Canis simensisEthiopian wolf(Also: Simian jackal; Simien fox)

Ge­o­graphic Range

The Ethiopian wolf has a very re­stricted range. It is found only in six or seven moun­tain ranges of Ethiopia. This in­cludes the Arssi and Bale moun­tains of south­east Ethiopia, the Simien moun­tains, north­east Shoa, Go­j­jam, and Mt. Guna (Gins­berg and Mac­don­ald 1990). The largest pop­u­la­tion ex­ists in the Bale Moun­tains Na­tional Park with 120-160 in­di­vid­u­als (Sillero-Zu­biri and Got­telli 1995).

Habi­tat

Canis simen­sis is found in afro-alpine grass­lands and heath­lands where veg­e­ta­tion is less than 0.25 m high. It lives at al­ti­tudes of 3000-4400 m (Sillero-Zu­biri and Got­telli 1994).

  • Range elevation
    3000 to 4400 m
    9842.52 to 14435.70 ft

Phys­i­cal De­scrip­tion

Ethiopian wolves are long-limbed, slen­der look­ing canids. They have a red­dish coat with white mark­ing on the legs, un­der­belly, tail, face, and chin. The bound­ary be­tween the red and white fur is quite dis­tinct. White mark­ings on the face in­clude a char­ac­ter­is­tic white cres­cent below the eyes and a white spot on the cheeks. The chin and throat are also white. The tail is marked with an in­dis­tinct black stripe down its length and a brush of black hairs at the tip. The ears are wide and pointed and the nose, gums, and palate are black. Fe­males are gen­er­ally paler in color than males and are smaller over­all. There are five toes on the front feet and four on the rear feet. Males mea­sure from 928 to 1012 mm (av­er­age 963 mm) and fe­males from 841 to 960 mm (av­er­age 919 mm). Males weigh from 14.2 to 19.3 kg (av­er­age 16.2) and fe­males from 11.2 to 14.2 kg (av­er­age 12.8). The tail is from 270 to 396 mm in length. The den­tal for­mula is 3/3:1/1:4/4:2/3, with the lower third molar being ab­sent oc­ca­sion­ally. (Sillero-Zu­biri and Marino, 1995)

  • Sexual Dimorphism
  • male larger
  • Range mass
    11.2 to 19.3 kg
    24.67 to 42.51 lb
  • Range length
    841 to 1012 mm
    33.11 to 39.84 in

Re­pro­duc­tion

For Ethiopian wolves, dis­per­sal from their na­tive packs is lim­ited due to habi­tat sat­u­ra­tion. Males gen­er­ally re­main in their natal pack, and a small num­ber of fe­males dis­perse in their sec­ond or third year. To com­bat this high po­ten­tial for in­breed­ing in­side the closely re­lated pack, mat­ings out­side the pack occur fre­quently. Cop­u­la­tion out­side the pack oc­curs with males of all rank, but those within the pack occur only be­tween the dom­i­nant male and fe­male. While cop­u­la­tion be­tween males and sub­or­di­nate fe­males does occur, pups that may arise from this union rarely sur­vive (Sillero-Zu­biri et al. 1996).

Prior to cop­u­la­tion, the dom­i­nant fe­male in­creases her rate of scent mark­ing, play so­lic­it­ing, food beg­ging to­wards the dom­i­nant male, and ag­gres­sive be­hav­ior to­wards sub­or­di­nate fe­males. Ethiopian wolves mate over a pe­riod of 3-5 days, in­volv­ing a cop­u­la­tion tie that lasts up to 15 min­utes.

It is not un­com­mon for a sub­or­di­nate fe­male to as­sist in suck­ling the young of the dom­i­nant fe­male. In these cases, the sub­or­di­nate lac­tat­ing fe­male is likely preg­nant and ei­ther loses or deserts her own young for those of the dom­i­nant fe­male.

