What species of wolf from the Falkland Islands was the only native land mammal there when discovered?

The Falkland Islands wolf was the only native land mammal of the Falkland Islands when Europeans discovered the archipelago. Also called the warrah, it was an endemic canid found on both East and West Falkland.

Its evolutionary history is unusual because the Falkland Islands have never been connected to mainland South America by a permanent land bridge. Genetic evidence indicates that it diverged from its mainland relative, Dusicyon avus, roughly 16,000 years ago. Scientists have proposed that its ancestors crossed during an Ice Age when lower sea levels may have created an ice route, though prehistoric human transport has also been suggested.

Charles Darwin encountered the animal during his 1833 visit and noted that it was remarkably tame. Settlers later hunted it for its fur and poisoned it because they believed it threatened sheep. The last known individual died in 1876.

Despite its English name, it was not a true wolf like the gray wolf. It was a distinctive South American canid, probably an opportunistic predator and scavenger.