Original Article: https://blog.theanimalrescuesite.greatergood.com/balto-dna/

If you grew up in the United States, there’s a good chance you’re familiar with the famous sled dog: Balto.

According to the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, Balto made history back in 1925 during the “Race of Mercy” to Nome, Alaska.

During that time, a raging blizzard made travel tough, but it was necessary because native Inuits in Nome were suffering a diphtheria outbreak after invaders introduced it to the area.

There was medicine to treat diphtheria, but it was 674 miles away. Due to the blizzarding conditions and rural landscape, officials in Alaska opted not to use a plane to make the trip to deliver the medicine. Instead, they called on a dog sledding team. Twenty mushers and over 200 dogs managed to make the trip, and among those dogs was Balto.

While several dogs helped complete the life-saving trip, Balto led the finial 53-mile stretch and was hailed as a hero. After the trip, Balto went on a celebratory tour and was so uplifted that his body was taxidermied and preserved after his death in 1933.

After all these years, researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz decided to study Balto’s DNA and the results were published in the journal Science.

According to the study, researchers took skin samples from the dog’s belly and compared it with that of 680 contemporary dogs from 135 breeds. While there were rumors that Balto was half wolf, the samples showed no evidence of that.

Instead, Balto likely shared ancestors with Siberian Huskies and the sled dogs of Alaska and Greenland. Researchers suggest that Balto had a lower chance of developing dangerous mutations when compared with modern breeds of dogs, and he was a healthier as a result.

In a press release, study author Katherine Moon said: “Balto had variants in genes related to things like weight, coordination, joint formation and skin thickness, which you would expect for a dog bred to run in that environment.”

Source: The Animal Rescue Site Blog