Double-Nosed Andean Tiger Hound: What Fawcett's 1913 Note and the 2005 Bolivia Sighting Actually Prove

Written by Daon  |  Last updated: August 21, 2026  |  This article is based on published expedition records, contemporary news reporting, and peer-reviewed veterinary genetics literature.

▲ A village hunting dog working the scrub around a South American settlement. Fawcett's own description went no further than "about the size of a pointer" — these were never pedigreed show dogs, just working animals living alongside the people of the village.
※ Stock photo used for illustration only. This is not an actual double-nosed Andean tiger hound.
Source: Unsplash

The double-nosed Andean tiger hound doesn't get the attention it deserves in serious dog writing, and the reason is simple: almost everything published about it traces back to three sentences. In 1913, a British Army survey officer named Percy Fawcett passed through Santa Ana, a river post in eastern Bolivia, and wrote in the notes later compiled as Exploration Fawcett: "Here we saw for the first and only time a breed of dog known as the Double-Nosed Andean Tiger Hound. The two noses are as cleanly divided as though cut with a knife. About the size of a pointer, it is highly valued for its acute sense of smell and ingenuity in hunting jaguars. It is found only on these plains." That's it. That's the entire founding document.

For most of the next century the passage was filed alongside Fawcett's other unverifiable claims, until a 2005 expedition photographed a living split-nosed dog in the same region. Since then the story has been retold constantly, and it has picked up a lot of freight it can't carry — doubled scent ability, sacred status, natural selection producing a hardier animal. This guide sorts the record into what is documented, what was reported once, what is plausible but untested, and what has no support at all. If you own a dog with any midline facial difference, or you've been offered a "rare split-nose" puppy, the last two sections are the ones that matter most.

🚨 Real Talk: What Every Dog Owner Should Know Before Believing the Two-Nose Story

• Calling it a breed is the first mistake: no registry lists it — not the AKC, not the FCI, not any national kennel club. There is no studbook, no breed standard, and no published population count. "Andean tiger hound" is a local name for village hunting dogs in one part of Bolivia that sometimes show a split nose, which is a very different thing from a breed.
• Owners assume a dramatic nose means a dramatic upgrade: a bifid or split nose is a midline closure difference during facial development, not extra hardware. The visible groove every dog has on its nose leather is the normal version of the same seam; a split nose is that seam failing to close fully. Nothing about that adds scent tissue.
• The "rare bloodline" pitch is where money changes hands: because no registry or breeder network exists, any listing advertising Andean tiger hound puppies is selling a story. Vets and breed clubs will tell you the same thing about any dog marketed primarily on a physical anomaly.

1. Why the Split Nose Keeps Turning Up in Hunting Dogs

Three widely separated dog populations show the same trait: the Çatalburun of Türkiye, the Pachón Navarro of Spain, and whatever the Bolivian dogs are. In 2025, a research team publishing in Genome Research reported a splice-acceptor variant in the PDGFRA gene in Çatalburun dogs and identified it as a candidate cause of the bifid nose. PDGFRA is essential to medial nasal process development and palate formation, which is exactly the region of the face involved. The variant was heterozygous in all three Çatalburun in the sequencing cohort and in 13 of 14 additional Çatalburun genotyped afterward. A second, independent PDGFRA splice-acceptor variant turned up in an unrelated split-nosed dog — a Golden Retriever mix with no Çatalburun ancestry.

That research also points the trait's origin west rather than east. The haplotypes carrying the mutant allele clustered among Spaniel and Setter haplotypes, and the authors note that evidence for split-nosed dogs in Spain goes back at least four hundred years — a Rubens and Brueghel hunting scene shows one, and an 18th-century facade at the Palace of Bertemati in Andalusia carries a split-nosed dog worked into the stone. The authors read this as pointing toward a Western European origin. Whether the Bolivian dogs carry the same variant is unknown; no samples from them, and none from the Pachón Navarro either, were available for that study.

The lifestyle half of the explanation matters just as much. These were never show dogs. They lived in small, geographically isolated working populations where a single valued hunting dog could sire a large share of the next generation. In a closed pool that small, an unusual trait spreads quickly regardless of whether it helps. As for the name: in Latin American Spanish, tigre means jaguar. There are no tigers in South America.

