Maned wolf, chrysocyon brachyurus

Photo was taken at Santuário do Caraça, a monastery in Caracas, Venezuela.

Animal Fact of the Day

The Mexican wolf is the smallest and most endangered wolf species in North America. They originally ranged from the Sonoran and Chihuahuan Deserts of central Mexico and up into Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona, but by the 1970’s they had been totally exterminated from the wild, with only a few hundred left in zoos. But you know what? There’s hope for these guys yet. Starting in 1998, the US Fish and Wildlife Service began to reintroduce Mexican wolves to the Blue Range of Arizona. As of 2010, there are about 50 wolves back in the wild- so yes, they are back out there, but they’re struggling. If you want to learn more or are interested in helping in the conservation effort, fws.org is the place to go.

Animal Fact of the Day

The maned wolf is the largest canid in South America. It is also the tallest wild canid in the world, its stilt-like legs a useful adaptation for spying prey over the tall grasslands where it lives. Despite its name, the maned wolf is not a wolf at all, nor is it a fox, coyote, or dog. It is the only member of the Chrysocyon genus, making it a truly unique animal, not closely related to any other living canid. One hypothesis for this is that the maned wolf is the last surviving species of the Pleistocene Extinction, which wiped out all other large canids from the continent.

(Photo taken by Sean Crane in Brazil.)

(Source: hibbary.deviantart.com)

Wolf vs Grizzly

(Source: loups)