The Falkland Islands wolf (Dusicyon australis), also known as the warrah and occasionally as the Falkland Islands dog, Falkland Islands fox or Antarctic wolf, was the only native land mammal of the Falkland Islands. This endemic canid became extinct in 1876, the first known canid to have gone extinct in historical times. It was the only modern species in the genus Dusicyon.
Traditionally it had been supposed that the most closely related genus was Lycalopex, including the culpeo, which has been introduced to the Falkland Islands in modern times. However, in 2009, a cladistic analysis of DNA identified the Falkland Island 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.
The Falkland Islands Wolf existed on both West and East Falkland, but Charles Darwin was uncertain if they were differentiated varieties. Its fur had a tawny colour. The tip of the tail was white. Its diet is unknown, but, due to the absence of native rodents on the Falklands, probably consisted of ground-nesting birds such as geese and penguins, grubs and insects, as well as seashore scavenging. It has sometimes been said that it may have dwelt in burrows.
Read more about Falkland Islands Wolf: History, Commemorations
Famous quotes containing the words islands and/or wolf:
“Consider the islands bearing the names of all the saints, bristling with forts like chestnut-burs, or Echinidæ, yet the police will not let a couple of Irishmen have a private sparring- match on one of them, as it is a government monopoly; all the great seaports are in a boxing attitude, and you must sail prudently between two tiers of stony knuckles before you come to feel the warmth of their breasts.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“A wolf will walk a thousand miles to eat people: a dog half way to heaven will still eat dung.”
—Chinese proverb.