Siberian Husky

The Chukchi people of north-eastern Siberia bred these light, quick sled dogs, and traders brought them to Alaska from 1908 for racing; the 1925 serum run to Nome made Togo and Balto household names. Genetics adds a twist. A 2015 study found that Siberian Huskies and Greenland sled dogs carry ancestry from an extinct Taimyr wolf population dated to about 35,000 years ago, a sign of old wolf mixing rather than of descent straight from wolves.