It is the Aguará Guazú, a species that was believed to be extinct in Uruguay and that a father and his son managed to spot a stream nearby.
They were shaped like a dog but considerably larger than a large canine, hind legs longer than the front and highly angled, rather short standing ears, and dark brown fur.
They stopped the march to photograph them, but it was impossible, they immediately got into the natural forest that surrounds the stream.
What animals were they?
When he got home, he googled images of native species and found one that perfectly matched what they saw. It would be a pair of Aguará Guazú, a species that is believed to be on the way to extinction.
Nocturnal habits
However, there may be specimens that weigh over 50 kilos. It thrives in wetlands, between grasslands, which is why it has long legs and moves quickly.
It makes screams between high and low especially very loud, capable of frightening any animal. Despite its size, it is shy, surly and harmless to humans. There have been no attacks on any livestock, and it does not conflict with the activities of man. Its habits are totally nocturnal and it feeds on small mammals, small rodents, insects and fruits.
According to the Mammals of Uruguay field guide, there are confirmed records of Aguará Guazú specimens in the departments of Río Negro (1991), Rocha (2000, 2002) and Cerro Largo (2006), and mentions to be confirmed in Artigas, Salto, Rivera, Paysandú, Treinta y Tres, Lavalleja and Maldonado.
It is believed that the nocturnal habits of the so-called guará logo and the large expanses in which they move (they require 16 square kilometers per pair), added to their elusiveness, make it an animal that is as little seen as it is known.
