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An Andean wolf pelt in Munich's zoological museum.
The Andean wolf was a possibly new species of canid reported from the Argentine Andes.[1][2]
The skin[]
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In 1927, Lorenz Hagenbeck bought one of three pelts from a dealer in Buenos Aires who claimed that they had come from a wild dog of the Andes, similar to a maned wolf but with thicker, darker fur, and smaller ears.
The Andean wolf compared with the maned wolf, from Heuvelmans' On the Track of Unknown Animals.
In 1947, Ingo Krumbiegel connected the pelt with a skull he had discovered in the Andes in 1935.[1] He claimed the skull was 31 centimeters long and belonged to an omnivorous canid substantially larger than a maned wolf, as maned wolf skulls are smaller, about 24cm. Maned wolves also do not occur in the area he found the skull. He published a paper describing the animal and suggesting a scientific name for it: Dasycyon hagenbecki.[1]
A 2000 attempt at DNA analysis of the remaining pelt at Munich’s zoological museum failed because it was contaminated with human, dog, wolf, and pig DNA, and had been chemically treated.
Theories[]
As mentioned above, Ingo Krumbiegel believed the animal could be a new species. Another possibility is that the animal came about from the accidental pairing of the skull of a maned wolf and the skin of a German shepherd.[1]
Notes and references[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Eberhart, George (2002) Mysterious Creatures: A Guide to Cryptozoology
- ↑ Heuvelmans, Bernard (1955) On the Track of Unknown Animals