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Ethiopian Wolf
Conservation status
Endangered
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Order: Carnivora Family: Canidae Genus: Canis Species: C. simensis
Binomial name
Canis simensis Ruppell, 1840
Ethiopian Wolf range (OBS: Contrary to this map, its range does not extend into E. Sudan).

The Ethiopian Wolf (Canis simensis) is one of the rarest and most endangered of all canids. In Amharic it is called ተኵላ, täkʷula ("wolf"), or ቀይ ቀበሮ qey qebero ("red fox"), and it is also known as the Abyssinian wolf, red jackal, red fox, Semien fox (or jackal) and jedalafardaa ("horse's jackal"). The numerous names reflect previous uncertainty about its taxonomic position, but it is now thought to be related to the wolves of the genus Canis rather than the foxes it superficially resembles. Recent molecular evidence even seems to indicate that the Ethiopian wolf is a descendant of the Gray Wolf (Gottelli et al 1994). This means that the Ethiopian wolf is the only true wolf in sub-Saharan Africa.

It is found in the Afro-alpine regions of Ethiopia, about 10,000 feet (3,000 meters) above sea level. Only about seven populations remain, totaling roughly 550 adults. The largest population is found in the Bale Mountains in southern Ethiopia, although there are also smaller populations in the Simien Mountains in the north of the country, and in a few other areas.

They feed on Afro-alpine rodents, particularly African mole rats and Abyssinian grass rats (one study found that 96% of their prey were rodents^{[citation needed]}). They will however also take small antelopes such as reedbuck, the calves of larger antelope (such as the Mountain Nyala), as well as hares and hyraxes. Ethiopian wolves are diurnal.

The Semien Mountains.

When feeding on rodents Ethiopian wolves tend to hunt alone, but they are territorial, social canids that form packs and defend territories. The pack, which numbers up to a dozen adults with a skewed sex ratio of several males per female, patrols and defends the territory.

The Oromo people of southern Ethiopia call the Ethiopian wolf the "horse's jackal" because of its reported habit of following mares and cows that are about to give birth in order to eat the placenta.

Claudio Sillero-Zubiri at the University of Oxford is the zoologist most closely associated with efforts to save this species of wolf, particularly with his work for an oral rabies vaccine to protect them from the disease passed from local dogs. His work is supported by the Born Free Foundation. A rabies outbreak in 1990 reduced the largest known population, found in the Bale Mountains National Park, from about 440 wolves to less than 160 in only two weeks.

• Sillero-Zubiri & Marino (2004). Canis simensis. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 5 May 2006. Database entry includes a lengthy justification of why this species is endangered
• The New Encyclopedia of Mammals edited by David Macdonald, Oxford University Press, 2001; ISBN 0-19-850823-9
• Portrait of an Endangered Species The IUCN/SSC Canid Specialist Group's Ethiopian Wolf Status Survey and Action Plan (1997)
• Gottelli, D; Sillero-Zubiri, C; Applebaum, GD; Roy, MS; Girman, DJ; Garcia-Moreno, J; Ostrander, EA & Wayne, RK (1994) "Molecular genetics of the most endangered canid: The Ethiopian wolf Canis simensis " Molecular Ecology 3(4): 301-312

Wikispecies has information related to:

Canis simensis

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Canis simensis

• ARKive - images and movies of the Ethiopian wolf (Canis simensis)
• Mammalian Species: Canis simensis from The American Society of Mammalogists
• Ethiopian Wolf Conservation Programme (EWCP)
• WildCRU - Conservation of Ethiopian wolves (Canis simensis) of the University of Oxford Department of Zoology
• IUCN/SSC Canid Specialist Group - Ethiopian Wolf (Canis simensis) from the World Conservation Union
• Born Free Foundation - Supporting The EWCP