Saturday, February 13, 2016

#818: Warrah

The Warrah, or Falklands Island Fox,  is something of an enigma to science. She was the only land mammal endemic to the Falkland Islands. DNA analysis of the few remaining museum specimens have shown her closest relative to be the maned wolf of South America. Recent theories suggest that her ancestors may have made her way to the isolated islands via an ice bridge.  After that, she adapted to survive on the rugged terrain, feeding on nesting sea birds and penguins. She showed little fear of people, and hunters would lure herwith fresh meat, felling her with a club or knife. With no forests or other such retreats on the islands, the numbers fell into rapid decline. By 1880, her species was extinct.

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