page_title: Urination
section_title: Dog-like mammals (Canidae)
hierarchical_section_title: Urination / Other species / Dog-like mammals (Canidae)
caption_attribution_description: English: The maned wolf (Chrysocyon brachyurus) is the largest canid of South America, resembling a large fox with reddish fur.This mammal is found in open and semi-open habitats, especially grasslands with scattered bushes and trees, in south, central-west and south-eastern Brazil (Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Minas Gerais, Goiás, São Paulo, Federal District and recently Rio Grande do Sul), Paraguay, northern Argentina, Bolivia east and north of the Andes, and far south-eastern Peru (Pampas del Heath only). It is very rare in Uruguay, being possibly extirpated. IUCN lists it as near threatened, while it is considered vulnerable by the Brazilian government (IBAMA). It is the only species in the genus Chrysocyon. It is locally known as aguará guazú (meaning "large fox" in the Guarani language), lobo de crin, lobo de los esteros or lobo colorado, and as lobo-guará in Brazil. It is also called borochi in Bolivia.
context_page_description: Urination is the release of urine from the urinary bladder through the urethra to the outside of the body. It is the urinary system's form of excretion. It is also known medically as micturition, voiding, uresis, or, rarely, emiction, and known colloquially by various names including peeing, weeing, and pissing.
  In healthy humans the process of urination is under voluntary control. In infants, some elderly individuals, and those with neurological injury, urination may occur as a reflex. It is normal for adult humans to urinate up to seven times during the day.
  In some animals, in addition to expelling waste material, urination can mark territory or express submissiveness. Physiologically, urination involves coordination between the central, autonomic, and somatic nervous systems. Brain centres that regulate urination include the pontine micturition center, periaqueductal gray, and the cerebral cortex. In placental mammals, urine is drained through the urinary meatus, a urethral opening in the male penis or female vulval vestibule.
context_section_description: All canids (with the possible exception of dholes) use urine (combined with preputial gland secretions) to mark their territories. Many species of canids, including hoary foxes, cape foxes, and golden jackals, use a raised-leg posture when urinating. The scent of their urine is usually strongest in the winter, before the mating season.
  Domestic dogs mark their territories by urinating on vertical surfaces (usually at nose level), sometimes marking over the urine of other dogs. When one dog marks over another dog's urine, this is known as "counter-marking" or "overmarking". Male dogs urine-mark more frequently than female dogs, typically beginning after the onset of sexual maturity. Male dogs, as well as wolves, sometimes lift a leg and attempt to urinate even when their bladders are empty – this is known as a "raised-leg display", "shadow-urination", or "pseudo-urination". They typically mark their territory due to the presence of new stimuli or social triggers in a dog's environment, as well as out of anxiety. Marking behavior is present in both male and female dogs, and is especially pronounced in male dogs that have not been neutered.
  Raised-leg urination is the most significant form of scent marking in wolves, and is most frequent around the breeding season. Wolves urine-mark more frequently when they detect the scent of other wolves, or other canid species. Leg-lifting is more common in male wolves than female wolves, although dominant females also use the raised-leg posture. Other types of urine-marking in wolves are FLU (flexed-leg urination), STU (standing urination), and SQU (squatting urination). Breeding pairs of wolves will sometimes urinate on the same spot: this is known as "double-marking". Double-marking is practiced by both coyotes and wolves., and also by foxes.
  Coyotes mark their territories by urinating on bushes, trees, or rocks. Male coyotes usually lift their legs when scent-marking. However, females sometimes also raise their legs, and males sometimes squat. Urine marking is also associated with pair bonding in coyotes Coyotes sometimes urinate on their food, possibly to claim ownership over it.
  Red foxes use their urine to mark their territories. A male fox raises one hind leg and his urine is sprayed forward in front of him, whereas a female fox squats down so that the urine is sprayed in the ground between the hind legs. Urine is also used to mark empty cache sites, as reminders not to waste time investigating them. Red foxes use various postures to urinate, depending on where they are leaving a scent mark.
  As in most other canids, male bush dogs lift their hind legs when urinating. However, female bush dogs use a kind of handstand posture, which is less common in other canids. When male bush dogs urinate, they create a spray instead of a stream.
  Both male and female maned wolves use their urine to communicate, e.g. mark their hunting paths or places where they have buried hunted prey. The urine has a very distinctive smell, which some people liken to hops or cannabis. The responsible substance is very likely a pyrazine, which occurs in both plants. (At the Rotterdam Zoo, this smell once set the police on a hunt for cannabis smokers.)
caption: A maned wolf urinating on a tree to mark his territory
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