SciShow - 2022-06-23
Is it possible for there to be a dog that is made of one very determined cell? Learn about this fascinating creature with Hank in a new episode of SciShow! Let's go! Hosted by: Hank Green Thumbnail Image Credit: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Canine_transmissible_venereal_tumor_cytology.JPG SciShow is on TikTok! Check us out at https://www.tiktok.com/@scishow ---------- Support SciShow by becoming a patron on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/scishow ---------- Huge thanks go to the following Patreon supporters for helping us keep SciShow free for everyone forever: Matt Curls, Alisa Sherbow, Dr. Melvin Sanicas, Harrison Mills, Adam Brainard, Chris Peters, charles george, Piya Shedden, Alex Hackman, Christopher R Boucher, Jeffrey Mckishen, Ash, Silas Emrys, Eric Jensen, Kevin Bealer, Jason A Saslow, Tom Mosner, Tomás Lagos González, Jacob, Christoph Schwanke, Sam Lutfi, Bryan Cloer ---------- Looking for SciShow elsewhere on the internet? SciShow Tangents Podcast: https://scishow-tangents.simplecast.com/ Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/scishow Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/scishow Instagram: http://instagram.com/thescishow #SciShow #dog #cancer #science ---------- Sources: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7449598/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3918581/ https://www.hhmi.org/news/cancer-cells-unexpected-genetic-tricks-evading-immune-system https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/understanding/what-is-cancer https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25867244/#:~:text=CTVT%20first%20emerged%20as%20a,compatible%20with%20long%2Dterm%20survival Image Sources: https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/happy-cute-pet-dog-puppy-sitting-in-a-meadow-grass-royalty-free-image/1313790986?adppopup=true https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CSIRO_ScienceImage_7632_SEM_diatom.jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Angry_Dog_MET_1975.131.122.jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cancer_cells.jpg https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/video/hela-cells-in-culture-stock-footage/519851718?adppopup=true https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/cancer-cells-on-dna-stand-background-3d-royalty-free-image/1325872227?adppopup=true https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/video/in-front-of-the-camera-capturing-video-of-running-fast-stock-footage/1350669462?adppopup=true https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/video/jack-russel-terrier-puppy-in-basket-stock-footage/577097594?adppopup=true https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Saccharomyces_cerevisiae_SEM.jpg https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/video/group-of-lovely-puppy-playing-outdoor-4k-stock-footage/1053324724?adppopup=true https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/video/rat-domestic-animal-stock-footage/164063821?adppopup=true https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Micrograph_of_small-cell_carcinoma_of_the_prostate.jpg https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/video/3d-animation-of-cancer-cells-on-tissue-stock-footage/1326504686?adppopup=true https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cancer_cells_(1).jpg https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/spine-cancer-or-spinal-tumor-disease-3d-royalty-free-image/1335843615?adppopup=true https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/luminous-dna-strands-on-a-dark-violet-background-3d-royalty-free-image/1328132549?adppopup=true https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Breast_cancer_cell_(1).jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Antibiotic_resistance.svg https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/cancer-cells-3d-illustration-royalty-free-image/1362508253?adppopup=true https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/hot-dogs-ready-to-eat-royalty-free-image/466842368?adppopup=true https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Angry_Dog_MET_1975.131.122.jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Canine_transmissible_venereal_tumor_cytology.JPG https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Canine_Transmissible_Venereal_Tumors_(CTVTs)_(27025657066).jpg https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/female-reproductive-system-diseases-uterus-cancer-royalty-free-image/1337210621?adppopup=true https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/cells-work-to-fight-cancer-immunotherapy-car-t-cell-royalty-free-image/1317697233?adppopup=true https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Population_bottleneck.svg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Golden_Jackal_(_Indian_Jackal)_canis_aureus_indicus.jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Coyote_(Canis_latrans)_(46438128045).jpg https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/cancer-cells-royalty-free-image/1011146302?adppopup=true https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fvets.2019.00300/full
Clueless person: Cancer is scary!
Person learns a bit more: Cancer isn't that scary!
Person learns even more: Cancer is absolutely terrifying!
