Darwin's Fox
Lycalopex fulvipes
Status: Endangered. Population is very low, and the main threat is fragmentation of habitat, but also injury and disease spread from feral dogs.
Legends of the Guruvilu "fox snake" can be found among the Mapuche people of Chile. The first published record of this mythical creature was in the observations of a Jesuit priest by the name of Felipe Gomez de Vidaurre, in the late 18th century. His sources told him that this beast had the head of vixen, and the serpentine body of a snake. Several other accounts in the decades that followed, from successive missionaries, exploration expeditions, and military campaigns in the region, mentioned a fox-snake-dragon-catlike creature that lived in the ponds, rivers, and lakes, enticing passersby to the death in deceptively calm waterways. It moved with surprising speed and strength, and was agile in the water.
References:
Whittall, Austin. "Monsters of Patagonia", Zagier & Urruty Pubns, 2013.
Vicuna Cifuentes, J., (1910). Mitos y Supersticiones Recogidos de la Tradicion oral Impr. Universitaria. pp. 23-24.