - they're actually very different from foxes! But due to their superficial resemblance, and the difficult nature of trying to change an 'official' common name, the genus contains dogs named things like Andean Fox, Hoary Fox, and the Pampas Fox.

The hybrid creature captured in Brazil was shown to be a cross between domestic dog and Pampas Fox - still a surprising hybrid and the first known of its kind, but not as massively unexpected and improbable as a mix of Dog and Fox. Sadly the creature, being colloquially called a 'dogxim,' didn't survive long, having suffered injuries from a car strike, but is now the subject of SO DAMN MANY flippant click baity, 3-minute curiosity reads stating that now dogs and foxes can hybridize, and not a one of them stating the very real distinction between Lycalopex and the True Foxes.

My Fox MC is romancing Fuchsia, call our future kid dogxim (look it up)

Or maybe Graxorra?

also yes that aquarium at the very least encouraging to outright lying and sensationalising a "hybrid" between their ray and a BAMBOO SHARK is pissing me off don't piss me offff... it's not even people say like Falling for it bc it's not anyone's fault for believing people you SHOULD be able to trust (scientific media) (who notoriously never lie oh no...) esp if you have people muddying the waters talking about the dogxim case or whatever it's just like ugh. shut up. the ray producing asexually is still really interesting and an amazing discovery i'm sure like it doesn't NEED to be sensationalised... -_-

Discovery of the world's first Dog-fox hybrid

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…

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Meet ‘Dogxim,’ the world’s first known dog-fox hybrid—and a genetic oddity

“What a strange hybrid beast!” When first found, the animal was a mystery, showing traits common in both dogs and foxes. — Read on www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/dogxim-first-dog-fox-hybrid

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