The largest canine in South America, with a reddish coat and very long, slender legs. Despite its name and fox-like markings, it is neither a wolf nor a fox. It lives alone in grassland and scrub and is most active at dawn and dusk.
Quick answers
What is it?Mammal
Carnivore?Omnivore
Dangerous?No
Domesticated?No
Awake when?Day & night
Hibernates?No
Kept as a pet?No
Do people eat it?No
At a glance
Found inSouth America
HabitatGrassland, Scrub
ColoursRed, Black
SizeLarge
LengthAbout 100 cm (head and body)
HeightUp to 110 cm at the shoulder
Weight20–30 kg
Legs4
Covered inFur
Lives inpairs
Lives for12–15 years
In the wild
- Where it lives
- Brazil, Paraguay, northern Argentina, Bolivia and far southeastern Peru; very rare in Uruguay.
- What it eats
- Mostly fruit, above all the tomato-like wolf apple (40–90% of its diet), plus small animals.
- Conservation
- Near Threatened (IUCN Red List)
Did you know
Neither wolf nor fox, and its scent marking smells so strongly of cannabis that zoos get reported.
Its urine smells like cannabis; at Rotterdam Zoo the smell once sent police hunting for cannabis smokers.
It spreads wolf apple seeds intact in its droppings.
Often confused with
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