World’s first fox-dog hybrid discovered in Brazil, study says

The world’s first ever confirmed dog-fox hybrid, called a ‘dogxim’, has been discovered in Brazil, astonishing wildlife enthusiasts and scientists.

The jaw-dropping discovery began in 2021 when an animal rescue team was dispatched to reports of an injured animal in Vacaria, Rio Grande do Sul.

A hit-and-run incident had left the creature severely injured and the Environmental Patrol transferred it to the veterinary hospital of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS).

From the hospital, the animal went to the Center for Conservation and Rehabilitation of Wild Animals.

The black, pointy-eared animal displayed “unusual” characteristics, appearing neither fully wild nor fully domestic.

“It was not as docile as a dog, but it also lacked the aggressiveness expected of a wild canid when handled,” Flávia Ferrari, a conservationist, told an international media outlet.

Intrigued, researchers ran a series of tests in order to identify the animal’s genetic makeup. They determined it was a hybrid between a pampas fox — a fox native to South America — and a domestic dog, according to a study published on August 3 in the journal Animals.

“To our knowledge, this represents the first documented case of hybridisation between these two species,” researchers said.

“This discovery implies that, although these species diverged about 6.7 million years ago and belong to different genera, they might still produce viable hybrids,” researchers said.

The hybrid has been called a “dogxim,” a combination of “dog” and “graxaim-do-campo,” the Portuguese name for the pampas fox, according to the media outlet. The animal died earlier this year of an unspecified cause.

Hybrid animals are created both through human coercion and natural pairings in the wild, according to a 2021 study published in the journal Annals of Animal Science.

About 10 percent of animal species interbreed with other species — typically ones that are closely related. Mules, a cross between donkeys and horses, and ligers, a mix between lions and tigers, are two examples of hybrids created by humans, according to the study.