![]() Under the false label of chicken, cattle and sheep killer, it was once hunted mercilessly by farmers. The maned wolf has been greatly misjudged in the past. A problem which has been addressed with introduced speed limits and local awareness, but as usual, not everyone takes note and fatalities on the roads are still high. A great many maned wolves are killed on the roads every year. It is also very distantly related to a few others with bizarre names, such as the crab-eating fox and the short-eared dog.īut being one of a kind has not protected this species from the onslaught of encroaching agriculture and road building. Its closest extant relative is the bush dog (genus Speothos). Invariably described as a ‘fox on stilts’, the maned wolf (genus Chrysocyon – the only species in this genus) is not closely related to either fox or wolf. Maned wolves have the inborn agility to catch their prey, like birds and insects, mid-air, leaping up directly from the ground.“To cherish what remains of the Earth and to foster its renewal is our only legitimate hope of survival”Ĭalled a wolf and looking remarkably like a long-legged fox only adds to the mystique of this unique canid.The legs of the animal are long enough to help them move through the bushes at ease, as well as, to see above the tall vegetation within their habitat.As a behavioral adaptation, the animal knows the trick to tap the ground (using one of their front feet) to flush out their prey from their burrows in order to catch them.Maned wolves have the ability to rotate their ears to listen to the movements of their prey in the grass, as also, of any approaching danger.The babies generally leave the territory of their parents and become independent when they are about one year old. During this period, the mother introduces the baby maned wolves with regurgitated food. The newborn young ones are nursed for about four weeks. The mother maned wolves shoulder the responsibility of raising the juveniles however, there are several evidences of the father fetching and providing food to their babies both in the wild, as also, in the zoo. Maned Wolf Pet Life Cycle of the Maned Wolf Pups Several research have shown that these mammals give birth to 1-5 puppies in a litter, with the average number of pups being 2.5, after a gestation period of around 65 days. During this season, both means of individual interaction – scent marking and vocalizations – increase dramatically. While the peak time of their breeding in the wild falls between April and June, the males of the species produce sperm as usual, like other mammals>canids. The female maned wolves enter their estrus cycle only once a year, which continues for about five days. Mating & Reproductionīecause of their shy nature, most information about their reproduction came from the study of pet specimens, under human care, or those in the zoo. Among the animals, they consume rabbits, cuis (wild guinea pigs), and young viscachas (a species of burrowing rodents), as well as agoutis, pacas, insects, reptiles and even birds. Research shows that the diet list of the mane wolf is made up of more than 50% plant matter, including sugarcane, tubers, and fruit (especially wolf apple). Rather, they give out loud bark-like sounds, or roar barks, in order to communicate with their mates, letting each other know where they are, or else, to warn other maned wolves to stay away from their territories. Maned wolves emit calls but never howl as wolves or hyenas do in order to communicate. along the boundaries of their territories. They mark their areas with feces and strong-smelling urine, usually in higher places like termite mounds, hillocks, etc. These canids are also territorial, with the average distance of each territory being 27 sq. They are chance predators, and would even go to the extent of stealing a chicken from farms, which is a common incident in the human habitats within their range. The maned wolves are mostly solitary creatures, except during the mating season. These animals are primarily nocturnal and would hunt at night especially during the hours of dawn and dusk, spending the day hours usually by resting in areas covered with thick bush and wild vegetation. Maned wolves are shy creatures and seldom show up. Maned Wolf Habitat Classification of SpeciesĬurrently, no subspecies of the maned wolf has been described by the biologists.
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