What do maned wolves eat?
For an animal called a wolf, the maned wolf (Chrysocyon brachyurus) has an unexpectedly gentle menu. It is a true omnivore, and roughly half of everything it eats is fruit. The rest is made up of small animals it hunts in the grass — which makes it one of the most fruit-dependent members of the entire dog family.
Fruit is half the diet
Around 50% of a maned wolf's diet is plant material, overwhelmingly fruit. Its single most important food is the lobeira (Solanum lycocarpum), a tomato-like fruit so closely tied to the species that its common name translates as 'wolf's fruit.' By eating it across large territories, maned wolves act as seed dispersers, spreading the plant through the savanna in their droppings.
The animal half of the menu
The other roughly half is meat — but small, savanna-sized meat. A maned wolf takes rodents, rabbits, armadillos, birds, reptiles, frogs and insects. It does not hunt in packs or chase large prey; instead it forages alone, using a hunting style suited to a solitary animal in tall grass.
How it hunts
Rather than running prey down, the maned wolf relies on stealth and its remarkable senses. It swivels its large ears to pinpoint the rustle of a hidden animal, then taps a forefoot on the ground to startle the prey into moving before pouncing. Its long legs help it stay raised above the grass while it tracks the faint sounds below.
Why its diet matters for conservation
The maned wolf's reliance on wild fruit ties it tightly to an intact Cerrado. As savanna is converted to soy, sugarcane and pasture, both its fruit sources and its hunting grounds shrink, and animals are pushed toward farmland — sometimes taking poultry and coming into conflict with people. Protecting the food web that feeds the wolf means protecting the grassland itself.
- About 50% fruit — especially the lobeira or 'wolf's fruit.'
- About 50% animal prey — rodents, rabbits, armadillos, birds, reptiles and insects.
- Solitary forager — hunts alone, not in packs.
- Seed disperser — spreads lobeira seeds across the Cerrado.
Curious about the rest of its biology and conservation? Read our full maned wolf species guide. Keeping the Cerrado intact is exactly the kind of work our partner-funded teams in Brazil support — you can help quietly through our habitat protection appeal.
Read the full Maned wolf wildlife guide for the facts, IUCN status and conservation context — or donate to WARN to help fund the local partners protecting this species.
