Falkland Islands Wolf
Order: Carnivora
Family: Canidae
Genus: Dusicyon
Species: D. australis
Extinction: 1876
The Falkand Islands Wolf, also known as the Warrah or Antarctic Wolf, was the only native land mammal of the Falkland Islands. This endemic canid went extinct in 1879, it was the first known canid to become extinct in historical records.
John Gerrard Keulemans
Range
The former range of the now extinct Falkland Islands Wolf (marked in red).
Extinction
This species was hunted by Argentine settlers in the early 1800s, and by US fur traders in the 1830s for its valuable fur. The wolf was tame and curious and unafraid of humans, and as such was particularly susceptible to culling. Scottish settlers and their sheep arrived in the 1860s and considered the wolf a pest and threat, and thus began setting fire to brushwood and laying out poison baits.
Left: A Falkland Islands Wolf specimen held at the Otago Museum.
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Conservation Efforts
In 1886, a live wolf was taken to the London Zoo in England. In 1870, the surviving member from a pair of animals sent by Mr Byng, acting colonial secretary of the Falklands, also arrived in Longon Zoo. Neither animal survived long--only a few years. No reproduction in captivity was reported.
Biology
A DNA analysis and a study of comparative brain anatomy suggests that the closest living relative of the Falkland Islands Wolf is the South American Maned Wolf. Their most recent common ancestor lived some 6 million years ago and was close to the most recent common ancestor of all South American canids--Eucyon--or a close relative.