Page 34 - Dog

South American mix

South american wild dogs are often referred
to as foxes or zorros (the Spanish name for foxes),
but they should not be confused with either true
wolves (pp. 22–23) or true foxes (pp. 28–29). They
are solitary hunters (pp. 18–19) of small animals, CULPEO’S COAT
but they will also eat anything edible that they can The culpeo’s grayish yellow
and black coat, with a
find, including fruit. There are four distinct genera, or black-tipped tail, is not in
groups, of foxlike dogs: the short-legged bush dog; demand for making fur
clothing (pp. 12–13), so
the maned wolf; at least six different members of this canid is not, at present,
the Dusicyon genus, of which the most common is in danger of extermination.
the culpeo; and the doglike, crab-eating (or forest) zorro, which is in
the Cerdocyon genus. This Crab-eating zorro is sometimes tamed by
the Indians and will go hunting with them like a domestic dog.
Another zorro that used to live on South America’s Falkland Islands
until the late 1800s was exterminated by fur traders. Charles Darwin
(1809–1882), English naturalist and author of The Origin of Species,
Stirrup cup – with a fox on visited the Falklands in 1834 on his voyage around
man’s forehead – from Mochica
tribe of pre-Columbian Peru, the world in the ship HMS Beagle, and described
a.d. 300–1000 this animal as the “Falkland Island wolf”.

PRETTY PATAGONIAN HEAVILY HUNTED
The Patagonian fox, or Found in the pampas
chilla, lives in the of Argentina and
southern part of South southern Brazil,
America. Like many this gray-bodied,
canids in the genus red-headed fox, or
Dusicyon, it is not at all zorro, has a very
timid. In 1834, Darwin Iong, bushy tail. Azara’s zorro
killed one by walking
close and hitting it on the Small ears
head with a hammer. Bush dog
Broad face

Reddish tan, or tawny, coat

BUSH BADGER
The bush dog looks more like an otter
or badger than a dog. Like other South
American members of the dog family,
Very short legs this animal is not a true dog or fox, but
belongs in a group – the genus Speothos –
on its own. It is found in open country
near water in tropical South America
and spends much of its time in
a burrow.

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