The bell curve of cancer
@@victorconway444that ain't just a bell but a damn DIVE
almost like they aren’t even clueless
“They have human DNA, but they have started living for themselves instead of for you…”
Such a raw line.
Sound like it came straight out of a horror science-fiction novel
It's an excellent metaphor for selfish exploitative actions within the global organism as well.
@@clockworkkirlia7475ok metastasis 🤓
Now, also experience.
im not religous but those cells need a god
@@sprout4096that seems a bit outta left field but ok
That dog really said "Can't die of cancer if I become the cancer."
It did die of cancer, the cancer survived the dog
There is a similarly interesting case, the Dwarf Tapeworm (hymenolepis nana) infected a man with HIV (diagnosed 2006), the tapeworm infection was identified in 2013 when he arrived in hospital with fatigue, a fever, coughing, and weight loss, which is when doctors found tapeworm eggs in his stool. However they also identified that the patient additionally had lung tumours, and presumably tumourous lymph nodes (described as "grossly abnormal, solid, nodular masses", with those in his neck being several centimeters large).
Cell samples from the lungs and lymph nodes were sent for biopsy which is where the case took a weird turn from simply a tapeworm infection and relatively typical cancer to something far more peculiar. These tumour cells were non-human in origin, they were far to small to be human cells, and sometimes fused back together (something human cancer cells do not do). A molecular DNA analysis revealed that these cells were in fact those of the Dwarf Tapeworm, the continued infection of which in the man enabled it to acquire mutations which eventually led to at least on tapeworm in him becoming cancerous, and subsequently that tapeworm tumour then metastasized throughout the man's body.
While this situation seemingly requires a very specific set of conditions (compromised immune system alongside a severe dwarf tapeworm infection, or possibly an infection by any autoinfectious parasite), in the developing world these conditions do crop up frequently, and could overlap with somewhat frequency, and so may in fact be occurring multiple times but being misdiagnosed as human cancer.
It's an example not as successful as the CTVT, but it shows a cancerous tumour spreading at least for a short time beyond it's originator, and significantly of a tumour jumping species, a key trait of many dangerous pathogens.
i think they did a video on that case a few weeks ago actually, the title was something like “the rarest cancer in history”
And then there are prion diseases, which are basically just misfolded proteins that turn other proteins into misfolded versions. So it is infectious and deadly, but the danger persists after the death of the host and it is invisible to the immune system, because the prions are made of the hosts strunctures.
Yep, they already did an episode on tapeworm cancer. Someone needs to send that one to Chubbyemu.
Imagine how crazy it would be if the tapeworm cancer have somehow managed to survive. Wouldn't be nuts if we had a single celled-tapeworm too?
Hey L Sedge...you should totally make a video on this. Its so fascinating!
So sorry, Hank, that you had to “find out what cancer is” in a personal way… Wishing you all the best.
My stomach dropped once I connected the date, the host, and the topic....
When I heard him say that about cancer, I frowned. I hate cancer with every ounce of my being.
Cancer sucks.
I lost a friend to it several weeks ago.
He's in remission now.
@@bobafettjr85 Good for him.
I will call my single celled dog Uno!
+4 color, red
That’s the name of my cat, he has one brain cell.
Shane Dawson?
We don't talk about Uno
If it expanded to have two cells, would it be Duo?
Makes me wonder whether we could clone a dog from this cell. Not that it would be very ethical or necessary but still intriguing
Creating RE style creature in process?. 😂
i dont think we can, it probably only has unfunctional genes left overs of genes that was once really crucial for multicellular life
nah, it lacks a lot of important genes and also how do you get rid of the genes that makes it duplicate like crazy and be cancerous? the most you would do is bring back a lot of genes that were absent in dogs nowadays but ultimatelly it wouldn't make much of a difference, except the tons of failed fetuses and puppies that would die for that
It's like trying to explain why early abortion should be protected. This cell, yes it's the dog, the entire dog even, but it's NOT A DOG. Also, you can't imagine what it would be if you were ALL cancer cells. That's some Akira-level shiz.
We definitely could not. It’s been evolving for its new lifestyle for so long that it’s lost a bunch of chromosomes.