▲ A typical hound's nose. One nose leather with a shallow vertical groove down the center is the normal structure; a split nose is that groove opening deep into the bridge of the muzzle.
※ Stock photo used for illustration only. This is not an actual double-nosed Andean tiger hound.
Source: Unsplash

2. The 4 Levels of Evidence Behind the Andean Tiger Hound

Level 1 (Documented)

What you'll see online: "A two-nosed dog was found in Bolivia." This one holds up. Colonel John Blashford-Snell, chairman of the Scientific Exploration Society, saw a split-nosed female dog named Bella near Ojaki in 2005 while scouting for a later expedition, and brought photographs back with him. He described the dogs on BBC Radio 4's Today programme in 2007, saying he was sober at the time and immediately remembered Fawcett's 1913 account that nobody had believed.

What the record supports: living split-nosed dogs in that region, photographed, named, and independently reported by the BBC. Blashford-Snell also stated that Xingu was not the only such dog in the area.

Level 2 (Reported once)

What you'll see online: the detailed genealogy — Bella died after whelping, and her one surviving son was found the following year and named Xingu, after the lost city Fawcett never reached. Photos of Bella were reported to have drawn the interest of Dr. Tito Ibson Castro of the Bolivian Veterinary Association, prompting a follow-up trip to collect genetic material. The Bolivian Army took DNA samples in 2007.

What the record supports: all of this comes from newspaper coverage and one expedition leader's testimony, with no peer-reviewed publication behind it. No results from those DNA samples have been publicly reported in the years since.

Level 3 (Plausible, untested)

What you'll see online: "The Bolivian dogs descend from Spanish Pachón Navarro hounds brought over by the conquistadors." Blashford-Snell offered this to the BBC himself, and the pieces fit — split-nosed Spanish pointers were taken to Latin America in the sixteenth century, and Fawcett described the dog he saw as "about the size of a pointer."

What the record supports: a reasonable hypothesis with no genetic comparison published to test it. The trait could also have arisen independently, as the second unrelated PDGFRA variant found in 2025 suggests is possible.

Level 4 (Not supported)

What you'll see online: that the split nose doubles scenting range and lets these dogs track jaguars for miles; that Indigenous communities revere them as spirit-sensing animals and refuse to sell them to outsiders; that harsh conditions selected for a tougher dog.

What the record supports: none of it. Blashford-Snell himself told the BBC the breed "could be used for sniffing out mines or narcotics because they have an enhanced sense of smell" — but that's a proposal, not a finding, and no one has measured these dogs' olfactory performance. The spiritual-reverence claim appears in neither the 1913 note nor any 2005–2007 reporting. And the survival story runs the wrong way: Bella's litter of four was entirely split-nosed and three died; Xingu later sired four pups, of which the two split-nosed ones died at three days old while both normal-nosed littermates lived.

(Heads up: that last figure is five puppies across two litters — far too small a sample to establish anything about the trait in general. What it does establish is that the "nature made them stronger" framing has no evidence behind it in the only family anyone actually followed.)

3. What a Split Nose Actually Means for the Dog in Front of You

A visible split nose sits on the same developmental pathway as orofacial clefts, which is why it's worth a real exam rather than a shrug. Notably, the 2025 Genome Research team reported no health concerns in the Çatalburun carriers they studied, and the veterinarian traveling with the 2007 expedition examined Xingu specifically for cleft palate and found none. Cleft palate susceptibility is documented in the Spanish Pachón Navarro, where affected dogs have been used as a surgical research model for palate repair. So the trait is not automatically a health problem — but it isn't automatically benign either, and the difference is something only a vet can sort out.

If you have a puppy or adult dog with any midline facial difference, these are the practical steps:

• Get an oral exam early. Ask your vet to look directly at the hard and soft palate, not just the nose. Clefts can be partial and easy to miss on a quick look, and sedation is sometimes needed for a full assessment.
• Watch nursing and eating closely. Milk or food coming back through the nostrils, coughing during meals, poor weight gain, or repeated respiratory infections in a young puppy are the signs vets ask about first. Any of them warrants a same-week call.
• Track nasal discharge patterns. Persistent one-sided or food-related discharge is different from ordinary sniffles and should be described to your vet in detail.
• Don't breed on the trait. Deliberately pairing dogs for a split nose concentrates variants in a gene involved in palate formation. Board-certified theriogenologists and most breed clubs advise against selecting for any trait tied to midline closure.
• Ask about surgical referral if a cleft is found. Repair is a specialty procedure. A 2023 JAVMA narrative review reports that surgical treatment for cleft palate in dogs yields excellent outcomes overall, but with high rates of oronasal fistula formation — meaning more than one procedure is sometimes needed. Costs vary by clinic and region, so ask for a written estimate.

