212 EXTINCT AND VANISHING MAMMALS 



Tasmania. There are about 19 'genera and more than 200 species and 

 subspecies. The predatory habits of some of the larger species 

 (especially the wolves) bring them into conflict with the economic 

 interests of man, and the animals have suffered accordingly par- 

 ticularly in North America. Accounts of no less than 24 New World 

 forms appear in Dr. Allen's volume (1942), while only 4 Old World 

 forms are treated herein. One of the these, the Japanese Wolf, is 

 extinct. 



Abyssinian Wolf; Abyssinian Red Wolf. Cuberow (Ethiopian) 



SlMENIA SIMENSIS SIMENSIS (Ruppell) 



Canis simensis Ruppell, Neue Wirbelthiere zu der Fauna von Abyssinien 

 gehorig, Saugethiere, p. 39, 1835. (Mountains of Simien, Abyssinia.) 



FIGS.: Ruppell, 1835, pi. 14; Mivart, 1890, pi. 6; Bryden, 1899, pi. 15, fig. 8; 

 Lydekker, 1908, pi. 15, fig. 8; Fuertes, Abyssinian Birds and Mammals, 

 pi. 29, 1930. 



This interesting animal has a restricted range and occurs in 

 limited numbers. The Committee of Experts of the Second Inter- 

 national Conference, held at London in 1938, states (1938, p. 8) that 

 this species is "almost completely confined to Abyssinia," and sug- 

 gests its inclusion in Class A of the Annex at the next Conference 

 for the Protection of African Fauna and Flora. 



Snout long and slender; general color light yellowish reddish 

 brown, mixed with black on the sides; white about the mouth, eyes, 

 inner margins of ears, chest, belly, lower parts of limbs, and lower 

 side of tail toward base ; distal half of tail blackish, and upper side 

 toward base mixed with black. Head and body, 99 cm. ; tail, 25 cm. 

 (Mivart, 1890, pp. 18-19.) 



"We observed this wolflike dog in the mountains of Simien, 

 where it lives in packs, and hunts tame sheep and small game, but 

 never becomes dangerous to man. It occurs also in most of the 

 other Abyssinian provinces. Its vernacular name in Simien was 

 given to me as 'Kaberu.' ' (Ruppell, 1835, p. 39, transl.) 



"Since Riippell's time little has been heard of this wolf and scarcely 

 any fresh or recent information is to be obtained concerning it. From 

 its predatory habits it is probable that the Abyssinians, so soon as 

 they began to acquire fire-arms, turned their attention to its destruc- 

 tion, and that in consequence it has become much scarcer than it 

 used to be. ... 



"It would be extremely interesting to know if this handsome wolf 

 still survives -in Abyssinia in any numbers. Modern travellers and 

 sportsmen apparently make no mention of it." (Bryden, 1899, 

 pp. 601-602.) 



Lydekker (1908, p. 462) refers to "its rarity and zoological in- 



