Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Email
Answers.com

Ethiopian Wolf

 
Animal Encyclopedia: Ethiopian wolf
Home > Library > Animal Life > Animal Encyclopedia

Canis simensis

TAXONOMY

Canis simensis Rüppell, 1835, Ethiopia. There are some slight differences between wolves found on either side of the Great Rift Valley, suggesting isolation for part of the Pleistocene.

OTHER COMMON NAMES

French: Loup Abyssinie; German: Aethiopenfuchs; Ethiopian: Ky Kebero.

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS

The Ethiopian wolf is a long-legged, long-snouted canid with males weighing 35 lb (16 kg) and females 28.7 lb (13 kg). It is 23.6 in (60 cm) at the shoulder. The coat is a bright red with black on the back of the ears and tail. The base of the tail and lower legs are white, with white patches on the throat and chest.

DISTRIBUTION

The species is restricted to seven small areas, five north of the Rift Valley and two south of the Rift Valley, all in Ethiopia.

HABITAT

An extreme specialist, the Ethiopian wolf lives in treeless areas above 9,843 ft (3,000 m), in Afro-alpine habitat.

BEHAVIOR

The species is territorial and monogamous. Young often remain on their natal territory producing small packs of 2–8 members. Females leave their home area sooner than males so packs have more males than females.

FEEDING ECOLOGY AND DIET

Rodents constitute 95% of the diet. The prey include the giant mole rat 10.6–31.7 oz (300–900 g) as well as smaller rats and mice. Hares are caught occasionally. Prey is sighted or heard in the open country. The wolf will stalk until able to make a final dash of 16.4–65.6 ft (5–20 m). Prey may also be dug out of their tunnel systems. Scavenging occurs. Predation on livestock is exceedingly uncommon.

REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY

Monogamous. Breeding occurs seasonally with mating in August and September with young born two months later. Litter size is from two to six and all members of the pack bring food to the pups. Only the alpha pair breed. Juveniles will follow the pack at six months but full adult stature is not achieved until two years.

CONSERVATION STATUS

Of the seven populations, only one, in the Bale Mountains, numbers more than 100. The total available habitat is very limited, and humans encroachment is continuing. World population is less than 600. There are none in captivity. Listed as Endangered by the IUCN.

SIGNIFICANCE TO HUMANS

The Oromo people who live among Ethiopian wolves show little or no antagonism towards them, recognizing that they are not a threat to their herds. They are sometimes shot in other parts of their range and their livers are thought to have medicinal properties.

Search unanswered questions...

Enter a question here...
Search: All sources Community Q&A Reference topics

Wikipedia: Ethiopian Wolf
Top
Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Wikipedia
Ethiopian Wolf[1]
Fossil range: Pliocene - Recent
Conservation status
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Canidae
Genus: Canis
Species: C. simensis
Binomial name
Canis simensis
Ruppell, 1840
Ethiopian Wolf range (OBS: Contrary to this map, its range does not extend into E. Sudan).

The Ethiopian wolf (Canis simensis), also known as the Abyssinian wolf, Abyssinian fox, red jackal, Simien fox, or Simien jackal is a canid native to Africa. The numerous names reflect previous uncertainty about its taxonomic position, but it is now thought to be related to the wolves of the genus Canis rather than the foxes it superficially resembles. The Ethiopian wolf is found in the Afro-alpine regions of Ethiopia, about 10,000 feet (3,000 m) above sea level and is the top predator of the ecosystem. It is the most endangered canid,[3] with only about seven populations remaining, totalling roughly 550 adults. The largest population is found in the Bale Mountains in southern Ethiopia, although there are also smaller populations in the Semien Mountains in the north of the country, and in a few other areas. Claudio Sillero-Zubiri at the University of Oxford is the zoologist most closely associated with efforts to save this species of wolf, particularly with his work for an oral rabies vaccine to protect them from the disease passed from local dogs. His work is supported by the Born Free Foundation. A rabies outbreak in 1990 reduced the largest known population, found in the Bale Mountains National Park, from about 440 wolves to less than 160 in only two weeks.

Contents

Taxonomy and evolution

Initial molecular evidence suggested that the Ethiopian wolf is a descendant of the Grey Wolf.[4] More recent evidence suggests that this is not the case; although the Ethiopian wolf is closely related to other wolves, it probably diverged some three or four million years ago.[5]

Description

Ethiopian wolf on the Sanetti Plateau
Ethiopian wolf skull

The Ethiopian wolf is a medium sized canid resembling the coyote in size and conformation, having long legs and a narrow pointed muzzle.[6] It weighs 11–19 kilograms (24–42 pounds),[3] with males being 20% larger than females.[6] The skull has a flat profile with a thick, narrow and low neuro-cranium which is almost cylindrical in shape. The coronal ridge is linear and the inter-parietal bone slightly developed. The teeth are small and widely spaced, an adaptation to their rodent heavy diet. The dental formula is 3/3-1/1-4/4-2/3=42. The back molars are occasionally absent. The canine teeth are sharply pointed and average 19 millimetres in length. The ears are pointed and broad, sporting thickly fringed pinnae. The front feet have five toes, while the back have four.[6]

The coat is ochre to rusty red on the face, ears and upper portions of the body and white to pale ginger on the underparts. Small white spots are present on the cheeks, as well as a white ascending crescent below the eyes. The contrast of red and white markings increases with age and social rank. Females tend to have paler coats. The back of the tail has a short, rufus coloured stripe which ends in a thick brush of black guard hairs on the tip. The pelt has short guard hairs and thick underfur which protect the wolf from temperatures as low as −15 °C (+5 °F).[6]

Social behaviour

Although the Ethiopian wolf is primarily a solitary hunter of rodents, it lives in packs that share and defend an exclusive territory. This differs from most larger social carnivores that live in groups for the purpose of hunting cooperatively. In areas with little human interference, packs may average 6 adults, 1–6 yearlings, and 1–7 pups. Typically, packs are an extended family group formed by all males born into the pack during consecutive years and 1–2 females. One study showed that the sex ratio of adult pack members in optimal habitat was biased toward males by a ratio of 2.6:1.[3]

Social gatherings among different packs are more common during the breeding season, and take place in close proximity to the den.

