One conclusion of this study is that the maned wolf is the only species among the large South American canids that survived the late Pleistocene extinction.

[12] One study based on DNA evidence showed that the extinct genus Dusicyon, comprising the Falkland Islands wolf and its mainland relative, was the most closely related species to the maned wolf in historical times, and that about seven million years ago it shared a common ancestor with that genus.

[13] A 2015 study reported genetic signatures in maned wolves that are indicative of population expansion followed by contraction that took place during Pleistocene interglaciations about 24,000 years before present.

It is not a fox, wolf, coyote or jackal, but a distinct canid; though, based only on morphological similarities, it previously had been placed in the Canis and Vulpes genera.

Lorenz Oken classified it as Vulpes cancosa, and only in 1839 did Charles Hamilton Smith describe the genus Chrysocyon.

[5] Fossils of Chrysocyon dated from the Late Pleistocene and Holocene epochs were collected in one of Peter Wilheim Lund expeditions to Lagoa Santa, Minas Gerais (Brazil).

[17] The maned wolf is the tallest of the wild canids; its long legs are likely an adaptation to the tall grasslands of its native habitat.

The first photograph of a black adult maned wolf was taken by a camera trap in northern Minas Gerais in Brazil in 2013.

The maned wolf's rhinarium extends to the upper lip, similar to the bush dog, but its vibrissae are longer.

The maned wolf's footprints are similar to those of the dog, but have disproportionately small plantar pads when compared to the well-opened digit marks.

[24] One feature that differentiates the maned wolf's footprint from those of other South American canids is the proximal union of the third and fourth digits.

[16] Evidence suggests that 15,000 years ago, the species suffered a reduction in its genetic diversity, called the bottleneck effect.

Several adults may congregate in the presence of a plentiful food source, for example, a fire-cleared patch of grassland that would leave small vertebrate prey exposed while foraging.

This indicates that photoperiod plays an important role in maned wolf reproduction, mainly due to the production of semen.

It specialises in preying on small and medium-sized animals, including small mammals (typically rodents and rabbits), birds and their eggs, reptiles, and even fish, gastropods, other terrestrial molluscs, and insects, but a large portion of its diet (more than 50%, according to some studies) is vegetable matter, including sugarcane, tubers, bulbs, roots and fruit.

[32] The maned wolf hunts by chasing its prey, digging holes, and jumping to catch birds in flight.

[8] Fecal analysis has shown consumption of the giant anteater, bush dog, and collared peccary, but whether these animals are actively hunted or scavenged is not known.

[38] Historically, captive maned wolves were fed meat-heavy diets, but that caused them to develop bladder stones.

The sharing of territory with domestic dogs results in a number of diseases, such as rabies virus, parvovirus, distemper, canine adenovirus, protozoan Toxoplasma gondii, bacterium Leptospira interrogans, and nematode Dirofilaria immitis.

Ingestion of the wolf apple could prevent maned wolves from contracting this nematode, but such a hypothesis has been questioned by several authors.

This is partly because during the Portuguese and Spanish colonization of South America, Europeans projected onto the maned wolf the historical aversion they had towards Iberian wolves, and their reputation for eating sheep and other domestic animals.

[citation needed] The maned wolf is not considered an endangered species by the IUCN because of its wide geographical distribution and adaptability to man-made environments.

This decline is mostly due to human activities such as deforestation, increasing traffic in highways resulting in roadkill, and urban growth.

[6] Human attitudes and opinions about the maned wolf vary across populations, ranging from fear and tolerance to aversion.

In some regions of Brazil, parts of the animal's body are believed to help cure bronchitis, kidney disease, and even snake bites.

[52] In Bolivia, mounting a saddle made of maned wolf leather is believed to protect from bad luck.

[8] In urban societies in Brazil, people tend to be sympathetic to the maned wolf, seeing no value in it as a hunting animal or pest.

[32] Spanish naturalist Felix de Azara also used the Guarani name to refer to it and was one of the first to describe the biology of the species and consider it an important part of Paraguay's fauna.

[52] Much of the negative view of the maned wolf as a poultry predator stems from European ethnocentrism, where peasants often had problems with wolves and foxes.

[32] The maned wolf rarely causes antipathy in the human populations of the places in which it lives, so it has been used as a flag species for the preservation of the Brazilian cerrado.