Mysterious ‘Ghost Dog’ Spotted Deep in the Amazon in Extremely Rare Sighting

Deep inside the Amazon forests of Bolivia and Peru, camera traps have captured an animal so difficult to observe that researchers call it the “ghost dog.” The creature is neither a domestic dog nor a newly discovered species, but an exceptionally elusive wild canid known scientifically as Atelocynus microtis.

The recent photographs form part of the largest investigation yet conducted into the short-eared dog. Rather than documenting one accidental encounter, researchers assembled evidence spanning more than two decades—and discovered that this mysterious predator may be less scarce than previously feared.