Ethiopian wolf
| Ethiopian wolf Temporal range: - Recent |
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| Southern Ethiopian wolf (C. s. citernii), Sanetti Plateau | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Carnivora |
| Suborder: | Caniformia |
| Family: | Canidae |
| Genus: | Canis |
| Species: | C. simensis |
| Binomial name | |
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Canis simensis Ruppell, 1840 |
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| Ethiopian wolf range | |
| Synonyms | |
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The Ethiopian wolf (Canis simensis) is a canid native to the Ethiopian Highlands. It is similar to the coyote in size and build, and is distinguished by its long and narrow skull, and its red and white fur. Unlike most large canids, which are widespread, generalist feeders, the Ethiopian wolf is a highly specialised feeder of Afroalpine rodents with very specific habitat requirements. It is one of the world's rarest canids, and Africa's most endangered carnivore.
The species' current range is limited to seven isolated mountain ranges at altitudes of 3,000–4,500 m, with the overall adult population estimated at 360-440 individuals in 2011, more than half of them in the Bale Mountains.
The Ethiopian wolf is listed as endangered by the IUCN, on account of its small numbers and fragmented range. Threats include increasing pressure from expanding human populations, resulting in habitat degradation through overgrazing, and disease transference and interbreeding from free-ranging dogs. Its conservation is headed by Oxford University's Ethiopian Wolf Conservation Programme, which seeks to protect wolves through vaccination and community outreach programs.
Alternative English names for the Ethiopian wolf include Abyssinian wolf, Simien fox, Simien jackal, Ethiopian jackal, red fox, red jackal, Abyssinian dog and cuberow.
The earliest written reference to the species comes from Solinus's Collectanea rerum memorabilium from the third century AD:
The species was first scientifically described in 1835 by Eduard Rüppell, who provided a skull for the British Museum. European writers traveling in Ethiopia during the mid-19th century (then called Abyssinia) wrote that the animal's skin was never worn by natives, as it was popularly believed that the wearer would die should any wolf hairs enter an open wound, while Charles Darwin hypothesised that the species gave rise to greyhounds. Since then, it was scarcely heard of in Europe up until the early 20th century, when several skins were shipped to England by Major Percy Horace Gordon Powell-Cotton during his travels in Abyssinia.
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Wikipedia