Japanese wolf

American  

[jap-uh-neez woolf, -nees] / ˈdʒæp əˌniz ˈwʊlf, -ˌnis /

noun

Japanese wolves plural

1. a wolf, Canis lupus hodophilax, one of two subspecies of gray wolf indigenous to the Japanese archipelago, but extinct since the early 20th century, resembling a Border collie in stature and believed to be the closest wild relative to the modern domestic dog.

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Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

noun

• Japanese wolves
  plural

Etymology

Origin of Japanese wolf

First recorded in 1875–80

Example Sentences

These are “exciting results,” says evolutionary biologist Yohey Terai at Japan’s Graduate University for Advanced Studies, whose work previously identified an extinct Japanese wolf as the closest relative of modern dogs yet found.

From Science Magazine • Jun. 29, 2022

Yet when Terai and his colleagues constructed evolutionary trees, they found that the branch containing the Japanese wolf lineage lay closer to that of dogs than to any other animal.

From Science Magazine • Oct. 18, 2021

As for how Japanese wolf DNA influences modern dogs, Terai can only speculate.

From Science Magazine • Oct. 18, 2021

Later, those eastern dogs bred with western dogs, leaving only a dilute Japanese wolf signature in western dogs.

From Science Magazine • Oct. 18, 2021

Although the Japanese wolf has been gone for more than a century, people still report seeing or hearing the animals.

From Scientific American • Feb. 21, 2013