▲ Pointer-type gundogs. Spain's Pachón Navarro, where split noses are reported, is also pointer-like in build, and Fawcett recorded the Andean tiger hound as "about the size of a pointer."
※ Stock photo used for illustration only. This is not an actual Andean tiger hound or Pachón Navarro.
Source: Unsplash

4. If Someone Offers You a "Rare Split-Nose" Puppy

This is the part of the story with real money attached to it. Novelty traits attract buyers, and there is no registry standing between a seller and a claim. A few things to hold onto before a deposit changes hands:

• There is no legitimate Andean tiger hound pipeline. No registered breeders, no pedigree system, no confirmed population figures. A U.S. seller offering this "breed" cannot document what they are selling.
• Ask what health screening was done on both parents. For any dog, that means asking which tests, done by whom, with results you can see. Vague reassurance is the answer that should end the conversation.
• Ask to see the puppy eat. Watching a puppy nurse or eat a meal in front of you tells you more about palate function than any photo.
• Budget for a vet visit within 48 hours of pickup, and put it in the contract. AAHA-accredited practices and most reputable breeders both treat this as standard.
• If you want a pointing dog, look at recognized breeds first. AKC breed clubs and rescue networks give you health-testing history, a parent club to call, and people who know the line — none of which exists for a dog defined only by an unusual nose.

FAQ: The Double-Nosed Andean Tiger Hound

Is the double-nosed Andean tiger hound a real breed?
Split-nosed dogs in that part of Bolivia are real and have been photographed. A breed is not. "Andean tiger hound" is a local name recorded by two visitors nearly a century apart, applied to village hunting dogs. No kennel club recognizes it, and no one has published a population survey or genetic study of the group.

Does a split nose mean a better sense of smell?
There's no evidence for it. Scent ability depends on olfactory epithelium surface area, receptor gene count, and the brain's olfactory processing regions — none of which is determined by the shape of the nose leather. Both Fawcett and Blashford-Snell described these dogs as excellent scenters, but that's an impression from people who liked the dogs, not a measurement.

Can I get one in the United States?
Realistically, no. There's no breeder network, no import pathway, and no registry to verify anything a seller claims. If you see one advertised, treat it as a red flag rather than an opportunity, and talk to a vet or an AKC parent club about breeds that actually match what you're looking for.

Bottom Line: Judge the Dog, Not the Nose

Strip away a hundred years of retelling and the Andean tiger hound comes down to two sightings, two named dogs, a set of DNA samples whose results were never published, and five puppies born with a split nose who didn't live long. That's a thin record, and it's worth saying so plainly rather than filling the gaps with folklore.

What the story is genuinely useful for is the reflex it should build. When a dog is unusual, the interesting question is never "how rare is this?" It's "what does this mean for the animal, and who has actually examined it?" Fawcett wrote three sentences and moved on. A century later, someone finally looked closely enough to check for a cleft palate. That second act is the part worth copying.

This article summarizes published expedition accounts, contemporary news reporting, and peer-reviewed veterinary genetics research; it is not a diagnosis or a substitute for examining a specific dog.

Sources

• Fawcett PH, Fawcett B. Exploration Fawcett. London: Hutchinson; 1953 — original 1913 Santa Ana account.
• BBC News. "Double-nosed dog not to be sniffed at." August 2007. BBC News
• Shuker KPN. "Fawcett's Double-Nosed Andean Tiger Hound." ShukerNature. 2013 — compiles the Fawcett passage and Daily Mail reporting of 2005 and 2006. ShukerNature
• Buckley RM, et al. "Analysis of canine gene constraint identifies new variants for orofacial clefts and stature." Genome Res. 2025. PubMed Central
• Online Mendelian Inheritance in Animals. "Nose, bifid, PDGFRA-related in Canis lupus familiaris." OMIA
• Paradas-Lara I, Casado-Gómez I, Martín C, et al. "Maxillary growth in a congenital cleft palate canine model for surgical research." J Craniomaxillofac Surg. 2014;42(1):13-21. PubMed
• Castejón-González AC, Reiter AM. "Surgical treatment for cleft palate in dogs yields excellent outcomes despite high rates of oronasal fistula formation: a narrative review." J Am Vet Med Assoc. 2023;261(S2). PubMed
• Daily Mail. "Could this be a descendent of the Double-Nosed Andean Tiger Hounds?" September 25, 2006. Daily Mail

Related Reads

• Catalburun Split-Nose Dog: What That "Two-Nosed" Look Really Is — and What 2025 Genetics Found
• Pachón Navarro: The Double-Nosed Dog That Beat Extinction

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