Short-eared Dog

The short-eared dog is a fox-like canid with a long, slender muzzle, short rounded ears and a bushy tail. Its short, bristly coat ranges from black or dark grey to reddish-grey, brown or chestnut, and it is often darkest along a line from head to tail (Handbook of the Mammals of the World; Wikipedia, general species account). It has short, slender legs, a narrow chest and partly webbed feet (Wikipedia, general species account). Its upper canines are unusually long and project about 50mm beyond the closed mouth (Handbook of the Mammals of the World).

It is elusive and mostly solitary, and it is mainly active by day, although it has been photographed walking on trails at night in Madidi National Park, Bolivia (Handbook of the Mammals of the World). It swims well: one animal was captured in Colombia swimming after a lowland paca in a river (Handbook of the Mammals of the World). Males give off a musk from the tail glands when excited, and females are about one-third larger than males (Wikipedia, general species account). Pups have been found from April to December, in hollow logs or in a paca burrow, and sexual maturity comes at about three years (Handbook of the Mammals of the World; Wikipedia, general species account). Feral dogs are a serious threat, because they carry canine distemper and rabies into wild populations, and habitat loss also affects the species (Wikipedia, general species account).

Bolivia is part of the species' listed Amazonian range (Wikipedia, general species account), and the species has been photographed at night on trails in Madidi National Park (Handbook of the Mammals of the World).