2023 7:30 PMA domestic dog (Credit: Kalinina Maria/Shutterstock) and a pampas fox (Credit: Photo 4440/Shutterstock)NewsletterSign up for our email newsletter for the latest science newsSign Up The recent announcement of the discovery of a dog-fox hybrid the so-called “dogxim,” was strange and adorable and a little otherworldly But scientists warn that such crossbreeds are generally evidence of nature going awry under pressures created by humans As agriculture and other forms of human development encroach on natural areas wild and domesticated animals (not to mention people and their automobiles) are frequently coming into close contact with each other the medium-sized animal was hit by a car in Vacaria in Southern Brazil Vacaria is surrounded by rugged farm fields and patches of forest and four different species of canids live in the area an academic team from two different local universities determined that the animal was a hybrid between a domestic dog (Canis lupus familiaris) and the sandy-coated pampas fox (Lycalopex gymnocercus) it preferred to eat rats and at one point climbed a bush in its enclosure The odds are stacked against such a crossing ever occurring which may explain why examples of hybrids are so rare and dogxim is the only one ever confirmed by modern science Dogs and foxes belong to not just separate species but separate genera and have different numbers of chromosomes Two zoo directors from years gone by But those cases never received the same scrutiny as dogxim Read More: 5 Dog Breeds That Have Changed Over The Past 100 Years Genetic testing found that the hybrid had 76 chromosomes halfway between the dog’s 78 and the pampas fox’s 74 the rare mixing of animals from two different genera resulted in a genetic interweaving of the two species which had diverged from a common ancestor some 6.7 million years ago such as ligers (a lion-tiger cross) or wholphins (dolphin and killer whale) but they tend to result from some sort of human influence and they typically do more harm to the species involved than good “Hybridization between species with different evolutionary trajectories can be a powerful threat to wildlife conservation,” the paper said Read More: Dogs Have Co-Evolved With Humans Like No Other Species While some hybrids go on to outperform the original species many others suffer from abnormalities or from the blotting out of useful DNA evolved over centuries A 2022 report quantified the effects of hybridization by reviewing 115 studies and found that 49 percent of the effects described therein were negative and only 13 percent counted as positive The study also found that hybridization was surprisingly common and had affected 25 percent of plant species and 10 percent of animal ones The downsides of hybridization included “outbreeding depression” in which hybrid individuals are born lacking in one or more important adaptations Should one of those hybrids then go and breed with a member of a wild population Hybrids can also introduce reproductive issues to wild groups as when interbreeding injected fin whale DNA into blue whale populations and slowed their reproduction As for the breeding of dogxim – the only confirmed dog-fox hybrid in history – how much damage could have been done to the local fox population “So far, we have no scientific evidence that there are other hybrids in this region,” researcher Bruna Szynwelski of Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul told Newsweek we suspect that this case we have described is not the only one.” Read More: These Rare Adaptations Help Animals Survive in the Desert Register or Log In Want more?Keep reading for as low as $1.99 Subscribe Save up to 40% off the cover price when you subscribe to Discover magazine By 2024-01-29T14:16:00+00:00 Brazilian apple producers are conquering new markets in the Middle East said it plans to export to the UAE and Singapore in the first half of 2024 believes there is potential to carve out a niche in the premium segment for Brazilian apples Martins said: “These are two countries dominated by fruit imports from China which is the world’s largest apple producer consumers there are able to pay for better quality fruit sweeter and have a stronger red colour than the Chinese This attracts markets that value high quality” Rasip owns 1,200ha of orchards in the Vacaria region producing around 60,000 tonnes of apples per year The company currently exports around 20 per cent of its output to markets including India but aims to increase shipments to 30 per cent of production “The Brazilian apple market is very unstable so exporting is a way to guarantee more stable profitability for the company as overseas customers are willing to pay better prices for quality products,” Barbosa says According to the Brazilian Association of Apple Producers (ABPM) the country is on course to produce around 1m tonnes of apples this season said the impact of rains in the second half of 2023 has not been as bad as initially feared and should help reduce excess supply in the domestic market ABPM forecasts point to an export crop of between 35,000 and 45,000 tonnes this year depending on factors such as the exchange rate and the good development of the harvest throughout the summer “European production was around 4 per cent lower than the previous year There are also reports that China saw a small decrease – but considering we’re talking about a country responsible for 50 per cent of world production a small drop could represent the entire production of Brazil,” said Pérès Site powered by Webvision Cloud A small asteroid of about 1.74 meters and 9.4 tons hit Rio Grande do