The Bush Dog (Speothos venaticus) is a canid found in Central and South America, including Panama, Venezuela, Bolivia, Peru (West of the Andes), Ecuador, the Guyanas, Paraguay, North-East Argentina (Misiones province), and Brazil (from the Amazon rainforest to the state of Santa Catarina). In spite of its extensive range, it is very rare; it was originally discovered as fossils in Brazilian caves and thought to be extinct. It is the only species in its genus, Speothos. The conservation status of a species is an indicator of the likelihood of that species continuing to survive. ... Download high resolution version (600x789, 236 KB)A Bush Dog, from [1]. Photo by R. Schmode. ... Stuttgart is a city located in southern Germany, it is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg, and has a population of approximately 600,000 as of June 2004. ... Scientific classification or biological classification is how biologists group and categorize extinct and living species of organisms. ... Phyla Porifera (sponges) Ctenophora (comb jellies) Cnidaria Placozoa Bilateria Acoelomorpha Orthonectida Rhombozoa Myxozoa Superphylum Deuterostomia    Chordata (vertebrates, etc. ... Typical Classes Subphylum Urochordata - Tunicates Ascidiacea Thaliacea Larvacea Subphylum Cephalochordata - Lancelets Subphylum Myxini - Hagfishes Subphylum Vertebrata - Vertebrates Petromyzontida - Lampreys Placodermi (extinct) Chondrichthyes - Cartilaginous fishes Acanthodii (extinct) Actinopterygii - Ray-finned fishes Actinistia - Coelacanths Dipnoi - Lungfishes Amphibia - Amphibians Reptilia - Reptiles Aves - Birds Mammalia - Mammals Chordates (phylum Chordata) include the vertebrates, together with... Orders Subclass Monotremata Monotremata Subclass Marsupialia Didelphimorphia Paucituberculata Microbiotheria Dasyuromorphia Peramelemorphia Notoryctemorphia Diprotodontia Subclass Placentalia Xenarthra Dermoptera Desmostylia Scandentia Primates Rodentia Lagomorpha Insectivora Chiroptera Pholidota Carnivora Perissodactyla Artiodactyla Cetacea Afrosoricida Macroscelidea Tubulidentata Hyracoidea Proboscidea Sirenia The mammals are the class of vertebrate animals primarily characterized by the presence of mammary... Families Canidae Felidae Herpestidae Hyaenidae Mephitidae Mustelidae Nandiniidae Odobenidae Pinnipedia Procyonidae Ursidae Viverridae The diverse order Carnivora includes over 260 placental mammals. ... Genera Alopex Atelocynus Canis Cerdocyon Chrysocyon Cuon Dusicyon Fennecus Lycalopex Lycaon Nyctereutes Otocyon Pseudalopex Speothos Urocyon Vulpes Canidae is the family of carnivorous and omnivorous mammals commonly known as canines. ... In biology, binomial nomenclature is a standard convention used for naming species. ... Peter Wilhelm Lund (1801 - 1880) was a Danish zoologist and paleontologist. ... 1842 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... Genera Alopex Atelocynus Canis Cerdocyon Chrysocyon Cuon Dusicyon Fennecus Lycalopex Lycaon Nyctereutes Otocyon Pseudalopex Speothos Urocyon Vulpes Canidae is the family of carnivorous and omnivorous mammals commonly known as canines. ... Central America is the region of North America located between the southern border of Mexico and the northwest border of Colombia, in South America. ... South America South America is a continent crossed by the equator, with most of its area in the Southern Hemisphere. ... Note that the geology in this article currently reflects views from the first decade of the 20th century. ... Compass rose with north highlighted and at top North is one of the four cardinal directions, specifically the direction that, in Western culture, is treated as the primary direction: north is used (explicitly or implicitly) to define all other directions; the (visual) top edges of maps usually correspond to the... East is most commonly a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. ... Map of Argentina highlighting the province Misiones is one of the 23 provinces of Argentina, located in the northeastern corner of the country. ... A river in the Amazon rainforest The Amazon is a rainforest in South America. ... Santa Catarina is the name of several places: One of the federal states of Brazil; see Santa Catarina, Brazil. ... FOSSIL is a standard for allowing serial communication for telecommunications programs under DOS. FOSSIL stands for Fido Opus Seadog Standard Interface Layer and was made by a group of Fidonet sysops to make their software work on different machines. ... In biology, a species is a kind of organism. ... See genus (mathematics) for the use of the term in mathematics. ...

In Brazil it is called cachorro-vinagre (Vinegar Dog) or cachorro-do-mato (Wild Dog). In Spanish-speaking countries it is called perro vinagre, zorro vinagre (Vinegar Fox), perro de agua (Water Dog), or perro de monte (Mountain Dog).

The Bush Dog has soft long brownish-tan fur, with a lighter reddish tinge on the head, neck and back and a bushy tail. The underside is dark, sometimes with a lighter throat patch. Adults normally have 55–75 cm of head and body, plus 13 cm of tail, and weigh 5–7 kg. Legs and snout are short relative to body length: the typical height is only 25–30 cm.

It is definitely carnivorous and hunts during the day, preferably in savannahs and tropical and equatorial forests. Its typical prey is the Paca (Agouti paca), a large rodent. Although it can hunt alone on occasion, the Bush Dog is usually found in small packs of up to 10–12 individuals, which can bring down much larger prey. It may be the most gregarious among South American canid species. It is a good swimmer (thanks to its webbed feet). It uses hollow logs and cavities (e.g. Armadillo burrows) for shelter. Binomial name Agouti paca (Linnaeus, 1766) The Paca (Agouti paca) is a large rodent found in tropical and sub-tropical America, from East-Central Mexico to Paraguay. ... Genera Chlamyphorus Cabassous Chaetophractus Dasypus Euphractus Priodontes Tolypeutes Zaedyus Armadillo is also the name of an NES video game. ...

The gestation period is 63 days, and a litter can have up to six dark grey pups. Lactation lasts approximately 8 weeks. The Bush Dog is sexually mature at 1 year and lives for about 10 years.

See also

• Maned Wolf (Chrysocyon brachyurus), one of its closest relatives.

Binomial name Chrysocyon brachyurus (Illiger, 1815) The Maned Wolf (Chrysocyon brachyurus) is the largest canid of South America. ...

External links

• at Animal Diversity Web (http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Speothos_venaticus.html)
• at SPACCTS (http://www.canids.org/SPPACCTS/speothos.htm)
• ITIS database (http://www.itis.usda.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=183829)
• Morphology data from UT Austin (http://www.digimorph.org/specimens/Speothos_venaticus/)
• From Lioncrusher's domain – carnivore info. (http://www.lioncrusher.com/animal.asp?animal=8)
• Cachorro-do-mato-vinagre (http://www.brazilnature.com/fauna/vinagre.html) (In Portuguese)
• Cachorro-vinagre (http://ambicenter.com.br/vermelhofauna1015.htm) (In Portuguese)