Alaskan Malamute

The Alaskan Malamute is a large breed of domestic dog originally bred for hauling heavy freight because of their strength and endurance, and later a sled dog. They are similar to other arctic breeds, such as the Greenland Dog, Canadian Eskimo Dog, the Siberian Husky, and the Samoyed.

The first dogs arrived in the Americas 12,000 years ago; however, people and their dogs did not settle in the Arctic until the Paleo-Eskimo people 4,500 years ago and then the Thule people 1,000 years ago, both originating from Siberia.Malamutes were thought to be created by the Malemiut Inupiaq people of Alaska's Norton Sound region,who were a Thule people.

The Malamute has been identified as a basal breed that predates the emergence of the modern breeds in the 19th Century. A study in 2013 showed that the Alaskan Malamute has a similar east Asian origin to, but is not clearly related to, the Greenland Dog and the Canadian Eskimo Dog, but contains a possible admixture of the Siberian Husky.

In 2015, a study using a number of genetic markers indicated that the Malamute, the Siberian Husky, and the Alaskan huskyshare a close genetic relationship between each other and were related to Chukotka sled dogs from Siberia. They were separate from the two Inuit dogs, the Canadian Eskimo Dog and the Greenland Dog. In North America, the Malamute and the Siberian Husky both had maintained their Siberian lineage and had contributed significantly to the Alaskan husky, which showed evidence of crossing with European breeds that was consistent with this breed being created in post-colonial North America.