Mutation Theories?

For a primal I wouldnt mind seeing a Cave wolf. They're a bit less well known but I think itd be cool. I kind of wonder if they could have higher rolls against bears since... ok they were known to eat and fight cave bears, I'm not sure if they actually hunted and could kill them though but it would still be cool seeing as how they were close competitors with cave bears.

(Kind of like how ferus is with primates)

Wolfdogs

Dwarfism

Hairless

Hyena hybrids are impossible because hyenas are not canines, actually more closely related to felines but they are are completely seperate from both.

Im curious to see if the merle trait will hold any complications like it does IRL (IRL a double merle dog has a very high chance of being blind and/or deaf. Any breeder worth their salt would never breed to a double merle nor breed 2 merles together!). They seem to be making Wolvden more complicated, so something for people to pay more attention to when breeding and decide if breeding 2 merles together is worth the risk of having a pack member be unable to hunt/scout. Even if the % is lower than IRL (say 10-15% chance of a double merle becoming blind/deaf), it would be an interesting mechanic!

ETA: ik people are currently breeding/RMA'ing merle, but the game is still in EA so the mechanic cooooould be introduced? Its probably a long shot lol

I would also love too see one floppy eared wolf one down and one floppy<3

orrrr ofc overgrown fur or curly fur?<3

I would like to see a maned wolf mutation. genetically, their not closely related to wolves or foxes despite their similar characteristics but some creative liberty can be taken

Considering coywolves actually exist it wouldn't be too far fetched. However not sure how cool the mutation would be considering how closely they can resemble each other.

I think a lot of inspiration can be taken from real world mutations / variants in dogs, for example

• Split noses
• Floppy / half-pricked ears
• Double dewclaw
• Curled tail (e.g. Shiba)
• Bobtail
• Short coat
• Hairless
• Dwarfism

Obviously these vary in how much art/colouring work would need to go into them. Most would not have much affect on the wolf and be cosmetic, but some potential affects could be

• Curled tail / bobtail - could just be cosmetic, but could also have small starting agility penalty (movable tails help with balance around sharp corners)
• Short coat - reduced energy recovery rate in winter (spending energy keeping warm)
• Hairless - lethal as puppies cannot regulate their temperature well
• Dwarfism - either lethal, or conferring severe starting penalties to speed and agility 

I've no idea if it would be realistic, but it would be cute if floppy-eared "carriers" presented with half-pricked ears.

If u really think about it, alot of visual stuff that would be part of the wolfdog mutation could easily be a mutation for a pure wolf. Ex, floppy ears, dwarfism, etc. And we already have patterns that already mimic popular dog breeds n colors (Shepard, Irish, husky, Merle). Also, most wolfdogs have similar coloration to wolves more than dogs especially if it's a first gen. 

1 way they can make it work is possibly have 3 different variations. Large, regular, and small, based on the different dog sizes. It would mostly be a pose change but it can also affect their stats. Like large has higher strength, small gets a speed penalty. 

It really will be based on what they want to do for art mostly

Personally, I hope they will add stat reducing / chance of lethality mutations seen in real life, such as double merle.

Now here me out, I'm all for merle this and merle that. But in reality, cute and sought-after marks come at a price. Dogs who inherit two M copies of merle (or more, since the possible maximum in Wolvden is 10) can become double merles, which puts them at a high risk of developing hearing and vision problems, as well as structural deformities and poor motor skills. I'd like to see something like that implemented here - on Day 1, merle popped up quickly and it'd be interesting to see Wolvden take an unprecedented realistic turn with markings linking to mutations.

i Very much so want coywolves. if theryre a thing im gonna make that my breeding project for sure