I’ve been working in a cancer research lab for over a year now and it is absolutely terrifying the things cancer cells are able to do because they really do act more like colonies of single celled organisms than they do a malfunctioning cell
I mean, if you consider it, a cancer cell that merely is out for itself only would have a very poor survivability, where those that cooperate with other cancer cells would be much more successful and able to take control of their host more easily.
they're thinking way too short term@@FarremShamist
@@kevinwu8797 It works within those confines, for a time. They don't really 'think' though, it's just an attempt at an alternate path of propagation. I use the word attempt loosely here, as no part of this is intentional. It just happens.
@@FarremShamistinstead of thought or intention it should more so be called that this kills the being and now cancer has no way of gaining nutrients therefore dying therefore all that cancer genome line is done for, where here this didn't happen because it actually escapes the living being that was brought down by it and keeps on living to produce more and more cells
So that short term " thought" is a good metaphor for what is happening to regular none infective parasitic cancers, until they can live on their own their independence from other cancers or the being itself is quite short sighted aka dooms their genes and doesn't make them any progress thankfully
That's why ctvt seems like an apocalypse waiting to happen it evolved way too much and can still evolve as it preserves the progress until unstoppable
@@juska4235 It's a completely understandable and natural extension of evolution that, as cells divide, the immediate advantage of cancer is enormous for selection. It can grow very easily once it gets off the ground, but it only goes as far as its host survives... Which does not really happen often, as most don't take a step into becoming infectious, it's not something often selected for.
And evolution usually extends to immediate reproduction, what helps or allows more reproduction now, instead of a plan for later.
Hearing him mention cancer is weird after hearing about his recent journey listening. So happy he is doing well, and wishing him nothing but good health going forward!!
Hey Hank! CTVT is a super scary and also fascinating concept, as its one of only 3 known contagious cancers in nature. Some recent studies however have shown that in fact, the cancerous cells that are thought to cause the tumors may actually be infected by a giant virus! This mimivirus was found when filtering much larger particles than previously tested, which seems to show that the CTVT cells are a sort of freaky blend from thousands year-old cancer cells and a pathogen. It also led to the realization that a lot of similar giant viruses have been isolated from humans cancer samples, which suggests humans may have more infectious cancers than originally thought. This discovery though has led to some breakthroughs in treatment for CTVT though, and currently a vaccine program is going through trial with rather promising results!
I didn't knew that there are ofganisms that have symbiosis with viruses. Does it even count as symbiosis?
Well seeing as some cervical cancer is caused by HPV it is a good link to consider.
If they could figure out how the ctvt makes use of telomerase to protect itself against genetic damage and apply that to humans, we would no longer die of old age. Consider that this is a 1,200-2,500 year old animal “organism” it shouldn’t be possible…
Have there been any updates on what you brought up a year ago?
It's so crazy that technically the dog never died, he lives on in other pups and similar things, roaming the earth. Changing and evolving as the generations go by
He got that dawg in him
@@MasterTaiki Damn right.
Technically it did die. Procreating is not the technical definition of remaining alive.
You're being figurative, not technical.
Eh, whether or not something is alive is a fuzzy social construct and this is DEFINITELY an edge case. Given the much smaller amount of genetic drift over 11,000 years compared to every multicellular dog on Earth, I’d argue the original dog is CLOSER to being still alive than any other dog from 11,000 years ago!
@Graphomite Technically, the dog itself died, but the dog’s cells still survive. A single piece of that dog is still “alive,” it has nothing to do with procreation.
Biologist here, and to be honest, I had never seen cancer this way, "successful unicellular life, going rogue inside your multicellular body". A beautiful way of seeing something so bad as cancer.
"It is not a malfunction, but a terrible evolutionary success". WOW.
And then people ask, why I did study sciences!!! XD
Changes in perspective is what science does well. Often these shifts in perspectives is considered heretical - even by the scientists themselves.
Sup biologist you know how to cure insomnia
That sense of dizzying realization is probably why a lot of people stay in STEM even if they might otherwise make a better living in a different trade or industry. That feeling of "...oh... OH WOW" when you see something that forces a perspective shift, and from the new angle, things suddenly make more sense than before. People live for that kind of moment.
