VERY INTERESTING: MANED WOLF

 Hello ladies and gents this is the Viking telling you that today we are talking about 

Maned wolf

The largest canid in South America, the maned wolf looks like a fox, is called a wolf, and is closely related to neither. Maned wolves primarily eat small animals, fruits and vegetables.

Maned wolf urine has a powerful aroma, reminding many humans of the way skunks smell.

The maned wolf is the largest canid of South America. It looks more like a long-legged fox than a wolf. Genetic studies show that it is neither fox nor true wolf, but a distinct species. It is the only member of its genus, Chrysocyon.

Physical Description

Having evolved to live in high grass savannas, maned wolves have a thick red coat, long black legs and tall, erect ears. The maned wolf is the largest canid of South America. It looks more like a long-legged fox than a wolf. Genetic studies show that it is neither fox nor true wolf, but a distinct species. It is the only member of its genus, Chrysocyon.

Size

The maned wolf stands about 3 feet (90 centimeters) tall at the shoulder and weighs about 50 pounds (23 kilograms).

Native Habitat

Maned wolves range through central and eastern South America including northern Argentina, South and Central Brazil, Paraguay, Bolivia and southern Peru. They inhabit the cerrado, the largest biome of South America, which is composed of wet and dry forests, grasslands, savannas, marshes and wetlands.

Communication

Maned wolves mark their territory with powerful-smelling urine and feces on hillocks and termite mounds along their borders. They do not howl, but instead emit loud barks or roar barks to let their mate know where they are, and to warn other wolves to stay away.

Food/Eating Habits

Maned wolves are omnivorous eaters and primarily solitary hunters. They eat seasonally abundant fruits and vegetables and are particularly interested in lobeira, whose name means "fruit of the wolf." It is a small tomato-like berry that, along with other fruits and vegetables, makes up 50 percent of the maned wolf's diet.

They eat small mammals such as rodents, rabbits and insects. Maned wolves rotate their large ears to listen for prey animals in the grass. They tap the ground with a front foot to flush out the prey and pounce to catch it, or they may dig after burrowing prey. They may also leap into the air to capture birds and insects. Long legs help them move through and see above tall grasses.

Maned wolves share their habitat with a wide variety of other carnivores: bush dog, crab-eating fox, hoary fox, pampas fox, puma, jaguar, pampas cat, jaguarondi, crab-eating raccoon, hog-nosed skunk and grison. Because of their large size, only the puma and domestic dogs have been reported to kill the maned wolf.

At the Smithsonian's National Zoo, maned wolves are fed Mazuri Maned Wolf diet, vegetables, mice and occasionally beef bones for treats. Each wolf eats two pounds of food each day.

Social Structure

Maned wolves live in monogamous pairs sharing a 10 square mile (26 square kilometer) territory.

Reproduction and Development

Females enter estrus once a year for approximately five days. Males only produce sperm during the breeding season as well. Peak breeding in the wild is from April to June. Vocalizations and scent marking increase before mating.

Most information on maned wolf breeding has come from the study of animals in human care. Scientists have found that the mean number of pups produced is 2.5 (with a range of 1 to 5) with a gestation period of 65 days. Females are responsible for raising pups, but there is evidence that males provide food to their pups in both zoo and wild populations. The pups nurse for four weeks at which point the mother introduces regurgitated food. Pups generally leave the parents' territory at one year of age.

Sleep Habits

Crepuscular to nocturnal.

Lifespan

The life span of maned wolves in the wild is unknown. In human care, median life expectancy is 6.5 years with a maximum of 12 to 15 years.

And as always have a chilled day from the Viking