Maned wolf (Chrysocyon brachyurus) - Walking on stilts through the South American savannas
Somehow the name of this South American canid is a little confusing; the attractive inhabitants of grasslands are not closely related to wolves. More convincing is the first part of their name; Maned wolves wear a characteristic black mane, which can be erected, along their backs. The "Aguará Guazu", as the Maned wolf is called in South America, is one of the most beautiful canids because of its size, its reddish brown fur, its long dark legs, its white throat and tip of the tail and its conspicuous way of moving. As many other conspicuous animals, the Maned wolf plays a role in human myths and rituals. The native South American inhabitants use parts of the fur as amulets or during their religious ceremonies.
Maned wolves are extraordinary canids in many respects. From a distance they appear more like antilopes than dogs. Their way to move is very unusual for carnivores; Maned wolves are amblers. They put down the fore paw and the hind paw of the same side almost at the same time. This results in a strolling way of walking, which looks very conspicuous concerning a canid. That way Maned wolves walk long distances through the South American savannas. Their long legs enable them to have a good view even in the long grass. Maned wolves inhabit territories which have to be very large according to their way of life. They live solitary which is not very common among dogs. Most other canids prefer living in groups. The Maned wolves' prey are rather small: Guinea pigs and other rodents as well as armadillos, birds, frogs and lizards are part of their diet. In addition Maned wolves eat lots of vegetarian diet. Larger prey is not that common in their habitat and a single Maned wolf probably isn't able to catch a large animal. Other canids, living in groups, are capable of this because they cooperate during hunting.
The solitary Maned wolves become loving "family-animals" when the mating season arrives. The male helps the female raising the two to five pups, which are born after a pregnancy of two months, providing food and licking the young.
Because of destruction of their habitat, Maned wolves are endangered nowadays. Since they need large areas, they are not very common anyway and, because these areas are used as pastures, their habitat decreases. There's a lot of luck involved if someone sees a Maned wolf in the wild nowadays.
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This article was originally published at <a href="http://magazine.naturspot.de" target="_top">magazine.naturspot.de</a>. <a href="http://magazine.naturspot.de/text/maned-wolf.html" target="_top">Link to the original article</a>
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