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Safú

African Village Dog

“Safú used to be a street dog in São Tomé and Príncipe, an archipelago in the Gulf of Guinea. I picked him up from the street when he was still a puppy. After being adopted he took very long flights with me (his human mum) to get to the US, where he now lives. Flying him to the US was very stressful (specially for me) but we made it safely. He's adapting really well in the western life, but he still is very weary of strangers.”

Instagram tag
@safu_saotome

Place of Birth

São Tomé and Príncipe

Current Location

Washington, District of Columbia, USA

From

São Tomé and Príncipe

This dog has been viewed and been given 41 wags

Registration

Microchip: 900182001123141

Genetic Breed Result

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Village dog trace breed analysis

Village dogs often have short stretches of DNA that match purebred dogs, due to a distant common ancestor or a more recent mating between a purebred and a village dog. Safú has short stretches of DNA in common with this breed:

What exactly are village dogs?

Village dogs are the free-breeding, free-roaming “outside” dogs found around the world living in and around human settlements big and small. They are also known as island dogs, pariah dogs, or free-ranging dogs.

Many village dog populations precede the formation of modern breed dogs.

They make up about 3/4s of the billion or so dogs living on Earth today. They serve as trash cleaners, sentinels, and even sometimes companions while still retaining much of their freedom. Embark’s founders have studied village dogs on six continents since 2007 in their efforts to understand the history, traits, and health of the domestic dog. Through this work they have discovered the origins of the dog in Central Asia, and also identified genetic regions involved in domestication and local adaptation, such as the high altitude adaptation in Himalayan dogs. Embark is the only dog DNA test that includes diverse village dogs from around the world in its breed reference panel.

So what breeds are in my dog?

In a very real sense, African Village Dog is the actual breed of your dog. Village dogs like this descend from separate lines of dogs than the lines that have been bred into standardized breeds like Labradors and Poodles. If you trace the family tree of Safú back, you won’t find any ancestral dogs that are part of any of those standardized breeds.

African Village Dog

African village dogs live in many different environments: desert, plains, forest, woodland, mountains, and more. As such, African village dogs vary as widely as African cultures. Despite their differences, they all tend to be independent and resourceful, and can make excellent companions if adopted young and raised in the right environment.

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Changes to this dog’s profile
  • On 12/5/2018 changed name from "Safú " to "Safú"

Village dogs have lived just about everywhere across the world for thousands of years. Long before there were any recognized dog breeds, there were village dogs around the fires and trash heaps of early human villages. Safú is part of this ancient heritage, not descended from a specific breed, but continuing the ancient lineage of dogs that were our first, best friends.

Embark's co-founders studied Village Dogs on six continents in their efforts to understand the history, traits, and health of the domestic dog. Through this work, they discovered evidence for the origins of the dog in Central Asia , and they also identified genetic regions involved in domestication and local adaptation. As a result, Embark has the largest Village Dog reference panel of any canine genetics company.

We compared Safú's DNA to a global panel of thousands of village dogs. This plot highlights regions of the world where Safú's DNA is most similar to those village dogs. The areas of darkest red reflect the greatest similarity to our village dog panel.

Village Dog Map
Similarity to village dog groups around the world. Darker red reflects greater similarity.

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Traits

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Through Safú’s mitochondrial DNA we can trace his mother’s ancestry back to where dogs and people first became friends. This map helps you visualize the routes that his ancestors took to your home. Their story is described below the map.

Haplogroup

B1

Haplotype

B42

Map

B1

Safú’s Haplogroup

B1 is the second most common maternal lineage in breeds of European or American origin. It is the female line of the majority of Golden Retrievers, Basset Hounds, and Shih Tzus, and about half of Beagles, Pekingese and Toy Poodles. This lineage is also somewhat common among village dogs that carry distinct ancestry from these breeds. We know this is a result of B1 dogs being common amongst the European dogs that their conquering owners brought around the world, because nowhere on earth is it a very common lineage in village dogs. It even enables us to trace the path of (human) colonization: Because most Bichons are B1 and Bichons are popular in Spanish culture, B1 is now fairly common among village dogs in Latin America.

B42

Safú’s Haplotype

Part of the large B1 haplogroup, this haplotype occurs most commonly in Maltese, Bichon Frises, and village dogs in Java, Peru, and Costa Rica.

The B1 haplogroup can be found in village dogs like the Peruvian Village Dog, pictured above.

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Through Safú’s Y-chromosome we can trace his father’s ancestry back to where dogs and people first became friends. This map helps you visualize the routes that his ancestors took to your home. Their story is described below the map.

Haplogroup

A2b

Haplotype

Hc.10

Map

A2b

Safú’s Haplogroup

A2b appears to have split a few times in succession, which means that some of the Central Asian male ancestors of this lineage went their separate ways before their respective Y chromosomes made their rounds. There is not much diversity in this lineage, meaning that it has only begun to take off recently. Two iconic breeds, the Dachshund and Bloodhound, represent this lineage well. Over half of Rottweilers are A2b, as are the majority of Labrador Retrievers and Cavalier King Charles Spaniels. While A2a is restricted mostly to East Asia, this paternal line is also found among European breeds.

Hc.10

Safú’s Haplotype

Part of the A2b haplogroup, this haplotype occurs most commonly in Labrador Retrievers, Rottweilers, Curly-Coated Retrievers, Dandie Dinmont Terriers, and village dogs throughout the world.

A2b is found in the Daschund breed.

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