The largest member of the dog family are the wolves, and the commonest species, the grey wolf, can often be seen in zoos. Up to thirty two subspecies or races of the grey wolf have been described, and it is likely that most zoo wolves are something of a mixture of the various races.
Wolves live in packs and ought really to be kept in packs in captivity.
Good zoos, like Port Lympne Zoo in Kent, the Highland Wildlife Park in Scotland will have a wolf wood, plenty of space, a healthy group of animals, and the wolves will look well and breed well. Maned wolves are not wolves at all, and they look, as one zoo describes them, like 'a red fox on stilts'. They are South America's largest member of the dog family, and are little known, and rarely seen. Their wild population is now vulnerable, and the captive population is frail. Eighty percent of captive and wild maned wolves suffer from a genetic disease, eystinuria, and in addition they are susceptible to the common diseases of domestic dogs.