Although the title leads with the question What is a Basenji, for this article I have chosen to steer away from using the term Basenji to label the native Congo Basin dog because that serves only to distract and confuse people who get hung up on something that is no more than a Westernized word. Yet, the information presented responds directly to this question. To begin, lets step back and expand our understanding of natural selection pressures/processes and the isolation mechanisms/barriers that have regulated, and more importantly obstructed, gene flow over the past 2,000 years (not including the most recent 200 years) on the African continent. These powerful selection pressures include ethnicity (tribalism), culture, language, geography, technology, logistics, history, environment, etc. Broadly, this is the science of phylogeography; the study of processes that result in geographic distribution of distinct life forms. Lets consider the geographic location of different biomes. A biome is simply any major ecological community of organisms, both plant and animal. Biomes are defined in terms of the entire biotic community of living organisms and their inter-relationships with their immediate environment. The map presented here illustrates the most distinct biomes on the African continent relevant to this topic. These biomes have a direct and significant impact on the resident biotic assemblage and the human lifestyles (including how dogs are routinely employed) that adapted

to each region. The polygons represent some of the most obvious regional biomes on the continent: MD = desert south of the Mediterranean ; DG = Dahomey Gap ; EF = Equatorial old-growth primary Forest ;RV = east of the Rift Valley ; SA = Southern African countries.

All aboriginal (earliest known) domestic dogs have a very similar basic physical appearance. This primitive canid body shape is known as the long-term pariah morphotype (LTPM). The LTPM silhouette is characterized by a wolf or fox-like appearance, with sharp-pointed, erect ears, a long, pointed muzzle and a long, sickle-shaped tail. This is the generalized form that is at the root of the domestic canine ancestry. Some people call this the null type because it is also the profile (outline) that modern canines revert back to when generations are left under the influence of natural processes breeding without human selection.

Before humans intervened, the earliest dog ancestor diverged into populations of separate types based on natural selection (including the mechanisms identified

above) and their success functioning in each biome. As these first domestic dogs migrated with humans, the primitive canine morphotype branched out across global landscapes and new, locally distinct types developed. Under the unique pressures of different environments, the distinct types stabilized as separate natural breeds. Over the past few thousand years, each geographically specific variety of dog (with a distinctive common gene pool, uniformity of type/ appearance, and consistent function) evolved from the basic, original LTPM form into a recognizable, geographic type. These divergent populations formed discrete breeds specific to their biome of origin. Often I read comments referring to dogs around the world that are basenji-like in that they have a common general primitive silhouette. What we are actually observing is the LTPM origin. It can be seen in all the primitive, aboriginal breeds: Australian Dingo, Congo Basin Basenji, New Guinea Singing Dog, Malaysian Dog, etc. But, basenji-like is not necessarily a Basenji. Given this background of breeds specific to their biome, we can identify a unique type (breed) that will be called EFb (i.e., Equatorial old-growth primary Forest breed) because it originated in the

The Unique CongoBasin Native Dog by Dr. Jo Thompson

What is a Basenji? -

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EF biome that corresponds to the Congo Basin. The EFb, as with the other aboriginal breeds, began with a primitive canid body shape thousands of years ago. Over the thousands of years since the LTPM was introduced into the EF biome, its form evolved into the distinct breed type recognized by early Westerners as the Congo Terrier and later called Basenji (= EFb). The distinctive environmental pressures within the Congo Basin have created an assemblage of faunal types found nowhere else in the world, including most notably the Bonobo, Okapi, Congo Peacock, Aquatic Genet, and Congo Clawless Otter. Concealed within the EFb population across their biome of origin we find the full breed complement of genes; the EFb genome. Some individuals have some genes and not others but together they have all the genes that make up the distinctive genetics of the EFb population. It is that EFb genome at the population level that holds the maximum degree of genetic diversity. Taking one evolutionary step backwards, the domestic dog started from the wolf-dog common ancestor and consisted of the most diverse genome. As the global wolf-dog population split into wolfs and dogs, those that became dogs (the LTPM) had less diversity in their genome but added diversity through mutations, etc. As the LTPM established in various biomes, each discrete population diverged from the LTPM into distinct types adapted to their regional environment. Each of those types was genetically less diverse than the LTPM common ancestor but also gained new and different genes through the processes of evolution. Today we have different breeds (each consistent in type and with a distinctive population genome). Now we can see how a dog from the very heart of the EF biome would potentially contribute new genes to our Basenji outside the Congo Basin by restoring genes that are otherwise found within the original EFb population genome. Thus, the preservation of this beloved breed remains in our hands. As stewards, we must uphold the unique design of this breed, distinguished as the original primitive breed developed by the forces at play in the Congo Basin.

Dr. Jo Thompson, Executive Director of the Lukuru Wildlife Research Project, is a renowned wildlife biologist who has lived and worked in the most remote regions of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) for the past 20 years. Primarily she has been working to protect a unique great ape, the bonobo (Pan Paniscus) and other species of high conservation concern. In addition, working broadly across Africa, through her research she has been celebrated as a leader in field-based conservation biology, population biogeography, central African natural history, and the implications of population genetics. Continuing to work as one of only a very few conservationist who remained throughout a ten year war in the DRC, Dr. Thompson organized a pioneering effort to support conservation work in the DRC throughout the worst years of the war, led a one-of-its-kind mission of top Congolese conservationists to meet with Security Council member state ambassadors at the United Nations, worked tirelessly for biodiversity conservation in central Africa, pioneered a human-needs approach to conservation through her intimate knowledge of the most primitive people, and continued field activities under the most challenging conditions. These contributions distinguished her as an internationally acclaimed real-world science-based conservationist.

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