Once a year be­tween Oc­to­ber and Jan­u­ary, the dom­i­nant fe­male in each pack gives birth to a lit­ter of 2-6 pups. Ges­ta­tion lasts ap­prox­i­mately 60-62 days. The fe­male gives birth to her lit­ter in a den she digs in open ground under a boul­der or in a rocky crevice. The pups are born with their eyes closed and no teeth. They are char­coal gray with a buff patch on their chest and under areas. At about 3 weeks, the coat be­gins to be re­placed by the nor­mal adult col­or­ing and the young first emerge from the den. After this time, den sites are reg­u­larly shifted, some­times up to 1300m.

De­vel­op­ment of the young oc­curs in three stages (Sillero-Zu­biri and Got­telli 1994). The first cov­ers weeks 1-4 when the pups are com­pletely de­pen­dent on their mother for milk. The sec­ond oc­curs from week 5-10 from when the pups' milk diet is sup­ple­mented by solid food re­gur­gi­tated from all pack mem­bers. It ends when the pups are com­pletely weaned. Fi­nally, from week 10 until about 6 months, the young sur­vive al­most solely on solid food pro­vided from adult mem­bers of the pack. Adults have been seen pro­vid­ing food for young up to 1 year old. The Ethiopian wolf at­tains full adult ap­pear­ance at 2 years of age, and both sexes are sex­u­ally ma­ture dur­ing their sec­ond year (Sillero-Zu­biri and Got­telli 1994). Data on life ex­pectancy is in­ad­e­quate, but C. simen­sis is likely to live 8-9 years in the wild (Mac­don­ald 1984).

  • Key Reproductive Features
  • gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)
  • sexual
  • Range number of offspring
    2 to 6
  • Range gestation period
    60 to 62 days
  • Average weaning age
    70 days
  • Parental Investment
  • altricial
  • post-independence association with parents
  • extended period of juvenile learning

Lifes­pan/Longevity

Ethiopian wolves may live 8 to 10 years in the wild, al­though one wild in­di­vid­ual was recorded liv­ing to 12 years. (Sillero-Zu­biri and Marino, 1995)

  • Range lifespan
    Status: wild
    12 (high) years
  • Typical lifespan
    Status: wild
    10 (high) years

Be­hav­ior

Al­though it pri­mar­ily does its hunt­ing alone, C. simen­sis is a so­cial an­i­mal, form­ing packs of 3-13 in­di­vid­u­als (mean 6). Packs con­gre­gate for so­cial greet­ings and bor­der pa­trols at dawn, mid­day, and evening, but for­age in­di­vid­u­ally dur­ing the rest of the day. The Ethiopian wolf is di­ur­nal and sleeps in the open dur­ing night, alone or in groups. Pack struc­ture is hi­er­ar­chi­cal and well de­fined by dom­i­nant and sub­mis­sive dis­plays as seen with other canids. Each sex has a dom­i­nance rank with shifts oc­cur­ring in males oc­ca­sion­ally but not in fe­males. Play-fight­ing among pups in the first few weeks be­gins to es­tab­lish rank be­tween sib­lings (Sillero-Zu­biri and Got­telli 1994).

Ethiopian wolf packs are ter­ri­to­r­ial. C. simen­sis trav­els in packs to pa­trol its ter­ri­tory. Packs main­tain the bound­aries of their ter­ri­to­ries by scent mark­ing and vo­cal­iza­tion. Home ranges of packs are small for a canid of its size. The typ­i­cal home range is 4-15 square kilo­me­ters with an av­er­age wolf den­sity of 1/square kilo­me­ter. Skir­mishes be­tween neigh­bor­ing packs are fre­quent.

Canis simen­sis makes sev­eral types of vo­cal­iza­tion. Alarm calls are emit­ted at the sight or scent of man, dogs, or un­fa­mil­iar wolves. They start with a "huff" and are fol­lowed by a se­ries of "yelps" and "barks." Greet­ing calls con­sist of "growls" of threat, high-fre­quency "whines" of sub­mis­sion, and "group yip-howls" given at re­union of pack mem­bers. Also, "lone howls" or "group howls" can be heard 5 km away and are used for long dis­tance com­mu­ni­ca­tion (Sillero-Zu­biri and Got­telli 1994).

