“I love the smell of wild dogs in the morning…”
Red Run
I never used to like African wild dogs. For some reason, the different patches of colour on their coats made me think of rabbits with myxomatosis! However, seeing a pack of them corner a blue wildebeest in South Africa changed my mind. The chase was very exciting, and it took place in the most gorgeous red light at sunrise!
I still haven’t seen them kill anything yet, but I hope I’m lucky enough to see that one day—although seeing a prey animal being ripped apart while it’s still alive is probably not to everyone’s taste!
Basic facts
Order: Carnivora
Family: Canidae
Species: African wild dog (also known as the wild dog, painted dog, painted wolf or Cape hunting dog)
Scientific name: Lycaon pictus
Subspecies: Cape wild dog (Lycaon pictus pictus), East African wild dog (Lycaon pictus lupinus), Somali wild dog (Lycaon pictus somalicus), Chadian wild dog (Lycaon pictus sharicus, West African wild dog (Lycaon pictus manguensis)
Mass: 18-36kg (adult)
Height: 60-75cm (adult, at shoulder)
Appearance: Unlike most dogs, the African wild dog is not from the Canis genus. However, it hasn’t been bred as a pet, so individuals have far fewer differences. Most are thin and tall with large ears and patches of brown, black and white fur on their coats. They don’t have dewclaws like cheetahs, and their middle two toepads are fused, making their pug marks more easily recognisable. All in all, they look a bit like a lean border collie!
Top speed: 41 mph
Gestation period: 69–73 days
Lifespan: 10-11 years (in the wild)
IUCN Red List Status: Endangered
Population: 1,409 mature individuals, decreasing
Habitat: Savannah, shrubland, grassland, desert, forest
Distribution: Very few in North and West Africa, most in southern Africa (Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia and Zambia) and East Africa (Tanzania and northern Mozambique).
Habitat
I’ve seen African wild dogs in most of the main safari destinations in sub-Saharan Africa, including Botswana, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe. They’re most easily seen in the open plains, but their population density is actually higher in areas of thicker bush, such as Mana Pools.
Speed and Endurance
Wild dogs have a decent top speed of 41-45 mph, but that hardly compares with other predators like the cheetah (70 mph). However, their long legs and large lungs enable them to keep on running for much longer. Cheetahs can only sprint flat out for around 20 seconds or 300 yards, but dogs can keep going at full tilt for 10-60 minutes!
Going Downhill Fast
Hunting
African wild dogs hunt, kill and eat medium-sized antelopes, especially the greater kudu, Thomson's gazelle, impala, Cape bushbuck and blue wildebeest. Its natural rivals are lions and hyenas.
In East Africa, the most common prey is the Thomson’s gazelle, but in Central and Southern Africa, they prefer the impala, reedbuck, kob, lechwe and springbok, plus various smaller animals, such as common duikers, spring hares and cane rats. On rare occasions, a pack of dogs can bring down much larger prey like the Cape buffalo or common eland.
Like the cheetah, dogs hunt during the day. They work as a pack, stalking their prey initially and then chasing it down for an average of 1.2 miles (2 km). They constantly bite larger animals to slow them down, and, unlike the big cats, they don’t suffocate their victims—they simply tear them apart!
A friend of mine once showed me a clip of wild dogs ripping a baboon to pieces. The poor animal screamed the whole time until one of the dogs tore off its leg, and it suddenly stopped. The shock probably killed it…!
Wild dogs’ hunting strategy depends on the prey:
With wildebeest, dogs run towards the herd to panic the animals and cut out a single individual.
Antelopes tend to run in wide circles, so the dogs try to cut them off.
In the case of warthogs, they grab them by the nose.
African wild dogs are successful in more than half of their hunts (60-90%), which is much better than lions, leopards or cheetahs. However, it depends on the type of prey, the size of the pack and the location. One pack of six wild dogs in the Okavango Delta only managed a kill rate of 15.5%.
Dogs in the wild eat an average of 1.2–5.9 kg (2.6–13.0 lb) of meat a day. Small animals are eaten whole while larger ones are stripped of their muscles and internal organs, leaving the skin, head and skeleton.
The first dogs allowed to eat from a kill are the pups, followed by the dominant male and female pair. Subordinate adults help the pups feed, and they will often regurgitate food for other family members.
In the Wild
Breeding
African wild dogs live in packs of 2-27 adults and yearling pups, averaging 15 individuals. It’s the females that end up leaving the pack, so there are usually three times as many males as females. This behaviour helps to avoid inbreeding.
Dogs in East Africa don’t have a fixed breeding season, but the ones in Southern Africa generally breed from April to July. Breeding is mostly confined to the dominant male and female.
During oestrus (when she is on heat), the female is closely accompanied by a male, which keeps his sexual rivals at bay. This period lasts up to 20 days. Copulation lasts less than a minute.
If the female becomes pregnant, the gestation period is 69-73 days, and the interval between litters is usually 12-14 months. Litters contain 6-16 pups with 10 being the average.
The limit on the amount of available food means that breeding is limited to the dominant female, and she might even kill the pups of any other female that dares to breed!
After delivering her young, the female stays with them in her den while the rest of the dogs go out to hunt. The pups start eating solid food at three to four weeks when they leave the den, and they’re weaned at five weeks with adults regurgitating food for them.
The pups steadily look less ‘puppyish’ as their legs, ears and muzzles grow. Once they are 8-10 weeks old, they start to hunt with the adults, and the pack abandons the den.
Bared Teeth
Territory
Like the big cats, African wild dogs have territories, but they tend to be much larger—from 200 to 2,000 square kilometres. They scent-mark in these areas but don’t patrol the boundaries like lions, for instance.
Territories overlap, but dogs tend to avoid the risk of meeting individuals from a different pack to avoid injury—unless the other pack’s alpha male and/or female are related to their own.
Communication
Like lions, dogs spend a lot of time lying in the shade, either fast asleep or just resting. Every now and then, they’ll ‘rally’, which means all the dogs get up and start moving around.
This is often a signal to start hunting—but not always. It depends on how many of them sneeze! Yes, African wild dogs ‘vote’ on whether to hunt by sneezing. The more sneezes there are, the more likely the pack is to go hunting—especially if one of the dominant mating pair sneezes first. If he or she sneezes three times, it’s a go. If a subordinate adult sneezes first, then it takes around another 10 sneezes for the pack to decide to hunt.
Threats
African wild dogs are apex predators, but they’re still vulnerable to lions, hyenas and even eagles. Lions are their biggest natural predator, and they’ll often kill dogs without eating the carcases—demonstrating that the relationship is competitive rather than predatory.
Dogs do occasionally fight back, and there are documented cases of them killing an old or wounded lion. However, the number of wild dogs is inversely correlated with the number of lions in the area—and the number of hyenas.
Hyenas pose a different threat from lions. They tend to steal food from the dogs, which makes them ‘kleptoparasites’. Normally, they try and do it on the sly, and the dogs can easily chase away a single hyena if they see one.
Groups of hyenas are more successful at stealing kills, but they don’t tend to work as a team, so that puts them at a disadvantage compared to the dogs, which work cooperatively.
The other major threat to African wild dogs is, quite predictably, human-wildlife conflict, resulting in habitat fragmentation. They’re also threatened by infectious diseases.
Dogs have been wiped out in large areas of North and West Africa, and the populations in Central Africa, Uganda and Kenya have fallen dramatically. Greater awareness of the problem has resulted in more conservation efforts, but they still remain an endangered species.
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