Ethiopian wolf facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Ethiopian wolf Temporal range: Late Pleistocene - Recent
Ethiopian wolf on the Sanetti Plateau
Conservation status
Endangered (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Genus:	Canis
Species:	simensis
Ethiopian wolf range
Synonyms
C. crinensis Erlanger and Neumann, 1900 C. semiensis Heuglin, 1862 C. simensis Gray, 1869 C. walgié Heuglin, 1862 C. citernii de Beaux, 1922

The Ethiopian wolf (Canis simensis), is a canid native to the Ethiopian Highlands. It is also known as the Simien jackal or Simien fox. It is similar to the coyote in size. It has a long and narrow skull, and red and white fur. The Ethopian wolf only eats Afroalpine rodents. It only lives in mountain ranges and high altitudes. It is one of the world's rarest canids. It is Africa's most endangered carnivore.

The Ethiopian wolf is threatened by increasing human populations, habitat loss through overgrazing, disease and interbreeding from dogs.

Images for kids

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  Rüppell's depiction of the species (1835).

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  Mounted specimen (1902), one of the first post-1835 specimens to reach Europe

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  Ethiopian wolf skull: Despite its close relation to the grey wolf, convergent evolution has resulted in a skull similar in shape to that of jackals and the South American maned wolf.

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  Painting (1926) by Louis Agassiz Fuertes

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  Southern Ethiopian wolf in the Bale Mountains

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  Southern Ethiopian wolf feeding, Bale Mountains.

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  Northern Ethiopian wolf in the Simien Mountains

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  Big-headed mole rat (Tachyoryctes macrocephalus), one of the Ethiopian wolf's primary prey animals

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  Ethiopian wolves resting alongside grazing zebu

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  Ethiopian wolf, depicted on a 1987 postage stamp

See also

In Spanish: Lobo etíope para niños