Maned Wolf

The maned wolf is the tallest wild dog in the world and the largest canid in South America, yet it is neither a fox nor a true wolf but the only member of its genus. It looks like a red fox on stilts: golden-red to orange body, very long black legs, big upright ears, a black mane on the neck and shoulders that it raises when threatened, a white throat patch and a white tail tip. The long legs are thought to be an adaptation to seeing over tall grass. Its territory marks have a strong smell likened to cannabis (Wikipedia, general species account; Dietz 1985, Mammalian Species).

It is mostly active at dusk and night and lives alone, although pairs share a permanent territory of roughly 27–30 square kilometres and meet mainly in the breeding season. It hunts by listening for rodents in the grass with its large ears, tapping the ground to flush them and pouncing. Fruit forms a large part of the diet, which changes with the seasons, and the wolf is an important seed disperser of the wolf apple. Instead of howling it gives a loud, deep 'roar-bark' (Dietz 1985, Mammalian Species; Wikipedia, general species account).

Known in Bolivia as the borochi, the maned wolf lives in the lowlands east and north of the Andes. Its status in the country is poorly known, and a traditional belief holds that riding on a saddle made from its skin protects against bad luck (Wikipedia, general species account). On this guide it is a target species of Barba Azul and the Beni savannas and of Noel Kempff Mercado National Park.