Most wildlife documentaries focus their attention on the african fauna, so I bet most of you have never heard about this south american canid.
The maned wolf displays a series of special adaptations to live in his habitat: the plains of the central region of South America.
The vegetation of this region is composed mainly by tall grass. The maned wolf developed its extremely long legs to be able to wander through its territory without having to constantly jump as dogs do when they cross this type of terrain.
Their long legs also help them find their prey hidden in the grass (rodents, hares and small birds, for the most part).
This amazing trait is the reason why the maned wolf is often called “fox on stilts”.
If this marvelous creature is someday swept out of existence due to habitat destruction, domestic dogs’ attacks, etc... I support the physical extermination of the entire south american population.
Ok... this is just a hyperbole whose only purpose is to show my admiration for this cousin of our dogs and my outrage about the fact it is on the endangered species list.
But seriously, if this creature disapear from the wild, it will be a national tragedy for Brazil, Argentina, Paraguai and Bolivia.
I can’t conceive a world in which the future generations of human beings will only be able to “admire” stuffed maned wolves.
I certainly don’t want to live in this world. So if and when this sad day comes, I hope I’m already gone.
Some years ago, there was a debate about displaying south american animals on the brazilian currency.
Several animals were selected and had their photos printed on the new money: the jaguar, the golden lion tamarin etc etc.
But the maned wolf was rejected on grounds that its appearance is too clumsy: long legs, long face, etc etc.
The only thing I can say about this is that the saying “beauty is in the eyes of the beholder” has never been truer, because in the eyes of this beholder, the maned wolf is simply
drop dead gorgeous.
You can see pictures and learn more about the maned wolf here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maned_Wolf http://www.cosmosmith.com/maned_wolves.html http://www.saudeanimal.com.br/extinto11.htm
The last page is in Portuguese but it has two phantastic photos showing the mating rituals of maned wolves.