Naked and humpbacked dogs

Naked dogs, also known as Inticuinthi, are extraordinary animals that have captivated interest and wonder for centuries. Discovered by European conquistadors in Mexico, they are characterized by their lack of fur and slate-gray skin. Although they once served an important role as a source of meat, their importance declined over time, and their populations began to dwindle. Today, naked dogs are rare, and bizarre varieties, such as the Holoytzcuinthi humpback dog, have almost completely disappeared.

Naked dogs with hairless bodies and slate-gray skin have been, and still are, a cynological curiosity in South America. Columbus found them in the West Indies, and Fernando Cortez, the conqueror of Mexico, also encountered them. According to Spanish accounts, they were primarily common in Mexico. These animals, called Inticuinthi by the natives, were probably little used for hunting. Due to their unprotected skin, they were poorly suited for this activity. They tore their flesh on cacti and thorn bushes, and, significantly, these wounds healed very poorly.

Naked dogs, alongside turkeys and musk oxen, were all the more valuable as meat suppliers because they quickly accumulated fat. The conquerors brought with them a multitude of domestic animals whose meat tasted better than that of naked dogs, so they slowly lost their importance. Later, sanitary police sanctions against animals suspected of carrying disease primarily targeted the naked dog. Even when it was completely healthy, the smallest and most innocuous wounds on its skin raised suspicions of mange.

Despite this defect, the hairless dog is a hardy, loyal, and alert animal. Neither intense heat nor cold affect its well-being. It enjoys rolling in the snow with apparent contentment. Vermin are not a problem. Its skin varies in shades of brown. Some specimens sport a strange-looking crown of hair on their heads, a tuft at the end of their tails, and backward-pointing tufts of hair on their toes; such animals are considered especially valuable. Two such specimens, donated by a Nicaraguan merchant, lived at the Berlin Zoo at the turn of the century. Otherwise, hairless dogs were rarely shown at German exhibitions.Today, they have become a considerable rarity in Mexico as well. A German who settled in the country and traveled extensively saw only eight such dogs in five years. Many acquaintances told him that, although they had heard much about naked dogs, they had never seen one with their own eyes. The few that do happen to be encountered here and there are eagerly bought by Europeans. A strange variety of naked dog, the humpback dog, or Holoytzcuinthi, as the Mexicans call it, has completely disappeared. We know less about any other breed of dog than about this one. One of the few mentions can be found in the Historia animalium et mineralium Novae Hispaniae of Francisco Hernandez, the personal physician of Philip II of Spain, who was sent to Mexico. In the above-mentioned drawing, besides the hump on the back, what strikes us most is the head, which is set almost directly on the body, and even below the level of the spine.