#canis rufus

I love my fursona. Sahoni is an expression of a lot of personal things. It's tied to my culture, who I was, who I am, and who I want to be.

It's hard to explain who he is fully to most folks without a quiet discussion of Tsalagi cosmology, a cultural saga, a couple of stories, and a language joke. So I tend to say he's a type of being from my nation's folklore or a red wolf (canis rufus) to keep it simple. I'm Aniwaya (wolf clan), and that's the local wolf so it's just a bit of serendipity

But he's important to me. He is me. He gets to be loved and soft and with sharp teeth and a growl. He has tattoos that tell stories from my home.

florida home to my FAVORITEST ANIMAL IN THE WORLD xenosmilus hodsonae. xenosmilus hodsonae the animal u are. but i already made a whole post about that big fucking cat a while back so i won’t spend too much time on it.

on the caniform side, there’s a *very* large species of amphicyon known from florida as well! colloquially known as beardogs (though they arent dogs or bears, rather equidistant from and much older than both), these were some of the first large carnivoran predators on the scene! they were instrumental in ousting and extincting the earlier creodonts as the top mammalian predators of the cenozoic, and they paved the way for the modern dogs, cats, and bears who came after!

check out that sagittal crest! i shudder to imagine the bite force on this thing.

the floridian species, amphicyon longiramus, was originally thought to be two different species of different sizes! however, it turns out the large morphs and small morphs of this animal were actually a matter of extreme sexual dimorphism within one species. the females were just much smaller than the males!

on a more recent and sadder note, the florida black wolf was a subspecies of red wolf (canis rufus) known for its striking dark coat. it’s believed to have been hunted to extinction in the early 1900’s.

interestingly, it’s been reported that female black wolves had a white patch on their chests, whereas males did not.

Red Wolves (Canis rufus)

Three pups born May 3rd, 2025, all males. Photos taken with iPhone 12 Pro Max, June 6th, 2025.

Breeding pair is M2048 “Oka” (pictured) and F2242 “Martha” (not pictured).