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Maned WolfManed Wolf
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Scientific name is Chrysocyon brachyurus
Maned Wolf
Found in South America, in these countries; Brazil, Paraguay, Peru, Argentina, and Bolivia.
What habitat do they live in? Maned Wolves can be found in tall grasslands, shrub habitats, woodland, forest edges and wet fields.
This is natural grassland on the edge of the Atlantic rainforest in Paraguay.
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Why are they threatened: The biggest threat to the Maned Wolf is the loss of its habitat.
The Maned Wolf may also be killed• on roads• by dogs• by farmers if it is caught raiding chicken coops• or it may be hunted for sport
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Much of the wild habitat of the Maned Wolf has been turned into farmland.
This picture from Paraguay shows that Atlantic rainforest and natural grasslands have been destroyed.
Click to learn more
This picture shows a field of soya that has been planted where part of the rainforest used to grow. You can see the tree stump of the last rainforest tree.
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How do they communicate? Maned Wolves communicate with each other by scent-marking, and by a loud bark called a ‘roar-bark’.
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Click here to see a Maned Wolf eating a ‘Wolf Apple’
What do they eat?
The Maned Wolf hunts small animals such as rodents, armadillos, reptiles, birds, snails, frogs, insects and sometimes even fish!
About ½ of the diet is fruit, and about ½ of the diet is meat (the word for a diet that includes both plant and meat is omnivorous).
The favourite food is ‘Wolf’s Fruit’ (Solanum lycocarpum), also called ‘Wolf Apple’- this fruit is a relative of the potato, but looks like a tomato!
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How long do they live?
In zoos the Maned Wolf can live up to 16 years, but no-one knows how long it lives in the wild.
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Click to find out
Tell me about their babies:A female Maned Wolf will give birth to 3 puppies in a den, after a pregnancy of just over 2 months.
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How big are they?
The Maned Wolf is almost a metre tall.
What do they look like?
Long legs with black markings like socks
Long reddish-orange fur
This strip of black fur is called a ‘mane’ and it stands up if the Maned Wolf senses danger
End of the tail is white
White under the chin
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The long legs are thought to be an adaptation to living in long grass. They help the Maned Wolf to run fast when it is hunting.
Interesting facts:
The Maned Wolf is much more like a fox than a wolf; it mostly lives alone, it looks a bit like a red fox, and it has been described as a ‘fox on stilts’ because of its long legs.
In Brazil, there is a story that if the bark of the Maned Wolf is heard at night there will be a change in the weather.
A story from the wild:
Maned Wolves are very shy, and so they are hard to see in the wild. Unfortunately some people only ever see them when they have been killed on the road.
Alan was travelling in South America when he heard of an abbey in Brazil where the monks fed wild Maned Wolves every night.
This is Alan
Alan decided to go to the abbey to see if he could get a photograph of a real life wild Maned Wolf.
Click to learn more about the Maned Wolf
Click to learn how one man got to see a real life Maned Wolf in the wild
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The monks of the abbey made a very loud noise banging heavy metal trays to let the Maned Wolves know that they were putting food out. Then they filled the big trays with meat and left them in the middle of the courtyard.
As Alan waited he was told that sometimes only one Maned Wolf would come, and other nights three or more would come.
Alan went to the abbey. He sat on the edge of the courtyard inside the abbey walls in the dark.
A story from the wild:
A tray of raw chicken pieces in the abbey courtyard
Click to learn how the monks encouraged the wild Maned Wolves to come in to the courtyard
Click
Click to see a photo of one of the Maned Wolves in the abbey courtyard
Alan was very lucky and saw two Maned Wolves that night.
A story from the wild:
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If you choose the Maned Wolf as your fundraising focus, your donation will go towards World Land Trust projects for the conservation of wildlife habitat in Paraguay.
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