Inter-pack confrontations occur at the territorial border. Ethiopian wolves become highly vocal during these interactions, which invariably end with the smaller group retreating from the larger.[3]

Males do not disperse from their natal pack, while females will leave at the age of two years, joining another pack should a breeding vacancy occur.[6]

Reproduction

Ethiopian wolf with cubs

Within the pack, the dominant female discourages attempts to mate with her from all but the pack's dominant male, though she is receptive to any wandering male from a neighboring group. Up to 70% of all matings involve males from outside the pack. All members of the pack assist in caring for the pups, with subordinate females sometimes assisting the dominant female in suckling the pups. Females breed no more than once annually and give birth to litters usually consisting of 2–6 pups which are born after a two month gestation period. Females give birth in a den dug on open ground, under a boulder or within a rocky crevice. Adults will regularly shift pups between dens, up to 1300 m (4300 ft) apart.[3]

Dietary habits

The diet of the Ethiopian wolf is almost exclusively composed of diurnal rodents. One study revealed that rodents account for 96% of all prey, with the endemic Big-headed Mole Rat (Tachyoryctes macrocephalus) being the main food item.[3] In areas where the Big-headed Mole Rat is absent, the wolf will primarily subsist on the East African Mole Rat. Other recorded prey species include the Black-clawed Brush-furred Rat, Blick's Grass Rat, various vlei rats, the Yellow-spotted Brush-furred Rat, young birds, the Ethiopian Highland Hare, the Cape Hyrax, and young of the Common Duiker, Mountain Reedbuck, and Mountain Nyala. Sedge leaves are sometimes eaten to aid digestion.[6]

Subspecies

There are two recognised subspecies of this canid:[1]

  • Canis simensis simensis; Occurs north-west of the Rift valley. Its nasal bones are shorter than those of the southern race.
  • Canis simensis citernii; Occurs south-east of the Rift valley. Its coat is redder than that of the northern race.

Relationships with humans

Cultural significance

Unlike the Gray Wolf, the Ethiopian wolf is barely touched upon in the folklore or tradition of the human cultures with which it coexists, though the species is mentioned in Ethiopian literature dating back to the 13th century. Currently, the Ethiopian wolf is a national symbol, having been used in two stamp series. There are not many traditional uses for the Ethiopian wolf, though its liver may be used for medicinal reasons in the northern regions of the country.[6]

Livestock predation

Though in the past the Ethiopian wolf was feared as a livestock predator,[7] today it is not usually considered a major threat to livestock, to the point where sheep and goats are sometimes left unattended in areas where wolves occur. In the southern highlands, losses caused by wolf predation are mostly dismissed due to the rarity of such events when compared to predation by the Spotted Hyena and jackals.[6]

Persecution

Although officially a protected species, wolf killings increased in frequency during Ethiopia's period of instability due to the increased availability of firearms. Ethiopian wolves are not usually exploited for fur, though there was an occasion in Wollo in which wolf skins were used as saddle pads.[6]

References

  1. ^ a b Wozencraft, W. C. (16 November 2005). Wilson, D. E., and Reeder, D. M. (eds). ed. Mammal Species of the World (3rd edition ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 0-801-88221-4. http://www.bucknell.edu/msw3/browse.asp?id=14000779. 
  2. ^ Sillero-Zubiri & Marino (2008). Canis simensis. In: IUCN 2008. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 5 May 2008. Database entry includes a lengthy justification of why this species is endangered
  3. ^ a b c d e f "Animal Info - Ethiopian Wolf". animalinfo.org. http://www.animalinfo.org/species/carnivor/canisime.htm. Retrieved 2008-04-23. 
  4. ^ Gotelli, D.; C. Sillero-Zubiri, G.D. Applebaum, M.S. Roy, D.J. Girman, J. Garcia-Moreno, E.A. Ostrander, R.K. Wayne (1994). "Molecular genetics of the most endangered canid: the Ethiopian wolf Canis simensis". Molecular Ecology (Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London, UK) 3 (4): 301–312. doi:10.1111/j.1365-294X.1994.tb00070.x. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7921357. Retrieved 2008-03-31. 
  5. ^ Lindblad-Toh et al. (2005). "Genome sequence, comparative analysis and haplotype structure of the domestic dog". Nature 438: 803. doi:10.1038/nature04338. http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v438/n7069/pdf/nature04338.pdf. 
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Ethiopian wolf". Canids.org. http://www.canids.org/species/Ethiopian_wolf.pdf. Retrieved 2008-04-23. 
  7. ^ [1]
Text document with red question mark.svg
 This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations where appropriate. (April 2008)
Search Wikimedia Commons Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Canis simensis

External links


This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

 
 

 

Copyrights:

Animal Encyclopedia. Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia. Copyright © 2005 by The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Ethiopian Wolf".  Read more