Mutation Theories?

Hear me out peopless! I don't know if this has been said or not, but what if a direwolf mutation was similar to the largest pup that is already implemented in litters? Like only litters of three or more have a chance of producing a large pup, but there could be a very small chance that the largest pup could be a direwolf? Idk just a thought...

direwolves = wolvden primal mutation  :eyes:

I was also thinking about if they put the double merle mutations in game.

Especially in border collies, if you breed two merles together (doesn't matter what color), there's a higher chance of the puppy being born deaf or blind. I think it'd be cool to implement that into the game somehow, but I can also understand how it'd piss people off LOL

I also don’t think people would be intentionally trying to breed more pups for double Merle mutations because blind and deaf wolves can’t do any tasks. They would be rendered useless. They can’t hunt, protect anything, heal, or even scout. I still stuck with my opinion on it would change the over flood of Merle markings.

I agree, but they would be deemed less useful because you can have 1 herbalist at a time. :) I don’t think deaf wolves would make the best hunters because hunting and such would require hearing, deaf and blind wolves in the wild don’t even survive a year, I think they would have a downfall.

On the bright side, it would be very educational that you shouldn't breed double merles to make more merle. I wonder if they'll add piebald, or just make different variations of merle to act like piebald 🤔

Mutated pups don't do anything either. They don't make it to adulthood and can't breed, unlike our hypothetical double merle.

Actual double merles aren't just deaf and blind, either. Iirc they're very similar in appearance to albinos.

I honestly think that the best way to implement dog and Coyote hybrid features would be via base, marking, eyes, claws, skin, nose, etc.. Almost all wolves in Yellowstone are shown to have a small percentage of dog and Coyote ancestry, and many wolves show traits that are known for coyotes/dogs even if they only have a single hybrid ancestor. So this is why I think that markings will be added as a feature of hybridism.

Irish and Merle markings don't appear in real wolves unless they have recent hybrid ancestry, yet we have the markings in game. It implies that all wolves can simply inherit the traits of different species in their genus, so instead of wolfdogs and coywolves we will probably just get more traits that are dog-like or coyote-like. We already have wolfdogs according to this idea, every Merle, Irish, and Shephard would already be considered wolfdogs.

Domestic physical features like floppy ears and curly tails are generally associated with Domestication Syndrome. Domestication syndrome is the theory resulting from the domesticated fox experiment in Siberia, where they bred the tamest foxes and eventually those tame foxes would start mutating to have floppy ears and curled tails. There are theorized links between the hormones associated with adrenaline and dopamine to the physical changes. It's an interesting experiment, I recommend you read about it online!

So, anywho. I think that mutations/traits associared with domestication would be made more frequent in wolves with friendly personalities, while Coyote mutations/traits would be made more frequent in stoic personalities. Coyote traits might be a smaller body, higher Smarts and Agility, longer ears, narrow muzzles, coyote markings that make the bridge of the nose, ears, and forearms a more orange color, etc. 

Edit: All black wolves in Yellowstone have dog ancestors, the black K locus gene came from dogs and benefited wolves so much that it became common. Like how all blondes have a single common ancestor, all black wolves have a single common ancestor that was a dog.

2nd Edit: Piebald doesn't generally exist in wolves, the gene that causes it is already active in a lot of animals that have variation in color especially those that have domestic ancestry or are domestic. Piebald I think is just an already active gene in wolves, just very low in variation.

Ehlors-Danlos Syndrome.

This disorder is found in many animal species including cats, dogs, horses, humans to name a few. This disorder causes a lack of Collagen in the connective tissue under the skin, which results in very loose and stretchy skin. Some dog breeds have similar traits to this such as bulldog, mastiff, and beagle, which are all well known for their loose skin and funny jowls (skin on the muzzle around mouth). 

In some animals the effects can vary, like health problems, discomfort, prone to cuts, odd scarring, slow healing of cuts, pain, and sometimes death. Though some animals can live happily despite this disorder if they are well taken care of, for example the wonderful rescue cat 'Toby'. He's very funny looking and he's enjoying life despite the disorder. 

So this would cause some fairly funny looking wolves or maybe lethal, who knows!