The Cretan hound is the most significant
representative of the autochthonous Cretan fauna. It has been with us for more
than 4000 years and is probably related to an ancient Egyptian pointer breed.
It is believed that the Egyptian pointer was transferred to the island of
Crete by ancient Cretan seafarers to evolve into a genuine breed of hounds,
the oldest in Europe. The Cretan hound is part of the history of Crete,
a true representative of its age-old fauna.
The "Kritikos Ichnilatis" is a type of
primitive hound, that hunts by a combination of scent, sight, speed,
and probably hearing also. The Cretan breed , scents, sees, probably hears
its quarry, and once it has detected it, pursues it by running, catching,
potentially killing and bringing it back to the hunter.
"Kritikos Ichnilatis" (Cretan Hound) belongs
loosely to a wide family of primitive hunting dogs distributed throughout
the Mediterranean. They tend to have erect ears, and combine sight,
scent, coursing (running), pointing and retrieving abilities. They
all vaguely originate in North Africa, and are very ancient, though
Kritikos Ichnilatis is potentially an even older breed and with a somewhat
different combination of bloodlines. For example Kritikos Ichnilatis has a rather curled
tail, and tends to come in a wider variety of colors than its distant
relatives that are usually fawn (various shades of yellow) or fawn and
white, and have straighter tails.
Unfortunately, the inexorable socio-economic development
of the island left its indelible marks on this species as well. However, the
Cretan hound managed to survive in Eastern Crete, on the heights of Mirabelo
and Ierapetra (Dikti range), the range of Sitia (Thrypte area) and on the
Zeros plateau, in the company of shepherds and sportsmen. Currently, the
number of Cretan hounds is approximately 150.
( full article in
STIGMES issue #50)
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