SREL Reprint #1864

The New Guinea Singing Dog: taxonomy, captive studies and conservation priorities

I. Lehr Brisbin, Jr.1, Raymond P. Coppinger2, Mark H. Feinstein2, Steven N. Austad3, and John J. Mayer1

1Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, P.O. Drawer E, Aiken, South Carolina 29803, USA
2Hampshire College, 893 West Street, Amherst, Massachusetts 01002, USA
3Department of Biological Science, University of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho 83843, USA

Abstract: Initially considered a new species of wild canid when discovered in the mid-1950's, the New Guinea Singing Dog, also known as Hallstrom's Dog, is more properly considered as a member of the complex of canids including the gray wolf, domestic dog and Australian Dingo. The precise taxonomic status and phylogenetic relationships of this group are matters of current controversy that may require considerable reconstruction of traditional assumptions.
Although wild populations of these dogs have been noted in the higher altitudes of the Central Highlands, they have invariably been overlooked as subjects of research. This neglect has partially been the result of a failure to appreciate the unusual features of this canid and to understand its position as a truly primitive form of domestic dog. The possibility that these dogs may exert significant predation pressure upon smaller native fauna further increases the need for field studies in the Central Highlands where they are the only large mammalian predator other than man.
Virtually all biological information for the New Guinea Singing Dog has resulted from studies of captive animals. Foremost among its unique features is its vocal behaviour including a form of howling marked by an extraordinary degree of frequency modulation and a number of signals, e.g. a high-pitch rapid trill, which have not been reported for other canids. The structural complexity and functional significance of these vocal patterns are not yet well understood. Other unique features include an annual reproductive cycle, with short-term recycling of estrus in females which fail to become pregnant, and a social behaviour which suggests a monogamous non-pack social organization.
Field studies of these animals are being hindered by what may be a recent decline in their numbers and distribution. Of particular concern has been the increasingly limited number of sites which isolate them from hybridization with domestic dogs. This is probably the most significant conservation concern facing wild populations today. There is hope that non-hybridized Singing Dog populations may still exist at higher altitudes on Mounts Giluwe and Wilhelm in Papua New Guinea, and in highlands to the south of the Lakes-Plains region of the Idenburg and Rouffaer Rivers in Irian Jaya. A particularly important population, due to its isolation, has recently been found in the Mount Mekil region in far west Papua New Guinea.

SREL Reprint #1864

Brisbin, I.L., Jr., R.P. Coppinger, M.H. Feinstein, S.N. Austad, and J.J. Mayer. 1994. The New Guinea Singing Dog: taxonomy, captive studies and conservation priorities. Science in New Guinea 20:27-38. 

This information was provided by the University of Georgia's Savannah River Ecology Laboratory (srel.uga.edu).