There's an ongoing hypothesis (speciated by cancer development animals or SCANDAL) that myxosporeans started out as a transmissable form of tumors before evolving to its own species.
@Nancy A. Sanhueza-Diaz I believe they were being very rude by insinuating that biology is boring and therefore puts people to sleep. For the record I also as a casual observer find biology incredibly fascinating and constantly being exposed to new and different ways of looking at it is endlessly enjoyable to me.
fun fact: a similar thing has happened to Tasmanian Devils, also due to their low genetic diversity. Their contagious tumor disease is known as DFTD, or “devil facial tumor disease”.
OMG, I've seen a documentary about this years ago (before YT) and have absolutely forgotten about it until now. I recall the documentary saying the cancer was spread through bites during fights between the animals...
@@remus-alexandrusimion3439Yep. I saw that too.
Hank talking about cancer before the diagnosis is strange, so glad he’s in remission now
Hearing hank talk about cancer here hits different after him beating it all this time later
No mention of "Devil Facial Tumor Disease?" You definitely alluded to it. It's a pretty fascinating topic! I was also wondering if you'd mention Henrietta Lacks. Her cancer's still alive and kicking, though only thanks to a laboratory.
Yeah, I was thinking "I know there's at least one other contagious cancer, does that one follow the same mechanism?"
The case of Henrietta Lacks is a bit different, as her cancer, though alive and kicking and incredibly fascinating on it's own, is being artificially maintained by humans. What CTVT and DFTD did, however, is remarkable on a whole other level. Those cancers evolved ON THEIR OWN to become transmissible. Like, naturally. Without any assistance. And this is completely nuts.
Watching and listening to Hank talk about cancer a year after this video was published is weird and a little disturbing.
To be fair, HeLa is also singled celled but also technically a human. Biology is weird sometimes, especially when it comes to cancer. Like cancer cells are just the rebels who don't follow the system, and people suffer because of that.
Hela cells have only been around for ~100 years. These dog cells have been around for at least 10X longer than that.
@Rob Tancer
Yeah, but both are immortal cells. It's just one has spread naturally via sex.
@Rob Tancer and even so, there are already some scientists saying that HeLa cells are different enough to constitute a brand new species
These cells are complete aliens by now, with somewhere around 80 chromosomes.
At least HeLa was only preserved by humans in lab conditions, it didn’t evolve to be able to live on its own.
This is another level of blowing my mind. I perfectly understood it, but the fact that part of a dog decided to go rogue and "blow this joint", living an independent life, astounds me.
"I'm inevitable"...
No longer able to form a dog in their current state, the potential is invisible. That begs the question, are there any other existing pathogens which, if altered the right way, could have once been another creature? 😳
yeah like for example the protozoa or protist, single cells with nucleus, where they in the past a multicelular organism?
Reminds me of HeLa cells. Not to the same degree as TVT, but they also figured out how spread by aerosol and infect other cell lines that were worked on in the same cabinet. So many unique cell lines were later found to have been taken over by HeLa, and tons of research were discredited.
So you’re telling me Cancer is like a Cell going "Reject modernity, embrace tradition."
More or less
This is the dog that never ends, it just goes on and on my friends...
Two doggies started doing it not knowing what it was, and they'll continue passing it forever just because...
This is one of the best SciShow episodes ever. Bizarre subject, great dramatic arc, clear and perspective-widening explanation.
Absolutely loved the jokes. "... when that happens, the organism can no longer pass on its genes, because of how it is dead". LOL.
Yeah... organisms that are dead do indeed tend to have quite some trouble passing on their genes. Except in this case somehow.
I cackled at that.
People die when they are killed.
I didn't cause I did not even realise cause of how matter of factly that was said
@fghsgh it passed to another host before its first host died, I also love how it was said
I was diagnosed with cancer this April. Thank you for helping understand what's wrong with me in a new way and in a way that makes me feel like I can understand it.
Dam hope you overcome it and recover. It might not mean much coming from some random guy on youtube but stay strong and i wish u luck.
I hope you and your doctors can overcome your cancer, so that you remain with us.
