Facility tracks progress of four maned wolf pups

View larger image A maned wolf pup, 8 days old, is shown. Four pups were born at the Smithsonian Biology Conservation Institute outside Front Royal about a month ago. Courtesy art

By Kim Walter -- kwalter@nvdaily.com

FRONT ROYAL -- Four maned wolf pups born about a month ago at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute are "doing well," according to officials at the center.

Everything appears to be normal with the pups and their mother and father, said Nucharin Songsasen, a research biologist at the facility near Front Royal. Their den is under video surveillance instead of having people in constant contact with the animals, Songsasen said.

"We try not to disturb them or handle them too much," she said

So far, the newborns have been "doing normal puppy things," Songsasen said.
Once the pups are 6 weeks old, researchers will conduct physical examinations so that their gender can be determined and their health assessed. Checking on their health is important because maned wolf pups have a 50 percent mortality rate during their first month.

The species is considered near threatened, with about 20,000 left in their natural habitats in central South America, according to a news release from the Smithsonian National Zoological Park.

The litter is the first to be born at the institute in two years, bringing the total to 72 pups since 1975. The four pups are particularly important because their father, 4-year-old Nopal, is the 10th-most genetically valuable of the 36 reproductively viable males that are part of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums' Maned Wolf Species Survival Plan, the release says.

Trying to understand the species' breeding habits is one major part of their research, Songsasen said. Male and female maned wolves spend little time together in the wild, except to breed in the fall, she said.

Since the maned wolves are at the institute and not in the wild, the fathers play more of a role in caring for the pups, which normally is strictly the mother's job, Songsasen said.
The maned wolves population has declined by 20 percent over the past five years, so these four new pups are "certainly important," Songsasen said.

Gastrointestinal disorders are common among the species, and may be linked to issues with reproduction, the release says. Research on the species' diet is being conducted at 19 institutions.

While the pups' coats are black now, in a few months they will turn to a reddish color, Songsasen said.