How the Falkland Islands wolf (Dusicyon australis) was the first known canid to have been hunted to extinction!

The Falkland Islands wolf (Dusicyon australis) was a canid that once used to reside on the Falkland Islands, a group of islands close to the southern tip of South America. The Falkland Islands wolf was endemic to these islands, meaning it was not found anywhere else in the entire world, so there was no other animals of this species at another location. This meant that once this population was in danger, there was no other population that could be used as part of a conservation plan, and for this reason endemic species are extremely important to keep in healthy numbers.

The Falkland Islands wolf. Image/sketch is public domain.

The sad story of the Falkland Islands wolf is that it went extinct in 1876, which made it the first canid to go extinct in modern time. It had a healthy population until the 1600s where settles began to hunt it, but the biggest hunting pressure did not occur until the early 1800s. During the beginning of the 1800s Argentine settles hunted them for the furs, and by 1830 even fur hunters from the United States had traveled to the islands to hunt for their furs!

The hunting pressure was very big, and the species was rapidly declining in numbers from 1800s to the last one was shot in Shallow Bay, West Falkland Islands in 1876. Once this last wolf was shot the entire species was gone forever, and there is no way to ever get them back (unless we improve DNA collection and cloning methods a lot).

What we know about the Falkland Islands wolf

Because of the fact that it died over 100 years ago, there is not too much available knowledge about the Falkland Islands wolf, but some assumptions and observations have been made. The canid belonged to the genus Dusicyon, but some scientists argue that it is so closely related to wolves that it should be put in the Canis genus. The Falkland Islands wolf actually looked a lot like the domesticated dogs, so sailors were confused by them when they first set foot on the Falkland Islands. Other scientists however claim that it is more closely related to foxes, but without any physical proof we cannot really determine which of these are true.

Their diet is actually unknown, but the Falkland Islands does not have any rodents, so we expected the Falkland Islands wolf to eat birds such as geese and penguins, grubs, insects and whatever floated ashore from the sea.

It did not have any natural predators, and was extremely unafraid! When ships came towards the shore, the Falkland Islands wolf would often come swimming towards it with a waggling tail! It is no wonder that the people thought that it was some breed of dog, but this fearlessness would sadly also be the demise of the species. This is because they would not fear hunters, and would readily visit their traps. Once at these traps the hunters would kill it with a club or a knife, so hunting them was extremely easy compared to most other canids. With this method the hunters would not even need to waste a bullet on the hunt, so getting thees furs and bringing them back into the US would be good business. This went on for a while, and it is no wonder that the entire species went extinct so fast.

Thanks for reading

This is pretty much all I wanted to share about the Falkland Islands wolf, but feel free to comment below with any questions or insights! And as always, thanks for reading, and make sure to hit that follow button if you want more posts like this one in your feed!