As mentioned in the first point of this Wild Fact, the Maned Wolf essentially looks like a large fox with incredibly long legs. Incidentally, these long legs provide the Maned Wolf with the ability to see over the long grasses of South America. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that this canine is typically found in the open and semi-open grasslands throughout eastern South America, such as Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, and at one point in time, they use to be found in Uruguay (most likely extirpated in this area). Luckily, these beautiful creatures are still around in other areas, however, they are currently listed as Near Threatened.

Unlike other wolves, the Maned Wolf is a solitary dog and as such have a different hunting style than their North American relatives. These “lone wolves” will typically hunt between dusk and midnight where they are on the lookout for small to medium sized animals like hares, rodents, birds and even fish. Interestingly, these solitary wolves will usually share a territory with a mate and while they don’t typically see each other outside of the mating season, they will work together to defend their home range. Although, they don’t see each other, this monogamous pair will use urine scent-marking to communicate the hunting hot spots, trails and any other valuable information.

When mating season does roll around between November and April, the star-crossed lovers sharing a 30 square kilometre home range will finally meet up. After a gestation period of 60 to 65 days, the female will give birth to 2 to 6 pups that will depend on the parents for approximately one year. During this year, the individual parents will provide food for their young so they can grow up to be big and strong wolves.