South American canids in Chile
The only one of the now-extinct South American Pleistocene canids known
to have had a distribution in Chile was Dusicyon avus , found in
Chilean Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego, on the southern tip of Chile
(e.g. Méndez et al. 2014; Prevosti et al. 2009). The genus Dusicyon , to which D. avus and D. australis (also
known as the Falklands wolf) belonged, went extinct fairly
recently, although the extinction process may have been initiated by
reductions in its distribution begining in the Pleistocene (Prevosti et
al. 2011; Austin et al. 2013; Prevosti et al. 2015). In spite of this,
there have been reported sightings of D. avus by English
explorers as late as 1870. There are also theories that Dusicyon spp. underwent selection or hybridized with European C.
familiaris and thus became unrecognisable but not necessarily extinct
(Borrero 2009). The English natural historian Charles Hamilton Smith
wrote in 1839 that mainland Dusicyon spp. were tamed and
used for hunting by South American tribes (quoted in Clutton-Brock
1977). D. australis, restricted to the Falklands Islands, and
extinct by the 1880s, shows morphological traits typical of domesticated
canids, such as a bulbous head and white patches on its pelage
(Clutton-Brock 1977), all of which may be a consequence of a long
interaction with humans. As humans arrived in the Americas at the
end of the Pleistocene, and in southern Chile around 14.5 kya
(Gómez-Carballa et al. 2018; Braje et al. 2020), this gives any Dusicyon -human relationship considerable potential historical
depth.
The other South American Pleistocene canids, especially the
hypercarnivorous species, are not known to have occurred in Chile
(Carrasco O. 2009). Since the uplift of the Andes occurred around 14 Mya
(Le Roux 2012), well before the GABI, it may have formed a barrier to
their dispersal. Other Pleistocene carnivores, including Smilodon
populator , Panthera onca and Arctotherium tarijense are,
like D. avus , found only in the extreme south of Chilean
Patagonia (Carrasco O., 2009) where large parts of the Andean cordillera
are below 1000 m and thus less of a barrier to dispersal. Indirect
evidence suggests that they also travelled further north into northern
Patagonia at least (Labarca et al. 2014). Other large predators
(P. concolor) were (and are still) found in central Chile
(Nielsen et al. 2015). New evidence could change known distributions:
part of a skeleton of a large canid has been found in the Pampa de
Tamarugal (Region of Tarapacá), undated but conjectured to be from
before the arrival of the conquistadors to Chile (C. Latorre pers. comm.
2018, N. Villavicencio pers. comm. 2020).
Currently, three native canids exist in Chile, all of the genus Lycalopex (L. culpaeus , L. griseus , and L.
fulvipes ). These species are omnivores, consuming small prey (Iriarte
2007). They have also been reported to opportunistically hunt juvenile
guanacos (Novaro et al. 2009) in the Karukinka National Reserve, in
Tierra del Fuego, where there are no pumas and the population of
guanacos is high. According to Novaro et al. (2009), culpeo foxes L. culpaeus are cursorial predators. Juvenile guanaco, though
much larger than culpeo foxes, are recorded to have been chased by them
in two cases, and in at least one case, the attacking fox was kicked by
several adult guanacos (Guzmán 2009). Lycalopex culpaeus also
prey on huemul (Hippocamelus bisulcus ) fawns (Corti et al.
2010). It is thus likely that Lycalopex can exert a cursorial
hunting selection pressure on juvenile large prey species, but since
juveniles are often protected by adults who may attack the fox, this may
mitigate the selection pressure. Juvenile anti-predator responses might
also be adaptations distinct from adult behaviors. Franklin & Powel
(1994) report that guanacos as well as llamas respond to coyotes by
alerting to them, alarm calling, walking or running towards them,
chasing them, kicking and stomping on them.