But here’s a video of one from the Refugio Amazonas in Peru:
I’ve always called them small-eared dogs, because their taxonomic species name is microtis (small-ear).
South America has a great diversity of wild dogs. It probably has the greatest number of unique species of dog living in such proximity to each other of any other continent. Where I live, we have only three species of wild dog; the red fox, the grey fox, and the Eastern coyote. The number of South American “zorros” (false foxes) is amazing.
The short-eared dog is one of these unique species. We know very little about them. They eat lots of fish and fruit in their diets. They have very webbed feet, more so than other species of dog, including domestic “aquatic breeds.” They can be found only in lowland Amazon rainforest, where only one other species of dog can be found, the bush dog, which also has small ears but has short legs like a dachshund and hunts in packs. They are found in Ecuador, Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, and Colombia, where this lowland Amazon forest exists. Where they are found, they exist only in very low densities. It is thought that canine distemper and rabies have greatly reduced its numbers. Again, we really don’t know much about this species.
You can read more about them here. I think the camera trap photo on this PDF really shows what an unusual animal this dog is. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s Canid Specialist Group has a very good website that covers all wild dogs and their biology. Interestingly, they don’t have much information on the grey fox.
[...] personal favorite is the web-footed short-eared dog, a creature about which we know very [...]