Chrysocyon brachyurus

Maned wolf


Classification

Geographic Range

Neotropical: The maned wolf is distributed from the mouth of the Parnaiba River in northeastern Brazil west to the Pampas del Heath in Peru and South through the Chaco of Paraguay to Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Its former range included parts of Uruguay and Argentina.

Physical Characteristics

Mass: 20 to 23 kg

Chrysocyon brachyurus is a stunning animal. The largest of all South American canids, it stands almost one meter tall at the shoulder and has a long, golden-red coat. Head and body length ranges from 1245 to 1320mm and tail length from 280 to 405mm. The long thin legs, which may serve to help the maned wolf to see above tall grass, grade from red to black at their lower portions. The anterior part of the erectile mane of long hairs is black as well. The body is narrow and the ears large and erect.

The dentition of the maned wolf reflects its food habits. As this animal does not kill or eat large prey, its upper carnassials (shearing teeth) are reduced, its upper incisors weak, and its canines are long and slender.

Natural History

Food Habits

The maned wolf is omnivorous. It eats armadillos, rabbits, rodents and other small mammals, fish, birds, bird eggs, reptiles, gastropods and other terrestrial mollusks, insects, seasonably available fruits, and other vegetation. Fruits taken include bananas, guavas, and primarily the tomato-like Solanum lycocarpum. (S. lycocarpum may provide medicinal aid against Dioctophyma renale, a worm that infects the kidneys of the maned wolf). Vegetation eaten is often in the form of roots and bulbs. Vertebrate prey do not often include large domestic stock, but an occasional newborn lamb or pig is taken by Chrysocyon. The maned wolf, much to the dislike of poultry farmers, frequently feeds upon free-ranging chickens. It stalks and pounces in a fox-like manner upon its animal prey.

Reproduction

Little is known about the reproductive patterns of wild maned wolves. Females are monoestrous. Breeding season is probably controlled by photoperiod; captives copulate between October and February in the Northern Hemisphere and between August and October in South America. The estrous lasts for a period of one to four days. Gestation in captivity is similar to that of other canids and lasts approximately 65 days. A litter usually contains one to five young. A record number of seven has been observed. Young are born weighing 340 to 430 grams and develop quickly. Their eyes and ears open by day nine, their ears stand upright and they will take regurgitated food by week four, the pelage changes from black to red by week ten, they are weaned by 15 weeks, and their bodies have the proportions of adults at one year, at which time they reach sexual maturity. Captive individuals have lived 15 years.

Non-captive maned wolves give birth in natal nests hidden by thick vegetation. Wild maned wolves are rarely seen with their pups.

Behavior

Maned wolves are primarily nocturnal and have crepuscular activity peaks. Field studies have shown that males are generally more active than females. During the daylight hours these canids rest in areas of thick brush cover and infrequently move short distances.

The basic social unit of Chrysocyon brachyurus is the male-female mated pair. These animals share a permanent home range (on average 27 square kilometers) but remain fairly independent of one another. They hunt, travel, and rest solitarily, and are only closely associated during the breeding season. Boundaries between territories are strictly observed; neighboring pairs remain on their respective sides. Urine and feces, deposited regularly in particular spots, may serve to mark territories. Nomadic males skirt the edges of boundaries and replace males removed by death or capture.

In captivity, opposite-sex pairs fare more successfully than same-sex pairs. The latter fight initially, then quickly establish a dominance hierarchy. Mated pairs associate more than wild mated pairs do; they may groom one another and rest and feed together. Captive fathers demonstrate quite a bit of parental care. They help females during partruition and participate in the grooming, food provisioning and defense of the young. Captive littermates begin to establish a dominance hierarchy by the age of one month.

Maned wolves emit three types of vocalization. One is a single deep-throated bark that is often heard after dusk, another a high-pitched whine, and the last a growl heard during agonistic behavior.

Habitat

Chrysocyon brachyurus is found in grassland, savanna, dry shrub forest, swampy areas, forest-edge habitat, and river areas.

Other Comments

Although the maned wolf displays many fox-like characteristics, it is not closely related to the foxes and lacks the elliptical pupils found in the vulpine canids. Some believe that it is closely affiliated with Dusicyon, but electrophoretic studies do not link Chrysocyon with any of the other canids studied. This implies that the maned wolf may be the only survivor of the late Pleistocene extinction of the large South American canids. The maned wolf's natural history and its evolutionary relataionship to the other members of the canid family make it a unique animal; drastic efforts to conserve it are warranted.

Fossils of the maned wolf from the Holocene and the late Pleistocene have been excavated from the Brazilian Highlands.