The Africanis is a dog
landrace
A landrace is a domesticated, locally adapted, often traditional variety of a species of animal or plant that has developed over time, through adaptation to its natural and cultural environment of agriculture and pastoralism, and due to isolati ...
found across
southern Africa
Southern Africa is the southernmost subregion of the African continent, south of the Congo and Tanzania. The physical location is the large part of Africa to the south of the extensive Congo River basin. Southern Africa is home to a number ...
.
Description
As is typical with landraces, there are several regional variations, believed to be the result of isolation and, to a limited degree, deliberate breeding. Some modern writers describe the Africanis as a
pariah dog
Pye-dog, or sometimes pariah dog, is a term used to describe an ownerless, half-wild, free-ranging dog that lives in or close to human settlements throughout Asia. The term is derived from the Sanskrit ''para'', which translates to "outsider".
...
. This is considered an inappropriate classification, as the term typically denotes an ownerless, free-ranging dog. Considered a landrace with limited human interference in their breeding, the Africanis has also been maintained by human owners.
The Africanis is a medium-sized, lightly built dog with a long slender muzzle and, usually, a short coat. It has been described as resembling a cross between a
Greyhound
The English Greyhound, or simply the Greyhound, is a breed of dog, a sighthound which has been bred for coursing, greyhound racing and hunting. Since the rise in large-scale adoption of retired racing Greyhounds, the breed has seen a resurgen ...
, a
terrier
Terrier (from Latin ''terra'', 'earth') is a type of dog originally bred to hunt vermin. A terrier is a dog of any one of many breeds or landraces of the terrier type, which are typically small, wiry, game, and fearless. Terrier breeds vary ...
and a
dingo
The dingo (''Canis familiaris'', ''Canis familiaris dingo'', ''Canis dingo'', or '' Canis lupus dingo'') is an ancient (basal) lineage of dog found in Australia. Its taxonomic classification is debated as indicated by the variety of scient ...
. It can be found in almost any colour or combination of colours, although fawns, browns, brindles and blacks with various white markings are common. A distinctive, possibly primitive, feature is a black patch found high on the outside of the tail where the
caudal gland is found in the wild
wolf
The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly u ...
.
The Africanis usually stands between . Being a
landrace
A landrace is a domesticated, locally adapted, often traditional variety of a species of animal or plant that has developed over time, through adaptation to its natural and cultural environment of agriculture and pastoralism, and due to isolati ...
, minor variations in appearance may be common. The Africanis is nonetheless known to breed true to a recognisable form.
History
Africa's indigenous dogs may be descended from
ancient Egyptian dogs found throughout the
Nile Delta
The Nile Delta ( ar, دلتا النيل, or simply , is the delta formed in Lower Egypt where the Nile River spreads out and drains into the Mediterranean Sea. It is one of the world's largest river deltas—from Alexandria in the west to ...
around 5,900 years ago. It is believed the descendants of these dogs spread throughout Africa with tribal movements, first throughout the
Sahara
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and finally reaching southern Africa around the
6th century AD.
The Africanis has almost always been attached to
human settlements in southern Africa. The dogs could have been used to help herd sheep, goats and cattle, guard against predators and help their human companions in the hunt. The Africanis has been known by a number of names. These include the
Bantu
Bantu may refer to:
*Bantu languages, constitute the largest sub-branch of the Niger–Congo languages
*Bantu peoples, over 400 peoples of Africa speaking a Bantu language
*Bantu knots, a type of African hairstyle
*Black Association for Nationali ...
dog, umbwa wa ki-shenzi ("traditional dog" in
Kiswahili
Swahili, also known by its local name , is the native language of the Swahili people, who are found primarily in Tanzania, Kenya and Mozambique (along the East African coast and adjacent litoral islands). It is a Bantu language, though Swahili h ...
, the
Khoekhoe
Khoekhoen (singular Khoekhoe) (or Khoikhoi in the former orthography; formerly also '' Hottentots''"Hottentot, n. and adj." ''OED Online'', Oxford University Press, March 2018, www.oed.com/view/Entry/88829. Accessed 13 May 2018. Citing G. S. ...
dog, the
Tswana dog and the
Zulu dog. Other local names include Sica, Isiqha, Ixhalaga, Ixalagha, Isigola, I-Twina and Itiwina. In older texts the potentially offensive terms 'kaffir dog', 'kaffir brak' or 'kraal dog' were also used.
While generally looked down upon by European settlers who preferred their imported dog breeds, the Africanis was held in higher esteem by Europeans in Africa than the
Indian pariah dog was in
India
India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...
.
In recent times efforts have been made to protect, preserve and promote these dogs, and prevent them from being split into a number of different breeds based upon different distinguishing physical features. In South Africa, a society has been established to preserve the Africanis, the Africanis Society of Southern Africa.
See also
*
Dogs portal
*
List of dog breeds
This list of dog breeds includes both extant and extinct dog breeds, varieties, landraces, and dog types. A research article on dog genomics published in Science/AAAS defines modern dog breeds as "a recent invention defined by conformation to ...
*
African village dog African village dogs are dogs found in Africa that are directly descended from an ancestral pool of indigenous dogs. African village dogs became the close companion of people in Africa, beginning in North Africa and spreading south.
Dogs entered Af ...
*
Basenji
Notes
References
{{Reflist, refs=
[{{cite journal , last=Arman , first=Koharik , date=September 2007 , title=A new direction for kennel club regulations and breed standards , journal=Canadian Veterinary Journal , volume=48 , issue=9 , pages=953–965 , pmc=1950109 , pmid=17966340]
[{{cite book , last1=Moggs , first1=Tim , last2=Sealy , first2=Judith , author-link2=Judith Sealy , chapter=Africanis: the pre-colonial dog of Africa , editor1-last=van Sittert , editor1-first=Lance , editor2-last=Swart , editor2-first=Sandra , date=2008 , title=Canis Africanis: a dog history of Southern Africa , location=Leiden , publisher=Brill , pages=35–52 , isbn=978-90-04-15419-3]
[{{cite book , last=Morris , first=Desmond , author-link=Desmond Morris , date=2001 , title=Dogs: the ultimate dictionary of over 1,000 dog breeds , location=North Pomfret, VT , publisher=Trafalgar Square Publishing , pages=685–686 , isbn=1-57076-219-8]
[{{cite web , url=https://dsae.co.za/entry/kaffir-dog/e03586 , title=entry for 'kaffir dog' , author= , date=23 September 2022 , website=Dictionary of South African English , publisher=DSAE , access-date=23 September 2022
]
External links
AfriCanis Society of Southern Africa"Africanis, the original dog of Africa" by Mary Alexander, South Africa Gateway, 5 October 2020''The dog shaped by Africans for Africa'', by Catherine Corrett, 31 October, 2014, ''Africa Geographic''
Dog breeds originating in Africa
Dog landraces
Landraces of Africa