Sul generating the super-bolid that turned the night into a day for a few moments the Brazilian Meteor Observation Network that investigated the case Studies also indicate that this event left meteorites on the ground near Vacaria the network researchers analyzed the images from the cameras of BRAMON and Clima ao Vivo From the triangulation of the videos recorded in cities in Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina BRAMON concludes that the bolide had a trajectory predominantly from South-Southeast to North-Northwest At 01:09 (local time) in the dawn of Thursday the space rock reached the Earth’s atmosphere at an angle of 40.5 degress related to the ground It started its bright phase at an altitude of 75.3 km east of Caxias do Sul It continued to shine brightly for 6.2 seconds largely overcoming the full moon’s luminosity and reaching -17.2 magnitude a brightness 40 times greater than the full moon until it extinguishes at 17.3 km of altitude Superbolide atmospheric trajectory – Credits: BRAMON As they travel at a very high speed in space asteroids and meteoroids have very high kinetic energy Upon reaching the Earth’s atmosphere much of that energy is converted into other energies including the heat that vaporizes much of the object and the luminous energy that makes it visible over huge distances This process is called atmospheric ablation BRAMON measured the brightness and speed of the meteor in each video frame it is possible to estimate the total kinetic energy and knowing the energy and speed of the object its mass is calculated by applying the kinetic energy formula (E = m.v²/2) Speed and brightness X time graph – Credits: BRAMON it was calculated that the bolide exploded over Rio Grande do Sul with an energy equivalent to 220 tons of TNT This corresponds to a small asteroid about 1.74 meters and 9.4 tons of mass it is estimated that between 2% (188 kg) and 6% (564 kg) would have resisted the ablation process and reached the ground in the municipality of Vacaria Estimated asteroid size – Credits: BRAMONAll of these calculations involve some estimated values and variables that cannot be measured being replaced by standard values indicated in the scientific literature This means that the results presented are an approximation of reality and may not accurately represent it the American engineer Jim Goodall calculated the strewn field of ​​the meteorites When the object reaches the lower and denser layers of the atmosphere the air resistance is so high that the object explodes generating a burst of brightness and an intense shock wave which is perceived as a strong explosion noise These fragments travel to the ground practically at a constant speed of around 300 km/h and are subject to winds that interfere a lot in the trajectory simulates the trajectory of a cloud of fragments of different sizes and shapes considering both the meteor’s trajectory and the winds present in the region The map below represents the regions where it is possible to find the meteorite fragments generated by this bolide Meteorites strewn field – Credits: Jim Goodall / BRAMON The yellow arrow represents the end of the meteor’s trajectory the area in blue marks where there is the possibility of finding these meteorites This possibility is litle higher in the green area and the yellow area it is where there is the greatest probability The area is largely in the municipality of Vacaria The smallest fragments are also more numerous and therefore easier to find They must have spread over a large part of the dispersion area closest to Vacaria and Campestre da Serra while the larger and less numerous fragments may be found closer to the Muitos Capões If you are the site owner (or you manage this site), please whitelist your IP or if you think this block is an error please open a support ticket and make sure to include the block details (displayed in the box below) so we can assist you in troubleshooting the issue These are the results of the WTA tournament that took place in Bogota on Friday Julieta Pareja reach the semifinal in Bogota on Friday Now the world no.223, Katarzyna played her last match on the 4th of April when she defeated world no.51 Marie Bouzkova 5-7 6-1 7-5 in the quarter in Bogota (draw) during this year Kawa has achieved a compiled 11-5 win-loss record Katarzyna Kawa will face the world no.550 Julieta Pareja in the semifinal They have never played each other so far in top tournaments Currently ranked no.54, the Colombian played her last match on the 4th of April when she defeated world no.82 Tatjana Maria 6-1 6-3 in the quarter in Bogota (draw) during this year the Colombian owns a 8-5 record Maria Camila Osorio Serrano will compete against the world no.157 Julia Riera in the semifinal they have never competed against each other so far on the main tour Now the world no.157, Julia played her last match on the 4th of April when she defeated world no.225 Lea Boskovic 6-3 2-6 6-1 in the quarter in Bogota (draw) This season Julia owns an overall 9-5 record Julia Riera’s most significant performance of the current year was reaching the semifinal in the W75 Vacaria Julia Riera will face the world no.54 Camila Osorio in the semifinal they have never played each other as of now in top events At the moment ranked no.550 (career-high), Pareja played her last match on the 4th of April when she beat world no.116 Leolia Jeanjean 7-6(5) 6-3 in the quarter in Bogota (draw) This season Pareja has managed to achieve a 5-1 record Julieta Pareja will square off with the world no.223 Katarzyna Kawa in the semifinal they have never played each other up to now on the main tour