African village dog
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Avuvi (Togo, Ghana)
Azawakh (Sahel)
| African Village Dog | |
|---|---|
 Picture of a local dog in Malawi | |
| Other names | Africanis (Southern Africa) Avuvi (Togo, Ghana) Azawakh (Sahel) |
| Breed status | Not recognised as a breed by any major kennel club. |
| Dog (domestic dog) | |
African village dogs are a genetically diverse group of indigenous dogs found in Africa.[1] They descend from ancient dogs that arrived in Africa from the Middle East.[2] African village dogs specifically were not formally bred, unlike other dogs from Africa. Only one is currently standardized, the Basenji, with the others remaining as landraces, not registered breeds.
The oldest dog remains to be found in Africa date 5,900 years before present (YBP) and were discovered at the Merimde Beni-Salame Neolithic site in the Nile Delta, Egypt. The next oldest remains date 5,500 YBP and were found at Esh Shareinab on the Nile in Sudan. This suggests that the dog arrived from Asia at the same time as domestic sheep and goats.[3] The dog then spread north and south throughout Africa beside livestock herders, with remains found in archaeological sites dated 925–1,055 YBP at Ntusi in Uganda, dated 950–1,000 YBP at Kalomo in Zambia, and then at sites south of the Limpopo River and into southern Africa.[4]
Genetic diversity
In 2009, a genetic study of African village dogs found that these were genetically distinct from the non-native and mixed-breed dogs. The village dogs of Africa were a mosaic of native dogs that arrived early into Africa, and non-native mixed breed dogs. The Basenji clustered with the indigenous dogs, but the Pharaoh Hound and the Rhodesian Ridgeback were predominantly of non-African origin.[5]
