Almost twenty years ago I saw a documentary with some footage of a long-legged canid gracefully gliding through the open plains of a place I could only dream about experiencing. With its fox-like face, long legs, and wolf-like build, the maned wolf appears otherworldly. It is the spirit of the grasslands according to indigenous and local folklore and inhabits large swathes of Brazil’s Cerrado (savanna) areas.
I have spent a fair amount of time in Brazil over the last couple of years, and since then, the chance of my connecting with this species has become more realistic. However, spending time out in nature across some of the habitats of this vast country means I have come to realize how elusive they are. They can be found across much of central South America but for various reasons, including increasing farming pressure, they occur at low densities in large parts of their range. If you know where to look, though, there are some hotspots for this species.
When travelling across parts of the country, I have learnt to ask: “Ten lobo guara aqui?”. It’s become a bit of a joke because I ask it so often. My Portuguese isn’t good at all, but I’ve learnt enough to ask one or two important questions about wildlife – this one simply meaning: “Do you have maned wolf here?”
Interestingly, people often respond in the affirmative but mostly state that they saw one years back. Up in Bonito (Mato Grosso do Sul), we were given some good inside info about where an individual was known to occur but a couple of visits into the area around sunset yielded nothing.
Then suddenly, a glimmer of hope. Someone had spotted a Maned Wolf at Santa Clara farm near the town of Avare in São Paulo state, a place where I am lucky to spend a fair bit of time. On top of that, a puma was also spotted moving into a corn field nearby, so there was a lot to keep an eye out for! For a heavily farmed area, some 250km from Sao Paulo city, I was amazed at how much wildlife turns up. In my previous visits to the farm, I have recorded capybaras, howler monkeys, capuchins, marmosets, hoary foxes and dozens of birds, but until two days ago, I didn’t believe I would see any of the ‘big stuff’.
Santa Clara has a natural gallery forest that runs along the main water course that cuts through the property. This is a lifeline for a lot of wildlife. The neighbouring farm is even wilder and has some recovering cerrado habitat. When heading out on drive before sunset, I venture out to some higher ground where I can overlook the lightly treed grassland slopes of the neighbours farm and search for wildlife. I usually scan across the plains with my binoculars, hoping to find an interesting creature moving through – one specific patch always looks like it should hold something special, but it has not yet delivered for me…
That was not until Sunday (22 June 2025)!
As usual, I scanned across and there was ‘nothing’. Then I thought a termite mound was an animal. I repositioned the car and scanned back to realize it was indeed a termite mound. One last scan from left to right, and my eyes caught something else in the distance! It was the back of an animal but it was unmistakable – a maned wolf!
I was 100% sure that it was a maned wolf; there is nothing else that looks like that. How on earth? how lucky! But it was far, so I started doubting myself as it loped through some vegetation and out of sight. Luckily it came back into view. I pulled out my camera and tried to get a record shot of what I was seeing. The light wasn’t bad, but it was so very far off, with a fence preventing me from getting any closer.
I couldn’t access the farm (and had never even tried before) but this was a maned wolf and I needed to try and get closer! After a quick couple of calls, I got lucky and was given access to the farm – I looped around to where I had seen the wolf head to when suddenly my eyes picked up movement – but it wasn’t the maned wolf, it was a giant anteater! What the…?
I was thrown off – I was desperately looking for a maned wolf, I was in maned wolf mode. How can I leave this beautiful creature for one I can’t see? Well, I chose to. I drove on and scanned around for a few more minutes, but nothing…those 10 minutes to access the farm were easily long enough for it to have moved off far away. So, I rushed back to where the Giant Anteater was and had this magical sighting as it stuck its long nose into an ant nests.
Giant-anteater close to where I had spotted the maned wolf!
My maned wolf photo (below) is terrible but even if I get a great shot of this species one day, I still think this capture will remain my favourite. Finding my first maned wolf, the adrenaline, the excitement, the awe of this special moment will forever live with me, and then finding another special species close by – such moments in nature keep us addicted!
In Africa, it’s the wild dog that I’d like to think of as my spirit animal, but in South America I think I am going with the Maned Wolf!
Maned Wolf record shot. Heavily cropped but no doubt what this is!
Have a look at this for a better photo of maned wolf. Interestingly Maned Wolf and Giant Anteater are often found in the same habitat. And if you have read this far perhaps the weirdest fact for last: maned wolves, due to their solitary nature and necessity for good communication via scent have a very pungent smelling urine – one that due to various compounds that it contains, smells a lot like marijuana!
