Culpeo

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Culpeo

Least concern (LC)

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Carnivora
Family:	Canidae
Genus:	Pseudalopex
Species:	P. culpaeus

Binomial name

Pseudalopex culpaeus
(Molina, 1782)

The Culpeo (Pseudalopex culpaeus), sometimes known as the Patagonian fox, is a South American species of wild dog. It is the second largest South American canid after the Maned Wolf. In its appearance it bears many similarities to the widely recognized red fox. It has grey and reddish fur, a white chin, reddish legs, and a stripe on its back that may be barely visible.

Its distribution extends from Ecuador and Peru to the southern regions of Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego. It is most common on the western slopes of the Andes, where it inhabits open country and deciduous forests. A community of culpeos is also found in some of the western isles of the Falkland Islands, where they were introduced by humans.

Its diet consists of rodents, rabbits, birds, lizards, and, to a lesser extent, plants or carrion. Allegedly the culpeo attacks sheep and therefore it is often hunted or poisoned. In some regions it has become rare, but the species is not threatened with extinction.

The Falkland Island Fox, now extinct, was probably closely related.

[edit] References

Jiménez et al (2004). Pseudalopex culpaeus. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 11 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern