One cryptid which has a realistic chance of existing is South American wolf Dusicyon avus. Officially a Pleistocene megafauna, recent carbon-dating put some specimens as few 100s year old only. And it is likely to be overlooked as either a feral dog or one of native foxes. Dusicyon avus - Wikipedia There is also a very small chance that Madagascar giant lemurs or dwarf hippos survived, because there are local reports from the 1950s. However, they were publicized in 1995 already, so no follow up during 25 years. Error - Cookies Turned Off
If this species is still alive could it be potentially introduced to the Falkland Islands as an ecological replacement for the Warrah?
In what sense is Dusicyon a cryptid? Are there stories, legends or sightings? If not, then there is nothing cryptozoological about it. Might it still exist however; perhaps! There are plenty of foxes of at least three species in Argentina, all three of which I saw on a birding trip last year. Without knowing how to recognise Dusicyon, it could be being seen all the time, but just not identified.
Well it wouldn't be the first time that a South American canid known primarily from fossil records is discovered to actually be extant. Afterall the bush dog (speothos venaticus) is a living example of this. However, I personally highly doubt that Dusicyon avus is still out there wandering Patagonia or the Pampas. This was a much larger animal than the bush dog, it was reputedly far less cryptic and occupied much more open habitat types. I think these factors would make it far more visible and chances of it being recorded higher if it still existed.
It isn't a cryptid really. It was a species which actually existed and by most accounts until fairly recently. However, I don't know if this animal could be mistaken so easily for the other foxes as it was apparently much larger than these.
It isn't widely known about and I only know bits and pieces about it but this canid was believed to have reached the size of some domestic dog breeds such as German Shepherd's or Labradors. It is believed by many to have been closely related to the extinct warrah / Fawkland Islands wolf and was probably morphologically and ecologically similar to it. Claudio Sillero who studies the Ethiopian wolf and is part of the IUCN canid group wrote this entry on the species for the IUCN red list. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species I suppose for many people it could be classed as a "cryptid" due to there being speculation that it is still roaming Patagonia but personally I really doubt that it is still out there.