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion and Per­cep­tion

Food Habits

Canis simen­sis is a car­ni­vore, gen­er­ally prey­ing on ro­dents rang­ing in size from the giant mole-rat Tachy­oryctes macro­cephalus (900 g) to that of the com­mon grass rats (Ar­vi­can­this blicki, Lo­phuromys melanonyx; 90-120 g) (Gins­berg and Mac­don­ald 1990). In 689 feces, murid ro­dents ac­counted for 95.8% of all prey items, and 86.6% be­longed to the three species listed above (Sillero-Zu­biri and Got­telli 1994). When pre­sent in the hunt­ing range, giant mole-rats are the pri­mary com­po­nent of the diet. In its ab­sence, the com­mon mole-rat Tachy­oryctes splen­dens is most com­monly eaten (Mal­com 1997). Canis simen­sis also eats goslings, eggs, and young un­gu­lates (reed­buck and moun­tain nyla) and oc­ca­sion­ally scav­enges car­casses. The Ethiopian wolf often caches its prey in shal­low holes (Gins­berg and Mac­don­ald 1990).

Prey is usu­ally cap­tured by dig­ging it out of bur­rows. Areas of high prey den­sity are pa­trolled by wolves walk­ing slowly. Once prey is lo­cated, the wolf moves stealth­ily to­wards it and grabs it with its mouth after a short dash. Oc­ca­sion­ally, the Ethiopian wolf hunts co­op­er­a­tively to bring down young an­telopes, lambs, and hares (Sillero-Zu­biri and Got­telli 1994).

  • Primary Diet
  • carnivore
    • eats terrestrial vertebrates
  • Animal Foods
  • birds
  • mammals
  • eggs
  • carrion

Ecosys­tem Roles

Ethiopian wolves are top preda­tors in the ecosys­tems in which they live.

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Pos­i­tive

Canis simen­sis helps con­trol pop­u­la­tions of ro­dents in its habi­tat.

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Neg­a­tive

The Ethiopian wolf oc­ca­sion­ally preys on lambs (Sillero-Zu­biri 1995).

Con­ser­va­tion Sta­tus

Ethiopian wolves are con­sid­ered en­dan­gered by both the IUCN and U.S. En­dan­gered Species Act. They are pro­tected from hunt­ing under Ethiopian law. Ef­fort to curb the trans­mis­sion of dis­eases, es­pe­cially ra­bies, to Ethiopian wolves from do­mes­tic dogs and to pre­vent hy­bridiza­tion with do­mes­tic dogs have been un­der­taken. In ad­di­tion, mon­i­tor­ing of Ethiopian wolf pop­u­la­tions con­tin­ues. (Sillero-Zu­biri and Marino, 1995)

Other Com­ments

A re­cent ge­netic study sug­gests that the C. simen­sis is more closely re­lated to gray wolves and coy­otes than any other African canid (jack­als, foxes, wild dogs). It is hy­poth­e­sized that C. simen­sis is an evo­lu­tion­ary rem­nant of a past in­va­sion of North Africa by gray wolf-life an­ces­tors (Got­telli et al. 1994).

Con­trib­u­tors

An­drew Bunker (au­thor), Uni­ver­sity of Michi­gan-Ann Arbor.

Glossary

Ethiopian

living in sub-Saharan Africa (south of 30 degrees north) and Madagascar.

World Map

altricial

young are born in a relatively underdeveloped state; they are unable to feed or care for themselves or locomote independently for a period of time after birth/hatching. In birds, naked and helpless after hatching.

bilateral symmetry

having body symmetry such that the animal can be divided in one plane into two mirror-image halves. Animals with bilateral symmetry have dorsal and ventral sides, as well as anterior and posterior ends. Synapomorphy of the Bilateria.

carnivore

an animal that mainly eats meat

carrion

flesh of dead animals.

