One artist's interpretation of a Fuegian dog

The Fuegian dog, or Yahgan dog (Spanish: perro fueguino, perro yagán), is an extinct type of canid. In comparison to the domestic dog’s ancient wolf ancestry, the Fuegian dog was bred and domesticated from the South American culpeo, also known as the culpeo fox (Lycalopex culpaeus).^[1] The culpeo itself is similar (in form and stature) to true foxes (tribe Vulpini), though it is closer, genetically, to wolves, coyotes and jackals (true canids, tribe Canini); thus it is placed in a separate genus within the South American foxes or zorros.

However, a 2023 study indicates that the Fuegian dog was a now extinct domestic dog which had arrived with humans into South America, and the Patagonian dog was a domesticated culpeo fox.^[2]

There are very few remaining museum specimens or examples of the Fuegian dog; one is at the Museo Salesiano Maggiorino Borgatello in Chile,^[2] and another is at the Fagnano Regional Museum in Tierra del Fuego, Argentina.^[1]

Characteristics

Another artist's interpretation of a Fuegian dog

Fuegian dogs had erect ears, sharp snout and a thick tail and were tawny-colored or entirely white. Surviving images show them to be a similar size to the wild culpeo, which weighs 5 to 13.5 kg (11 to 30 lb), or roughly the size of a Shetland Sheepdog. Gauchos called these foxes "maned dogs" because of their resemblance to the maned wolf. Lucas Bridges described the animals as like "a stunted cross between an Alsatian police dog and a wolf".^[3]

It was described by French navigator Louis-Ferdinand Martial, who headed the 1883 scientific expedition to Cape Horn, as “ugly, with long tawny hair and a sharp snout, it looks quite like a fox".^[4]

Behaviour

Although the distribution of the Fuegian dog corresponded with that of the Yahgan people, individual animals were not loyal to their human owners. Julius Popper pointed out the canid's lack of loyalty: "I never saw them, no matter how large their number, take an aggressive attitude or defend their masters when these were in danger".^[5]

Uses

Fuegian dogs were not used to hunt guanaco. However, they might have been useful for hunting otters.^[4] The foxes were also useful to humans in that they would gather around their owners to keep them warm. This was noted by Julius Popper: "The dogs placed themselves in a group around the small Onas, taking the shape of a kind of wrapping .... [M]y opinion is that the Fuegian dogs are only useful to complete the defective garment of the Indian, or better, as the Ona's heating furniture".

Extermination

In 1919, when Silesian missionary Martin Gusinde visited the local Yahgans, he noticed that, to his knowledge, all of the dogs seemed to be missing. He immediately noted this as odd, especially considering that the tie between the dogs and the local people was well documented by foreign missionaries and explorers by this time. Indeed, this mutual cooperation allowed for the region to become the only stronghold of this unusual domesticated canine to have ever existed. Upon speaking to the local people and inquiring about what had happened to the animals, he was told that the entire known population of them had been exterminated, and it was claimed they "were dangerous to men and cattle". Apparently, this "fierce" nature of the animal was allegedly witnessed by Thomas Bridges in the 1880s, who in his writings, purported that the dogs attacked his mission's goats, while giving few specific details.^[6]

References