Polynesian Dog - Wikipedia
The Polynesian Dog refers to a few extinct varieties of domesticated dogs from the islands of Polynesia. These dogs were used for both companionship and food and were introduced alongside poultry and pigs to various islands. They became extinct as a result of the crossbreeding that occurred after European breeds of dogs were introduced. Modern studies done on the DNA of the Polynesian dogs indicate that they descended from the domesticated dogs of Southeast Asia and may have shared a remote ancestor with the dingo.
In 1839, the British naturalist Charles Hamilton Smith gave this dog the scientific name of Canis pacificus in his 1840 book The Natural History of Dogs: Canidae Or Genus Canis of Authors; Including Also the Genera Hyaena and Proteles.[ 1] In the third edition of Mammal Species of the World published in 2005, the mammalogist W. Christopher Wozencraft listed under the wolf Canis lupus the taxon "familiaris Linneaus, 1758 [domestic dog]". Wozencraft then listed Canis pacificus C. E. H. Smith, 1839 as junior taxonomic synonym for the domestic dog.[ 2]
These dogs were introduced by the ancestors of the Polynesian people during their settlement of the far-flung islands, with a few major archipelagos developing isolated breeds.[ 3] [ 4]
