Fido, the Wolf
         
        It is official!  Dogs are now a variety of wolf.  Until recently
        zoologists classified dogs and wolves as separate species; now these
        scientists have managed a taxonomic merger and proclaimed the two
        animals to be the same species.  The scientific name of the wolf is
        Canis lupus, and the dog used to be Canis familiaris; they are now
        both Canis lupus.  The dog's specific race of wolf is Canis lupus
        familiaris just as the arctic wolf's specific race is Canis lupus
        arctos.

        This change was formalized by the 1993 publication of Mammal Species
        of the World:  A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference, edited by D.E.
        Wilson and D.A.M. Reeder.  Published by the Smithsonian Institution
        in association with the American Society of Mammalogists, this
        reference book is the final authority of the scientific community on
        mammal classification.

        It has long been known that dogs were domesticated from wolves, and
        many scientists considered the dog a variety of wolf.  Dogs and
        wolves can interbreed and produce fertile offspring (the classical
        definition of a species is a group of organisms capable of
        reproducing within itself), and dog and wolf behavior is strikingly
        similar.  For a while, some zoologists thought dogs might have arisen
        from jackals, but that idea has been discredited, especially by new
        molecular genetic analysis.  No doubt these considerations led to
        this new classification and to the sudden realization by millions of
        people around the world that they are packmates to the wolves
        fetching their slippers.


         

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