Once the only endemic land mammal of the Falkland Islands, the Warrah was a small canine more closely related to the Maned Wolf than any mainland foxes or dogs of South America. They are named after a Guaraní word meaning ‘fox’, aguará, though their Latin name of “foolish dog of the south” speaks of a lack of fear for humans that would ultimately be their downfall.

So gentle was it toward early colonizers, as the Falkland Islands have no none original indigenous populations, one account suggested that a person could lure it in with meat in one hand, and stab it to death with the other. This kindness put them at odds with new human arrivals that wished to use the islands to breed their sheep. Though the Warrah was never known to actively attack sheep, settlers poisoned the animal to protect their livestock. An additional pressure was pushed upon them in the form of fur hunting, as their coat was a valuable one.

Though specimens were taken to the London Zoo in 1868 and 1870, neither lived for very long. They soon disappear from both the Eastern and Western islands of the Falklands in 1876.

Extinction Date According to the IUCN Red List: 1876