The World's Rarest Dog: Rediscovered

Have you ever thought to yourself, "I wonder what the rarest dog breed is?" Well, I'm here to tell you that breed was rediscovered as of recently! 

For decades, we feared that the New Guinea Highland Wild Dog had gone extinct. We didn't see any evidence of it's existence until an expedition was made in 2016. We were able to locate, observe, gather documentation and biological samples! The researchers were able to get more than one hundred photographs of at least fifteen individuals including: females, males, and puppies.

 
The reason this was such a big deal to everyone was because until now, this breed was only known by two promising, but unconfirmed photos in recent years. There was one captured in 2005, and 2012. 

Because the team was able to observe up close and personal- and take samples from them, they discovered some pretty cool facts. The DNA analysis of their fecal samples confirmed their relationship to Australian Dingos, and New Guinea Singing Dogs. 

Due to our lack of evidence of the species, we aren't really sure how Dingoes, Singing dogs, and Highland Wild Dogs are related to one another... We're hoping this is something we will discover soon, because taking a step back, and understanding the roots of these breeds can help us get a better understanding of canine evolution.

The chances of survival for this species is actually pretty good! There was even a scientific paper written, on the discovery of them. Local mining companies have been going the extra mile to protect the remote areas that they're thriving, and roaming.

If you want to read more about the expedition, check out this link for the scientific document of their re-discovery:

http://www.nghwdf.org/hwds 

I hope you enjoy the rest of your week,
~Shaunte'