Falkland Islands wolf

The Falkland Islands wolf, or warrah, was an extinct canid native to the Falkland Islands. It was last recorded in 1876.

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Falkland Islands: An archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean, comprising two main islands and hundreds of smaller islands. The warrah was the only native land mammal of this remote archipelago.
Charles Darwin: An English naturalist whose observations and writings helped establish evolutionary biology. Darwin described the warrah during the Beagle voyage and anticipated its disappearance.
Apex predator: A predator at the top of its food web, with no regular natural predators. The warrah occupied the top terrestrial predator role in the islands' native ecosystem.
Extinction: The permanent disappearance of a species or other taxonomic group when its last member dies. The warrah became extinct after sustained killing by settlers.
Great American Interchange: The movement of animal lineages between North and South America after the Isthmus of Panama formed. The warrah's South American relatives belonged to lineages shaped by this interchange.
HMS Beagle: A British Royal Navy survey ship best known for its 1831–1836 voyage with Charles Darwin. Darwin encountered the warrah during the ship's visits to the Falklands.
Island tameness: Reduced avoidance of people found in some island animals with limited histories of terrestrial predators. The warrah's reported approach to people made it vulnerable to close-range killing.
European colonization of the Falkland Islands: The establishment of European settlements and control in the Falkland Islands beginning in the eighteenth century. Settlement brought livestock interests and direct pressure on the warrah.
Dusicyon: An extinct genus of South American canids that included the Falkland Islands wolf. The warrah's genus connects it to extinct mainland fox-like canids.
John Strong: An English mariner who made an early recorded landing on the Falkland Islands in 1690. His account includes an early European description of the islands' wolf-like animal.