African Wild Dog

The African wild dog (Lycaon pictus) is also known as the painted wolf, painted dog, and African hunting dog. It is most endangered large carnivore in Africa.

The African wild dog has a mottled yellow, black, white, and tan coat. It has a black muzzle, large, roundish ears, and a white tipped tail. Coat patterns are unique to individuals, but there is some consistency among related animals and animals living in the same region. African wild dogs differ from domestic dogs and other members of the Canus genus by having four instead of five toes on their front paws, large premolars specialised for breaking apart bone, and an exclusively carnivorous diet. They also have a distinctive body odour, which may help dogs recognise one another from a distance. The wild dog is the largest African canine. Males can measure 1.2 metres from head to base of tail and weigh 36 kilogrammes.

Wild dogs were once distributed throughout sub-Saharan Africa with the exception of lowland forests and the driest deserts. Today, it is absent from most of northern and western Africa. The largest populations are in eastern and southern Africa. Preferred habitats are woodlands, savannas, and grasslands.

African wild dogs vary their habits according to the schedules of other predators. They hunt cooperatively, feeding mainly on medium-sized antelopes such as Thomson’s gazelle, impala, and young wildebeest, chasing and snapping at their prey until it tires and can be brought down. Wild dogs have great stamina and can run up to 5 kilometres at a steady speed of 48 kilometres per hour. They will take smaller and larger prey opportunistically, but often lose larger kills to lions or hyenas.

Wild dogs are highly social. Packs numbering more than 100 animals were once reported. However, as habitats have become fragmented, pack sizes typically range from six to twenty animals. Within a pack, an alpha male and alpha female are parents of all the pups. The average litter of ten to twelve pubs is the largest of any dog. During the first month, the mother cares for the pups on her own. At three to four weeks, the nonbreeding adults in the pack assist with feeding through regurgitation of prey. Pups reach adulthood after about fourteen months. Exceptional among social carnivores, males tend to stay in the pack. Females emigrate in groups, eventually joining a pack of unrelated males.

Rank in the pack is established by posturing and submission rather than fighting. Males and females have their own separate hierarchies, with the alpha male leading the males and the alpha female leading the females. Wild dogs communicate via scent, body language, and vocalisations.

Distribution and population of the African Wild Dog

As of 2012, the total population of African wild dogs was estimated at 6600 adults. Threats to African wild dogs include extermination by farmers who see them as a menace to livestock, competition with larger predators, and diseases spread from domestic dogs. Road accidents and capture in snares set for other wildlife also take a toll.

African dogs require expansive home ranges and, with their low population densities, even large protected areas might support only 50 to 100 dogs. In the early 1990s, an epidemic of canine distemper was thought to have contributed to the extinction of wild dogs in the Serengeti ecosystem. However, in 2000, a number of dogs were found in Loliondo, an area east of Serengeti National Park. The Serengeti Wild-Dog Project began relocating some of these animals to the Park. Those animals are now raising litters. The population is still small, but the hope is that, by reducing conflict at the boundaries between the Park and neighbouring villages, and exploiting the tourism potential of wild dogs, the African wild dogs in Serengeti can continue their recovery.