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.
Perception Channels: tactile ; chemical
Chrysocyon brachyurus is listed as CITES Appendix II, U.S. ESA-Endangered, and IUCN-Vulnerable. Habitat destruction (including the annual burning of its grasslands), persecution by angry poultry farmers, hunting for sport, and live capture are factors that threaten the maned wolf. This animal disapeared from Uruguay in the 19th Century. Its former range also included parts of Argentina south of the La Plata River.
CITES: appendix ii
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: near threatened
As mentioned above, the maned wolf takes domestic poultry and the occasional lamb or newborn pig.
The maned wolf eats crop pests such as rabbits and small rodents.
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 Dioctophyme 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.
Animal Foods: birds; mammals; reptiles; fish; eggs; insects; mollusks
Plant Foods: roots and tubers; fruit
Primary Diet: omnivore
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.
Biogeographic Regions: neotropical (Native )
Chrysocyon brachyurus is found in grassland, savanna, dry shrub forest, swampy areas, forest-edge habitat, and river areas.
Terrestrial Biomes: savanna or grassland ; scrub forest
Average lifespan
Status: captivity: 13.0 years.
Average lifespan
Status: captivity: 15.0 years.
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.
Range mass: 20 to 23 kg.
Other Physical Features: endothermic ; bilateral symmetry
Maned wolves are monogamous, though males and females tend to live independently except during the breeding season.
Mating System: monogamous
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.
Range number of offspring: 1 to 5.
Average number of offspring: 2.47.
Range gestation period: 56 to 66 days.
Range weaning age: 120 to 210 days.
Key Reproductive Features: gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate); sexual
Average birth mass: 368 g.
Average number of offspring: 3.
Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)
Sex: female: 730 days.
Parental Investment: altricial
