Editing Wolf (section)

=== Admixture with other canids ===

{{Main|Canid hybrid}}
[[File:F1 wolf-dog hybrids from Wildlife Park Kadzidlowo, Poland.png|thumb|upright=1.5|alt=Photographs of two wolf–dog hybrids standing outdoors on snowy ground|[[Wolfdog|Wolf–dog hybrids]] in the wild animal park at [[Kadzidłowo]], Poland. Left: product of a male wolf and a female [[spaniel]]; right: from a female wolf and a male [[West Siberian Laika]]]]

In the distant past, there was [[gene flow]] between [[African wolf|African wolves]], [[golden jackal]]s, and grey wolves. The African wolf is a descendant of a genetically admixed canid of 72% wolf and 28% Ethiopian wolf ancestry. One African wolf from the Egyptian [[Sinai Peninsula]] showed admixture with Middle Eastern grey wolves and dogs.<ref name=Gopalakrishnan2018/> There is evidence of gene flow between golden jackals and Middle Eastern wolves, less so with European and Asian wolves, and least with North American wolves. This indicates the golden jackal ancestry found in North American wolves may have occurred before the divergence of the Eurasian and North American wolves.<ref name=Sinding2018/>

The common ancestor of the coyote and the wolf is admixed with a [[ghost population]] of an extinct unidentified canid. This canid was genetically close to the [[dhole]] and evolved after the divergence of the [[African hunting dog]] from the other canid species. The basal position of the [[coyote]] compared to the wolf has been proposed to be due to the coyote retaining more of the mitochondrial genome of this unidentified canid.<ref name=Gopalakrishnan2018/> Similarly, a museum specimen of a wolf from southern China collected in 1963 showed a genome that was 12–14% admixed from this unknown canid.<ref name=Wang2019/> In North America, some coyotes and wolves show varying degrees of past [[Coywolf|genetic admixture]].<ref name=Sinding2018/>

In more recent times, some male [[Italian wolf|Italian wolves]] originated from dog ancestry, which indicates female wolves will breed with male dogs in the wild.<ref name=Iacolina2010/> In the [[Caucasus Mountains]], ten percent of dogs including [[livestock guardian dog]]s, are first generation hybrids.<ref name=Kopaliani2014/> Although mating between golden jackals and wolves has never been observed, evidence of [[jackal-wolf hybrid]]ization was discovered through mitochondrial DNA analysis of jackals living in the Caucasus Mountains<ref name=Kopaliani2014/> and in Bulgaria.<ref name=Moura2013/> In 2021, a genetic study found that the dog's similarity to the extant grey wolf was the result of substantial dog-into-wolf [[gene flow]], with little evidence of the reverse.<ref name="Bergström2020"/>