chemical

uses smells or other chemicals to communicate

cooperative breeder

helpers provide assistance in raising young that are not their own

crepuscular

active at dawn and dusk

diurnal
  1. active during the day, 2. lasting for one day.
dominance hierarchies

ranking system or pecking order among members of a long-term social group, where dominance status affects access to resources or mates

endothermic

animals that use metabolically generated heat to regulate body temperature independently of ambient temperature. Endothermy is a synapomorphy of the Mammalia, although it may have arisen in a (now extinct) synapsid ancestor; the fossil record does not distinguish these possibilities. Convergent in birds.

monogamous

Having one mate at a time.

motile

having the capacity to move from one place to another.

mountains

This terrestrial biome includes summits of high mountains, either without vegetation or covered by low, tundra-like vegetation.

native range

the area in which the animal is naturally found, the region in which it is endemic.

nocturnal

active during the night

sexual

reproduction that includes combining the genetic contribution of two individuals, a male and a female

social

associates with others of its species; forms social groups.

solitary

lives alone

stores or caches food

places a food item in a special place to be eaten later. Also called "hoarding"

tactile

uses touch to communicate

temperate

that region of the Earth between 23.5 degrees North and 60 degrees North (between the Tropic of Cancer and the Arctic Circle) and between 23.5 degrees South and 60 degrees South (between the Tropic of Capricorn and the Antarctic Circle).

terrestrial

Living on the ground.

territorial

defends an area within the home range, occupied by a single animals or group of animals of the same species and held through overt defense, display, or advertisement

tropical savanna and grassland

A terrestrial biome. Savannas are grasslands with scattered individual trees that do not form a closed canopy. Extensive savannas are found in parts of subtropical and tropical Africa and South America, and in Australia.

savanna

A grassland with scattered trees or scattered clumps of trees, a type of community intermediate between grassland and forest. See also Tropical savanna and grassland biome.

temperate grassland

A terrestrial biome found in temperate latitudes (>23.5° N or S latitude). Vegetation is made up mostly of grasses, the height and species diversity of which depend largely on the amount of moisture available. Fire and grazing are important in the long-term maintenance of grasslands.

Ref­er­ences

Gins­berg, J. R. and D. W. Mac­don­ald. 1990. Foxes, Wolves, Jack­als, and Dogs: An ac­tion plan for the con­ser­va­tion of canids. Canid Spe­cial­ist Group and Wolf Spe­cial­ist Group, the World Con­ser­va­tion Union, Gland, Switzer­land.

Got­telli, D., Sillero-Zu­biri C., Ap­ple­baum D., Roy M. S., Gir­man D. J., Gar­cia-moreno J., Os­tran­der E. A., and R. K. Wayne. 1994. Mol­e­c­u­lar ge­net­ics of the most en­dan­gered canid: the Ethiopian wolf Canis simen­sis. Mol­e­c­u­lar Ecol­ogy 3: 301-312.

Mac­don­ald, D. 1984. En­cy­clo­pe­dia of Mam­mals. Facts on File Pub­li­ca­tions, NY.

Mal­colm, J. 1997. The diet of the Ethiopian wolf (Canis simen­sis Rup­pell) from a grass­land area of the Bale Moun­tains, Ethiopia. African Jour­nal of Ecol­ogy 35: 162-164.

Sillero-Zu­biri, C. 1995. The Ethiopian Wolf. http://​www.​scs.​unr.​edu/​nncc/​wolves/​e_​wolf.​html.​

Sillero-Zu­biri, C. and D. Got­telli. 1994. Canis simen­sis. Mam­malian Species 485: 1-6.

Sillero-Zu­biri, C. and D. Got­telli. 1995. Spa­tial or­ga­ni­za­tion in the Ethiopian wolf Canis simen­sis: large packs and small sta­ble home ranges. Jour­nal of Zo­ol­ogy, Lon­don 237: 65-81.

Sillero-Zu­biri, C., Got­telli D., and D. W. Mac­don­ald. 1996. Male philopa­try, ex­tra-pack cop­u­la­tions and in­breed­ing avoid­ance in Ethiopian wolves (Canis simen­sis). Be­hav­ioral Ecol­ogy and So­cio­bi­ol­ogy 38: 331-340.