Blog: Cat or Dog?

Recently snapped by a stealth-cam in the Ecuadorian Amazon jungle: but is it a cat or dog?

Meet Atelocynus Microtis – or ‘Short-eared Bush Dog’ to his friends and a lot easier to say. These chaps were caught on film in Ecuador last week. They are surely one of the most mysterious, shy and rare canine species in the world and feature on the Red List of species. Although a canine, it stands just 30 cm at the withers and weighs in at 10 pounds, so is really cat-sized. To add to its cat credentials, its primary prey is rodents, and it sports a rather stylish reddish brown fur coat.

Short-eared bush dog, Napo Wildlife Centre

Bush Dog inhabits a wide variety of lowland rainforest habitats including the zone around Napo Wildlife Centre and the Swamp Forests. Notably bush dog favours swimming in Amazonian rivers and creeks and this is where most sightings happen. However, likely due to habitat loss, they have adapted to other eco-zones such as foothill forests up to 2,000 m. Their previous known range was easternmost in Brazil, westernmost to Peru, southernmost in Bolivia, and northernmost in Colombia. However, this has recently been expanded as sightings have now been recorded as far away as Central America.

Short-eared bush dog, Napo Wildlife Centre