The maned wolf (Chrysocyon brachyurus) is South America's largest wild canid, known for its striking reddish coat, towering long legs, and foxlike face. Although native to central and eastern South America, this elusive animal is not native to Chile or southern Patagonia, making any alleged sightings in those regions highly controversial or folkloric in nature.
Standing over a meter tall and measuring 1.3 meters long, it resembles a giant red fox on stilts, a form well-adapted to tall grasslands.
However, within Chilean and Patagonian traditions, stories persist of similar large, foxlike or canid creatures — some of them monstrous, some spiritual. These cultural beliefs, combined with historic traveler accounts, have led some to propose that the maned wolf once ranged farther south or has been mythologized into local cryptids.
Native Foxes in Chile[]
Chile is home to three known species of foxes:
- Culpeo Fox (Lycalopex culpaeus) – the largest native fox, often mistaken for a small wolf.
- Chilla Fox (Lycalopex griseus) – smaller and more common, with a grayish coat.
- Darwin’s Fox (Lycalopex fulvipes) – a rare, forest-dwelling species found only in southern Chile.
Despite their modest size, many Chilean legends describe much larger foxlike beasts — suggesting that imagination, misidentification, or extinct lineages might play a role in these tales.
Folkloric and Cryptid Parallels[]
- Guequén / Huaquén (Mapuche-Chile) In the Araucanía region, the Mapuche language includes the term “guequén” or “huaquén”, traditionally associated with the barking or howling of a fox. However, in some interpretations, it also refers to a distinct foxlike entity—larger, louder, and elusive.
- De la Cruz’s “Oop”(Argentina) In 1806, explorer De la Cruz recorded a strange creature described by the Pehuenche people in Neuquén: a doglike beast with cow ears and long, yellow wool. It was named for its high-pitched cry—perhaps an exaggerated or mythic form of the maned wolf or something else entirely.
- Guritregua / Gurutregua (Chile) This Mapuche spirit or entity is often depicted as a large, foxlike ghost, sometimes ghostly in nature. It howls, stalks travelers, and disappears in forests—fitting the behavior and aura of a cryptid canid.
- Guirivilo - Guirivilu (Chile) While usually aquatic and serpent-like, some versions of the Guirivilu emphasize a foxlike or mammalian head, and it’s considered a shapeshifter by some rural traditions.
- El Lobo-Toro (Chile) Literally “The Bull-Wolf,” this is one of the more bizarre southern Chilean cryptids: a bull-shaped creature with a canine face, sometimes considered a cursed or supernatural being. It may represent a folkloric fusion of fox, wolf, and bovine traits, and echoes the scale and distortion typical of rural cryptids.
Current Status[]
No modern sightings exist of the aguará guazú in Chile or deep southern Argentina. Any populations that may have existed in these areas are now considered locally extinct, or were perhaps misidentifications of other animals. The absence of the maned wolf from Chile today and the persistent legends of giant foxes or barking beasts has led some cryptozoologists to speculate that:
- The maned wolf may have once lived in southern Chile and gone extinct.
- It may have occasionally migrated and been seen, but never established.
- Or it never lived there, but its image bled into the mythology of other local creatures.
Yet stories persist—of tall reddish foxes glimpsed in forest clearings, or eerie high-pitched cries echoing in the Patagonian steppe. For some locals, especially older generations, the guequén is real, just gone.
Some classify it among the “Out of Place Animals” (OOPAs)—species known from elsewhere but unexpectedly reported in unusual locations, often tied to folk memory, colonial confusion, or possible local extinction.
References:[]
- Friedrich Hunziker, Félix Faustino Outes, (1928). Vocabulario y franseario genakenn (puelche). Coni. pp. 280.
- De la Cruz, L. (1835). Descripción de la naturaleza de los terrenos que se comprenden en los Andes, poseídos por los peguenche... B. Aires: Imprenta del Estado. pp. 25-26.
- https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrysocyon_brachyurus
- Musters, G., (2007). Vida entre los Patagones: un año de excursiones desde el estrecho de Magallanes hasta el río Negro: 1869-1870. B. Aires: Continente-Pax. pp. 104 and ff.