African wolf
| African wolf Temporal range: Middle Pleistocene – Recent 0.6-0 Ma
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| Serengeti wolf (Canis lupaster bea) in Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania | |
Scientific classification 
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| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Carnivora |
| Family: | Canidae |
| Genus: | Canis |
| Species: | C. lupaster
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| Binomial name | |
| Canis lupaster | |
| Subspecies | |
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| Synonyms | |
The African wolf (Canis lupaster)[1][3] is a canine native to North Africa, West Africa, the Sahel, northern East Africa, and the Horn of Africa. It is the descendant of a genetically admixed canid of 72% gray wolf (Canis lupus) and 28% Ethiopian wolf (Canis simensis) ancestry.[4] It is listed as least concern on the IUCN Red List.[1] In the Atlas Mountains, it was sighted in elevations as high as 1,800 m (5,900 ft).[5] It is primarily a predator, targeting invertebrates and mammals as large as gazelle fawns, though larger animals are sometimes taken. Its diet also includes animal carcasses, human refuse, and fruit. The African wolf is a monogamous and territorial species; offspring remain with the family to assist in raising their parents' younger pups.[6]
It was previously classified as an African variant of the golden jackal (Canis aureus), with at that time at least one subspecies (C. a. lupaster) having been classified as a wolf. In 2015, a series of analyses on the species' mitochondrial DNA and nuclear genome demonstrated that it was, in fact, distinct from the golden jackal, and more closely related to the gray wolf and the coyote (Canis latrans).[7][8] It is nonetheless still close enough to the golden jackal to produce hybrid offspring, as indicated through genetic tests on jackals in Israel,[7] and a 19th-century captive crossbreeding experiment.[9]
It plays a prominent role in some African cultures; in North African folklore, it is viewed as an untrustworthy animal whose body parts can be used for medicinal or ritualistic purposes,[10][11][12] while it is held in high esteem in Senegal's Serer religion as being the first creature to be created by the god Roog.[13]
Local and indigenous names[]
| Linguistic group or area | Indigenous name |
|---|---|
| Afar | Wucharia[14] |
| Amazigh | Ouchan asian (for C. l. algirensis)[5] Ouchan akhatar (for C. l. lupaster)[5] |
| Amharic | ተረ ቀበሮ (Tera kebero)[15] |
| Arabic | ابن آوى (Ibn awa)[16] ذئب (Deeb)[10] أبو سليمان (Abu soliman)[10] |
| Fula |
|