The lady who owns this terrifyingly large and yet highly impressive ‘dog’ companion said: “A bad dog owner dumped this wolf at a shelter when he got too big and too much to handle. Luckily a sanctuary took him instead and saved his life”. I can see why he abandoned the dog. I mean wolf! What do I mean? A ‘wolfdog’. The size is shocking. I think this is due to hybrid vigour. Cat and dog breeders refer to this. When you cross different species or breeds the offspring can sometimes be larger and more able in all senses than their parents. It is due to a sudden injection of genetic diversity as I understand it. It’s nature’s way of ensuring the survival of the fittest.
The corollary of hybrid vigour is inbreeding depression. Inbreeding can bring about a reduction in the vigour of an individual. It means that the individual suffers from a general weakness referred to as ‘inbreeding depression’. ‘Depression’ in this context refers to a lowering of health. It is linked to homozygosity of an increasing number of genes with harmful effects.
Inbred cats and other animals can suffer ill health and low birth weights for example. They can be lethargic and have developmental problems such as poor growth. They may have reproductive performance problems including sterility. They may be prone to illness at any stage of their lives. And there may be asymmetry in their bodies.
Breeders can work to fix these problems by crossing two strains of animals which have become inbred to inject some hybrid vigour into the offspring.
Many (all?) breeders inbreed animals. The fix is to outcross to a non-purebred animal but this reduces the quality of the appearance as per the breed standard so they are reluctant to do this.
Of course, I don’t know the background to the breeding of the hybrid wolf that we see in the photograph but there’s no doubt that this is a very healthy animal judging by its size!
Below are some more articles on wolves.
