FALKLAND ISLAND WOLF

The Falkland Island Wolf (F.I.W.) is a scientific mystery.  It is the only land mammal found on the Falkland Islands.  No one knows whether they are more closely related to foxes found in South America or how they made their way to the Falkland Islands in the first place.  Some scientists believe they may have been brought to the Falkland Island by native people similar to how the dingoes got to Australia.  (The additional resources below give some scientific findings trying to figure out the F.I.W.'s ancestry)

 The F.I.W. was also known as the Antarctic Wolf, or the Warrah (translated as "foolish dog of the south")  It had tawny colored fur, with a darker tail ending in a white tip. The F.I.W.'s diet consisted of whatever it could find; mostly penguins, geese, and seal pups.  They would also scavenge for insects and things that washed up on shore.  Some sailors would later report how skinny the F.I.W. got in the winter time.  (See sketch below)

 The F.I.W. was first discovered by English explorer Captain John Strong in 1690.  The wolves were so tame that he took one on board his ship.  Captain Strong said that that the wolf was easily tamed.  Strong's new found pet met an untimely death, when Strong's ship was fired upon by a French ship.  The noise startled Strong's F.I.W. so much that it jumped overboard and drown.

 Its easily tamed and trusting nature is what led to its eventual demise.  There are reports that F.I.W.s would wade into the surf to greet people.  In 1839 American fur traders came to the islands.  They would coax a F.I.W. in close with a piece of meat in one hand and a knife in the other.  

 In the 1860's Scottish sheep farmers came to the Falkland Islands and began intentionally poisoning and killing the wolves for fear they would attack their sheep. 

 Charles Darwin visited the Falkland Islands in 1833 and also noted how tame the F.I.W. was.  He predicted that soon the F.I.W. "would join the dodo among the extinct in a few short years".  It was eliminated from the east island first, and a few years later the west island population faded rapidly.  

 The F.I.W. was the first member of the canine family, (dogs, coyotes, wolves, foxes) to become extinct at the hands of humans.  The last recorded Falkland Island Wolf was killed in 1876.

 ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:

* www.arkive.org/falkland-island-wolf/dusicyon-australis/

* http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/03/05/the-origin-of-the-friendly-wolf-that-confused-darwin/

* http://www.sci-news.com/biology/article00921.html

Illustration by John Gerrard Keulemans

A map of Argentina and the Falkland Islands

Coin commemorating the F.I.W.

Illustration from the book "A Gap in Nature"

A sailor's sketch of a starving F.I.W. greeting them on shore

One of only a few mounted specimens of the F.I.W.

The Falkland Island Football (Soccer) team also uses the Warrah/Antarctic Wolf on its jersey






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