Canidae

Canidae is a family of carnivorous and omnivorous mammals of the order Carnivora.

Canids
Temporal range: Palaeogene - Recent
Coyote portrait.jpg
Coyote (Canis latrans)
Scientific classification
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Canidae

Animals that belong to the family Canidae are canids.[1] The family Canidae is divided into two tribes: Vulpini (foxes), and Canini (wolves, dogs, coyotes, and jackals). The family Canidae also includes the genus Urocyon (gray foxes and island foxes) and two extinct groups of canids: Borophaginae and Hesperocyoninae.[2]

Canids that belong to Vulpini are "vulpines". Canids that belong to Canini are "canines".[1] Canines are usually pack animals which hunt their prey in a group. Foxes usually hunt alone. However, almost all canids are social animals.

Canids live on every continent on Earth, except for Antarctica. Many of them reached certain areas alongside humans. One kind of canid, the dog, became a domestic animal. This made dogs the most well-known canids, and one of the most widely kept pets.

Taxonomy

Gallery

Canidae Media

Other websites

  1. 1.0 1.1 Wang, Xiaoming; Tedford, Richard H. (2008). Dogs: Their Fossil Relatives and Evolutionary History. Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-13528-3.
  2. Miklósi, Ádám (2015). Dog Behaviour, Evolution, and Cognition. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-964666-1.