Not surprisingly, maned wolves are the tallest of the wild canids. Adults stand 3 feet at the shoulder, almost 5 feet long from head to tail, and weigh around 50 pounds. A maned wolf’s long legs are probably an adaptation to the tall grasslands where it resides.

Both genders have a reddish-brown coat with orange sides, black legs and mane, and a touch of white on their throat and tail tip. Maned wolves also have long, erect ears that can grow up to 7 inches long.

The maned wolf can be found in open or semi-open habitats such as grasslands throughout South America. It is believed that the maned wolf is the only large South American canid to survive the Pleistocene extinction 2.5 million years ago.

The maned wolf’s hunting patterns revolve more around temperature and humidity instead of time of day, hunting during cooler times and resting when it’s too warm. They are omnivores that not only eat small animals like birds, reptiles, and rodents, but also roots, bulbs, and wolf apples. The wolf apple’s name was derived from the maned wolf’s keenness towards it!

Female maned wolves will ovulate at random times, but only when a male is present, between October and April. Males will court a female first; if accepted, a female maned wolf will carry 2-6 pups for about 2 months. The pups are born with black fur and weigh between 12-16 ounces.

After up to 4 months of breastfeeding with some regurgitation feeding, the pups will join their mother for foraging. Both males and females will take care of the pups but it is mainly done by the mother.

Maned wolves have high infant mortality rates in both the wild and in captivity.

Despite its name and appearance, it is neither a fox nor wolf; it is in a separate genus alone known as Chrysocyon.

The maned wolf communicates through scent marking, barks, and their mane. They use high-pitched whines as a greeting, low growling when angered, and a characteristic “roar-bark” that is mostly used to communicate with mates over long distances.

When a maned wolf feels threatened, the wolf will lower its head, arch its back, and make their mane stand up to appear larger and intimidating.

It is common for a monogamous pair to share a large territory; however, they eat, sleep, and hunt independently, only coming together for the mating season.