Maned Wolf : The Western pouncer

You might have heard about ‘chimeras’ before. In literature and movies chimeras are often showcased as nasty and bizarre creatures artificially created by some mad scientist inside a lab by combining many fearsome animals. Many mythical creatures also fit the criteria of being chimera, for example, Minotaur and unicorns. Mostly in movies, they’re bad news and absolute abomination. Scientifically speaking, Chimera is any organism that contains two or more different sets of DNA. But let’s discuss chimera business some other time; the purpose of this chimera-talk was to make a picture of bizarre looking animal with features from many animals in your mind. Imagine an animal with body of a wolf, face of a fox and legs of a deer!

You would be shocked to know (or may be not) that there is an animal that has all the features mentioned earlier. The name of this nature’s very-own chimera is Maned Wolf. Of course, maned wolf is not a real chimera as it is a separate species. Ironically, these pooches are anything but ugly. In fact, maned wolves are among the most lovable pooches around the globe. According to Steve Backshell, Animal Planet explorer and host of ‘Deadly 60’, “Maned wolf is like a red fox that got stretched really hard”. And after looking at the picture below, you will agree with him unconditionally

Appearance

Maned wolf is a member of Canine family (The Dog-Family), but it is neither a wolf, nor a fox. It is the sole representative of the genus ‘Chysocyon’. Closest relative of this skinny and tall pooch is bush dog, another interesting canine. Maned wolves are the tallest canine on the planet, largest canine in South America, and since the jaguars prefer to stay in rain forests, they are also the apex predator of grasslands and shrub-lands of South America. A fully grown maned wolf measures around 90cm at shoulder, but some individuals can reach well above 100cm. Theories suggest that they grew taller to get a better view in the tall grasses they live in. As compared to grey wolves, weighing anywhere between 60 to 80kgs, maned wolves are pretty lightweight, weighing no more than 30-35 kgs. Those long and skinny legs disorient their walking and running postures, this is why they look more like a deer than a wolf while running.

Behaviour

Maned wolves are nocturnal and maximum activity is seen during dusk and dawn. Unlike most canines, maned wolves are solitary, they don’t form packs like wolves and avoid contact with others as long as possible. Another difference between them and other wolves is the fact that they are omnivores. Interestingly, their diet is 65 to 75% vegetarian, and they heavily depend on a particular type of fruit, Solanum lycocarpum, which is named after them, the wolf apple. Maned wolves maintain very large territories, about 30 kilometre square, which is quite large for a solitary animal. Maned wolves are monogamous, meaning they make partners for life. Both parents take care of cubs for few months. Breeding takes place between April and June. Place of birth of young ones is chosen in an overlapping area that is shared by both parents. Since they are solitary, not much complexity is noticed in their calls and cries; still their roar-bark is very famous, which is commonly heard at the time of dusk. Their hunting style is just as unique as their appearance. Maned wolves wear their prey out, and when the time is right, they pounce. It looks more like some kind of pouncing dance form than hunting. Since their diet consists 3/4th vegetative food, they don’t need to be hunt experts. Pouncing works just fine for them. That said, I wonder what warning sign someone having a maned wolf will put on their door. “Beware of pouncing pooch, might kill you with cuteness!”

The Marijuana Link

Now that we know about the eating-habits of this lovely pooch, next logical step is to know its excretory system. Well not exactly the excretion, but the smell associated with it. Maned wolves are often called the skunk wolf, and rightly so. The smell of maned wolf urine is very much similar that of marijuana! The similarity is so uncanny that it created a big fuss in the Rotterdam Zoo, back in 2006. Actually a maned wolf took a leak during day-time and officers mistook it for someone consuming marijuana in the zoo. Officers, as expected, launched a search for the man. In the end, they found it was a maned wolf marking its turf. The reason behind this smell is the presence of chemicals called ‘Pyrazines’. Pyrazines are chemical compounds formed by the hexagonal combination of Nitrogen, Carbon and Hydrogen. These compounds produce the pungent smell which is very effective for marking the territory.

Dependency, Importance and Symbiosis

Maned wolves are not just all legs. Maned wolves, as mentioned earlier, depend majorly on fruits and vegetation. About 50% of their total food consist only 1 kind fruit, the wolf apple. These creatures are not very neat eaters, which mean there is a lot of residue for other animals. Apart from that, they have a very unique symbiotic relationship with the leaf cutter ants. The leaf cutter ants use the poop of maned wolf for harvesting a special kind of fungus in their harvesting chambers in anthills. While transporting the ‘poop-of-the-pooch’ back to their anthills, ants get rid of anything other than what they need. This includes the seeds from the fruit. They deliberately dispose all the seeds during the process. Maned wolves are not known for attacking humans. In fact, Caraca monastery, located in Brazil, became an unlikely sanctuary for a pair of maned wolves. Few years back, people at the monastery noticed a large canine going through the garbage, searching desperately for leftover food. Since then, priests and people started to offer leftover food to the tall and skinny wolf. Soon a partner joined. Both of them still continue to come and accept the offerings from the good people of monastery. There is a video of the same wolf accepting the food while people sit there. The video is provided below.

These beautiful creatures are currently listed as Near-Threatened in the IUCN Red List, but efforts to update their status are underway. The breeding is very challenging for maned wolves, especially due to their solitary social-structure and monogamous nature. Moreover, breeding season is very short, and successful fertilization is not very common. There is a very narrow time period (2 weeks at best) in which the female should be fertilized. This creates many problems. In case of misjudgment or any other abnormality, if this narrow time period is missed, the couple will wait for next year. To add to their problems, habitat destruction causes territory shrinking and fragmentation. This increase conflicts with other maned wolves and with humans too. Let’s hope that this lovely animal will enjoy life and prosperity as long as nature sees fit. Our intervention has already tarnished the beauty of nature, and to treasure what is left is our prime goal, or at least is should be…

Hope you learnt something new today…

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