Good luck, mate, I hope things get better. Stay strong, like Nikento already said.
Stay strong man.
Good luck.
What a great video, not only the fascinating content, but the pacing, the writing, the delivery... Thanks Hank!
This video hits different now. Get well soon Hank !
My neighbour had to have a viral cancer removed from the side of his neck about 2 years ago. He's a great guy but a bit of a conspiracy geek and I had never heard about a transmissible cancer before that so Initially I privately thought that he had the science messed up but my sister used to be a district nurse and she told me it was a thing.
Really?
Foreshadowing 😅 glad you made it buddy !❤
"At once the oldest and the smallest dog..." But would it be a stretch to say possibly the largest dog. If you were to gather ALL the currently alive CTVT cells would their mass exceed any currently living dog?
I don't know that this is a useful way to look at it. There are multicellular organisms, such as poplar trees, that clone themselves and may remain connected or become disconnected, and to some extent it can be useful to look at each of these trees as being collectively one organism, but they're not a single organism in the way that a group of mushrooms are a single organism, where all the visible mushrooms are interconnected in a dependent way. With clonal tree colonies, the individual trees can often survive on their own if disconnected from the rest of the colony. In the case of these cancer cells, the cancer cells are no more one organism than a bacterial film is. I don't know that it's even necessarily useful to consider the entirety of a tumor to be one organism, because often times even single cells that separate are viable on their own. So no, I think that you can't really consider them to all collectively be one dog. If anything, it is a single celled pathogen that is descended from a dog and, due to cladistics, is technically also a dog.
@Mark Jacobson I like how you ignored his main question and just spammed random ecological information, nice try though 😂
Yes, oh yes, easily yes. Though this raises a question. A lot of species replicate by cloning, some kinds of aphids for example. They are a lot of individuals but genetically pretty identical. Does that make them similarly old and large? It's not like this 'dog' is a single united hive organism here.
That wud b so cool if we cud somehow figure that out...
All I thought when he said that was "So, if you've ever wanted to see a big pile of the tiniest little dogs all together - here it is..."
The “hot take” is appreciated— it is engaging to feel I’m viewing the bleeding age of science in a way :) One of my favorite parts about this channel.
AGREE!
Wdym?
There is an X-Files episode where a dude became 100% cancer,
all his cells were cancerogenous. He wasnt a Kronenberg monstrosity tho,
he was literally immortal, any part of his body could grow into a new dude,
because all of his cells were him. Pretty cool episode.
Hank: "Hank, I know what cancer is."
Me, coming from a year into the future: Sweats nervously.
I seem to remember last time I heard about this I also heard that the dog in question was from the Americas, and that after Europeans arrived on the continent with their dogs eventually local dogs went extinct through disease and breeding with European dogs, so that now we don't really have dog breeds descendant from the dogs that first arrived to the continent with humans, EXCEPT for the cancer, which survived in the European dogs
One of my favorite things about cancer is how innocent it is. Cancer isn't some malicious disease. It's just doing its job, even if it's confused. If we could give cancer sentience, it would never have realized it did anything wrong. It's efforts to grow and do its job often leads to its own death, and in this case, the death of other organisms. That viewpoint has helped me cope with the frequent cancer diagnosis' in my family, I don't see cancer as a villain any more
U do have a point, plus sometimes people cause their own cancer knowingly and willingly, "tanning beds" "toxic makeup" etc
Oh good. CONTAGIOUS, SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED CANCER. No that's much less terrible and upsetting a thought, thanks Hank! I'm gonna go never sleep again!
Never sleep with anyone again*
Ah, there it is. The daily reminder that the world I live in is a bleak hellscape.
@Kevin Never sleep with DOGs again
Welcome to the real world of biology. Unobscured by belief and dogma.
Oh no worries, all you need to avoid that is never have sex anyway.
Imagine discovering a cancer cell in chickens that turns out to be a single celled dinosaur with the complete DNA from the animal that lived millions of years ago, and then we extract and clone it.
No cancer Like that would ever have the complete DNA of the original organism, especially after that long. It would be unrecognisable.
