I wolves of the Apennines and in general in the Reggio area (they are now also present in the plains), run the risk of hybridization and degradation of genetic integrity due to crosses with the domestic dog. This is what has been demonstrated in a recent study conducted by the Sapienza University of Rome in collaboration with the National Park of the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines, the Higher Institute for Research and Environmental Protection (Ispra) and the Center Nationale de la Recherche Scientifique (France). The research, published in The Journal of Wildlife Management, estimates the prevalence of hybrids in the wolf population living in National Park of the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines and in the surrounding areas of the northern Apennines, a central and strategic area in the distribution of the wolf in the Apennines, where the first hybrid individuals, or in any case morphologically deviating from the morphological standard of the wolf, had already been observed since the end of the nineties.
On the base of 152 samples collected, corresponding to 39 wolves in 7 different packs, the researchers estimated a hybridization prevalence of 70%, with hybrid individuals present in at least six of the seven monitored packs. Furthermore, through the genealogical reconstruction it has been ascertained that in at least two of these herds, hybrid individuals enjoy the status of breeding, and are therefore able to pass on genetic variants of canine origin to subsequent generations. The genetic techniques used by researchers to identify hybrids were developed in the Genetics laboratory conservation of the Higher Institute for Research and Environmental Protection, which has been active in the sector for years. The domestic dog is the result of strong human selection and millennia of reproductive isolation from the wolf.
Over time, the dog has developed forms and behaviors more appropriate to the needs of man and profoundly different from his own wild ancestor. From a biological point of view, the dog and the wolf are the same species and under certain circumstances they can mate and generate fertile hybrids. Yet, although hybridization with the wolf has occasionally occurred sinceorigin of the domestication of the dog, today the fear is that the phenomenon is strongly increasing due to the expansion of the wolf in more populated areas, where the numerical ratio is largely in favor of the canine population. Although the cases of hybridization were observed in the 70s and 80s, if we consider the potentially negative effects that canine genes may have for wolf survival in the wild, the results of the study highlight an alarming scenario for the conservation of the species and for the protection of its genetic identity and the problem certainly does not concern only the study area.
THEhybridization it is a much more difficult concept to understand and share than the risk of demographic extinction was when, in the early 70s, Italy said it was in favor of the legal protection of the species. Fifty years later, it is the same genetic identity of the wolf that it is endangered as a consequence of the expansive dynamics of the species, the high number of stray dogs and management inertia. The results of the study highlight how essential it is not to ignore the phenomenon and to use all the best skills and management skills to preserve the genetic integrity of the wolf. But not only: it is necessary to inform and raise awareness of the risk of genomic extinction. On the other hand, as a result of hybridization phenomena, there are no risks of greater aggressiveness of these specimens towards humans because they are less fearful of wolves: in this case the instinct to stay away from humans is not a genetic inheritance, but behavioral that is also transmitted to hybrids (The Gazzetta di Reggio).