Maned Wolf

(Chrysocyon brachyurus)


Facts

Maned Wolf IUCN NEAR THREATENED (NT)

 

Facts about this animal

The Maned Wolf is unmistakable, due to its height's being greater than the trunk length, the long legs and short tail. The head-body length is 110-130 cm, the height at the shoulder 80-90 cm and it weights about 20-35 kg. The dark muzzle is long and slender. The long ears have whitish hairs inside. The throat is white.

 

The coat is red to yellow, shaggy, with longer, darker hairs on the back which form an erectile mane. The under parts are cream-white and the legs are deep brown-black.

 

The maned wolf feeds primarily on small vertebrates, invertebrates, and fruit. It exhibits a dispersed social system, that is, it is essentially solitary in habit. For intraspecific communication, maned wolves rely primarily on signals that carry well over long distances and tend to promote the spacing of individuals through avoidance (for example, the bark), a conspicuous visual threat display, and locus-specific defecation.

Did you know?
That the particularly long legs of the maned wolf are likely an adaptation which allows them to see above the tall grass in which they often hunt?


 

Factsheet
Class MAMMALIA
Order CARNIVORA
Suborder FISSIPEDIA
Family CANIDAE
Name (Scientific) Chrysocyon brachyurus
Name (English) Maned Wolf
Name (French) Loup à crinière
Name (German) Mähnenwolf
Name (Spanish) Lobo de crin
Local names Bolivia: Borochi
Brazil: Guará, Lobo-guará, lobo-vermelho
Guaraní: Aguará guazú
CITES Status Appendix II
CMS Status Not listed

 

 

Photo Copyright by
Sage Ross - for more intormation see: http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Distribution

 


Distribution
Range Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Peru, Paraguay
Habitat Tall grasslands, shrub habitats, woodland with an open canopy, and wet fields
Wild population 23.600 individuals (2005) (Red List IUCN 2011)
Zoo population 427 in 144 institutions registered by the International Studbook (2006), of which 259 reported to ISIS (2007)

In the Zoo

Maned Wolf

 

How this animal should be transported

For air transport, Container Note 82 of the IATA Live Animals Regulations should be followed.

 

Find this animal on ZooLex

 

Photo Copyright by
Sage Ross

Why do zoos keep this animal

With a view of building up a viable zoo population, an International Studbook has been established already in 1972 under the WAZA umbrella, and coordinated conservation breeding programmes are operated at the regional level by ARAZPA and AZA.