Dont think thats how it works bro
Creates the Amebasaur
I think if you tried to clone the dinosaur from that you would end up with a dinosaur shaped blob of cancer.
I love how this channel is amazing for all sorts of people, my friend who just started his PhD in zoology loves this channel, me who has a degree in biology but work with IT love this channel, and another friend who is an accountant and never studied nature science beyond high school also loves this channel
Coming back to this video after he is successfully in remission. I'm sure this one and others on the topic have some new significance to him
I love SciShow. I watch every SciShow episode, on both this channel and on SciShow space, and I can honestly say that this is the most fascinating episode I can remember seeing in years. Holy crow! ✨
Being in the vet world I was aware of TVT, but I had always assumed like so many quite a few canine tumours it was viral in origin (causing tumours is one way that viruses have developed of evading the immune system, given they're most vulnerable to immune attack when they're outside cells - if they can infect one cell and then cause that cell to replicate wildly then they can effectively infect many cells without ever having to leave the first cell). So this was very interesting to learn.
I always had this thought of a cancer cell replicating like “The Thing” and I appreciate you Hank for confirming my fears.
This perspective reminds me of the black goo monster from Resident Evil 5
This was the first thing that came to mind when I saw the thumbnail.
@John Gardner At first, I thought the thumbnail was a metaphor for zygotes because of today's bad health care news. Then when he said they have human DNA but have started living for themselves to the detriment of the host organism, it seemed like a metaphor for Libertarianism. But then it was actually about dogs. Quite a rollercoaster of an episode.
This topic and your reference to "The Thing" reminds me of Ray Bradbury's story, "Fever Dream."
"That's not dog. That's imitation."
— A wise man named Blair
This video reminds me a lot of an anime called "cells at work", where cells are represented as people and the body is their world. In the cancer episode, it kinda approaches this view of living for themselves instead of for the body, it's really interesting
As someone who's set on studying biology for life, this is still one of the coolest case studies I've ever heard of.
You know, it actually makes a lot more sense as to why it is so hard to fight cancer with this explanation. It’s survival of the fittest and we are actively fighting against ‘the fittest’
“[…] the organism can no longer pass on its genes because of how it is dead,” had me rolling 🤣
This hits hard with the recent revelations😮💨🤕🤕
Tasmanian devils also suffer from cancers transmitted through biting, leading to fatal tumors in the face. Devil facial tumour 1 (DFT1) was first recorded in the 1990s and devil facial tumour 2 (DFT2) in 2014.
Wait, there's two of them now?
They are actually really adorable animals (tasmanian devils) and I hope their numbers bounce back😊 thanks stranger
Came here looking for this comment!
@Ariel McCarthy they're not adorable, they bite each other's faces when they mate and assert dominance and transmit the facial tumours. I've seen the pictures of them with tumours covering their eyes. Not adorable to me.
I thought they went extinct in the 1800s?
I love how Hank's shirt is John's face. Sibling goals.
@plucas1 - 2022-06-23
Ah yea, the Immortal Cancer Dog. It's like a real life horror movie monster.
And interesting bit of trivia not mentioned in the video: The breed of the original dog the disease came from has long since died out many centuries ago, along with most other native North American dogs. Those cancer cells are the last living remnant of that breed, having outlived all other members.
@dabloons4days - 2022-06-23
isn’t that whole thing crazy how this cancer succeeded it’s a living thing now wow
@alex_zetsu - 2022-06-23
Wait how do we know what breed it came from if we can't compare it to the original dog?
@lisaschuster686 - 2022-06-23
You mean the small barkless dog the conquistadors described?
@plucas1 - 2022-06-23
@Alex Zetsu The cancer cells has the dog's fully intact DNA and we have the DNA of many native North American breeds from animal remains. i can't imagine it was too difficult comparing them and finding a match.
@plucas1 - 2022-06-23
@Lisa Schuster I guess there were a number of Pre-Columbian North American breeds that lived with native American tribes, but most of them died out from diseases from European dogs or were absorbed completely into European breeds through copious interbreeding. I think the few survivung NA breeds include Greenland dogs and Malamutes. I'm not an expert and people definitely should look it up themselves if they get the chance. It's a fascinating bit of canine history.