Falkland Islands wolf
species of mammal
The Falkland Islands wolf (Dusicyon australis), also known as the warrah or the Falkland Islands fox, was the only native land mammal of the Falkland Islands. This endemic canid became extinct in 1876.
It was once believed that the most closely related genus was South American fox (Lycalopex), including the culpeo, a fox-like mammal which was introduced to the Falkland Islands in modern times. A 2009 cladistic analysis of DNA identified the Falkland Islands wolf's closest living relative as the maned wolf (Chrysocyon brachyurus), an unusually long-legged, fox-like South American canid, from which it separated about 6.7 million years ago. However, the Falkland Islands wolf diverged from its mainland ancestor Dusicyon avus only around 16,000 years ago. Dusicyon avus persisted on the South American mainland until around 400 years ago.
The Falkland Islands wolf existed on both West and East Falkland. Charles Darwin was uncertain if they were differentiated varieties or subspecies. Its fur had a tawny colour and the tip of the tail was white. Its diet is unknown, but without native rodents on the Falklands, the Falkland Islands wolf likely subsisted on seashore scavenging, ground-nesting birds, like geese and penguins, as well as seal pups and insects.
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This entry incorporates text from “Falkland Islands wolf” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.