What is the Difference Between a Husky and a Wolf?

Oh yes, Game of Thrones. Sigh. Suddenly everybody wanted to have a “direwolf”. So what did they get? The same breed that acted as direwolves in the TV series? No. They got Siberian Huskies. And then the animal shelters started to overflow with abandoned Huskies because this is Earth in the 21st century not Westeros or any other of the “Seven Kingdoms” in some unspecified medieval time. But let’s leave that aside. A Husky is a dog. A wolf is a wolf. A dog is not a wolf. A wolf is not a dog. Or is it?

So, what is the difference between a Husky and a wolf? Domestication. Evolution kept the wolf in the wild while the Husky became domesticated and today would suffer, probably die, if it had to survive by itself in the wild. Feral Huskies are not wild Huskies.

Huskies and German Shepherds resemble wolves the most, but they are no closer genetically speaking to wolves than Chihuahuas or Pugs. Domestic dogs probably descended from wolves, but they, including Huskies, are now something separate. Or are they?

How many kinds of wolves are there?

There are 3 kinds of wolves that are recognized scientifically as separate species. They are:

1. African Golden Wolf – Canis anthus 
2. Wolf, or Gray Wolf – Canis lupus 
3. Ethiopian Wolf – Canis simensis, also know as Simian jackal or Simien fox.

Some authorities add another species, Canis rufus, the red wolf.

Subspecies of gray wolves in North America include;

• Arctic Wolf (Canis lupus arctos)
• Northwestern Wolf (Canis lupus occidentalis)
• Great Plains Wolf (Canis lupus nubilus) 
• Mexican Wolf (Canis lupus baileyi)
• Eastern Timber Wolf (Canis lupus lycaon), which is debated by some as a distinct species, the eastern wolf (Canis lycaon).

What does it matter whether a wolf (or any other animal for that matter) is a subspecies or a species?

With the astonishing developments in genetics over the past decades, the whole concept of species and subspecies has changed. Many scientists caution against the uncritical acceptance of species assignation based on the mitochondrial DNA method.

(Don’t worry, I don’t understand it either…but it is the latest hooha among the alpha geeks).

The important thing is that a subspecies is really just a group within a species, often geographically separated from the species. These animals will have a few differences, but can still interbreed with any other individuals of that species.

“Subspecies” is a very hazy concept and something that scientists choose to use as a label rather than a more obvious attribute such as number of teeth.

Here is a good explanation for the layman. Like most of us. 😉

Sooooo, is a dog, especially one as wolflike as a Husky, just a wolf subspecies?

A brief note on naming 

The granddaddy of taxonomy (i.e. the naming and classification of living organisms) was a Swedish scientist born in 1707 as Carl Linnaeus, later known as Carl von Linné.

He basically got tired of trying to figure out whether something known by different names in different languages or even different names in different regions of the same country, was the same thing or not.

“A rose by any other name” and all that.

I call it a robin, you call it a redbreast, and somebody else calls it a robin redbreast, but it’s all exactly the same bird.

So he came up with a system of naming organisms that is used to this day. Without going into all the detail, it means that any organism on earth is given a unique scientific name. It always consists of two terms, the first one is the genus and the second one is the species. While similar organisms can have the same genus name (as above for wolves) each distinctive kind has a unique species name.

Enter the domestic dog.

How many kinds of dogs are there?

Scientifically speaking, there is just one kind of dog.

It was called Canis lupus familiaris by the man himself, so in scientific circles, you will (or should) always see “Linnaeus, 1758” after the domestic dogs’ scientific name.

And if you paid attention in class (ahem) you will notice that it is the same genus and species as the Gray Wolf.

Yes.

What now?

Same species as a wolf but with a subspecies name familiaris.

This means that a dog is just a kind of wolf and not something different at all.

Could it be true?

Dare one argue with the classification of the father of taxonomy?

Fortunately that is what science is all about. If there is the slightest doubt, new evidence, or just a new idea about anything, you are allowed to present it and argue for it.

And in the case of the domestic dog, the debate is hot.

Going back to the guys and gals playing with the DNA that is found in mitochondria, the powerhouse of the animal cell, they decided that the dog is a separate species Canis familiaris. The evidence piled up and soon many scholarly articles used the separate species name, not the subspecies.

Does that mean that the name is now accepted? Is the dog a separate species?

Alas. The ultimate authority in this game of naming organisms is the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature and they state quite emphatically that the domestic dog is “Canis lupus familiaris (a subspecies of the wolf – Canis lupus)”.

#hereendsthelesson

But there are dozens of dog breeds, right?

Yea there are.

The American Kennel Club (AKC) recognizes 192 breeds but there are about 340 in total. Here is the thing:

Technically, you can cross any dog breed with any other because they are the same species.

Of course, there are practical issues that make it difficult and indeed cruel to try to cross some breeds.

The answer to the question of how many kinds of dogs there are is, therefore, either “one” or “as many as you want”.

How many kinds of Huskies are there?

So according to the big boffins the domestic dog is a subspecies of the gray wolf.  Hard to believe when you look at some breeds, but very credible when you look at Huskies.

According to the AKC there is only one kind of Husky, the Siberian Husky. Other sources include the Alaskan Husky, the Alaskan Malamute, and the Labrador Husky.

Eurohounds and Samoyeds, to name a few others, are crossbreeds and not considered to be a Husky. You will even encounter the term “husky dog” that includes any kind of sled dog.

The Siberian Husky is indeed a true breed that not only looks like a wolf, but sometimes behaves like one:

• Although they are very friendly companionable dogs, they have and eerie howl that can easily be mistaken for a wolf.
• They can run for hours, especially in a pack – it is the one trait that makes them such excellent and sought-after sled dogs.
• What sets them apart from real (wild) wolves is that they form attachments to humans. Wolves do not do that, even if they are hand-reared from puppyhood.

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