The African Wild Dog - Issue #00009 - October 23, 2010

The African wild dog has a colorful, patchy coat, large bat-like ears and a bushy tail with a white tip that may serve as a flag to keep the pack in contact while hunting.

Wild dogs are the most efficient hunters on the African continent, catching up to 85% of the prey they actually chase – far more successful than lions who are only about 30 % successful. Wild dogs prey on gazelles and other antelopes, warthogs, wildebeest calves, rats and birds such as ostrich.

The wild dogs are active primarily in the early mornings and late afternoons.  The Wild Dogs have a peculiar, playful ceremony that initiates each hunt where they circulate among themselves, vocalizing and touching each other until they get excited. On the hunt, members of a pack vocalize to help coordinate their movements, its voice is characterized by an unusual chirping or squeaking sound, similar to a bird.

Wild Dogs make no attempt to hide from their prey.  They simply approach a herd until it stampedes, then single out an individual -- usually one that's slowed by old age or disease. Some of the dogs run close to the prey, while others follow behind, taking over when the leaders tire.  They can run long distances at speeds up to 35 miles per hour. Often, other pack members will try to outflank their prey cutting off its means of escape.  Eventually the victim succumbs to exhaustion and it is not long before the pack brings it down.

One African Wild Dog usually grabs the victim's tail, while another attacks the upper lip or nose, and the remainder disembowel the animal while it is still alive but immobilized.  It is this gruesome method of killing that has given the Wild Dog its bad reputation. The hunting members of the pack return to the den where they regurgitate meat for the nursing female and pups.

African wild dogs have an unusual breeding system.  Only one pair of dogs reproduces in a pack; other pack members act cooperatively to care for the young of the breeding pair.  It has been said that African wild dogs are the most social of all mammals, never living apart from a pack at any stage in their lives.

Throughout Africa, wild dogs have been shot and poisoned by farmers, hunters and, at one time, by rangers because of their negative reputation.  However, the most serious threat today to the Wild Dog is disease such as distemper , parvovirus and rabies brought on by contact with domestic dogs that accompany the increasing human populations.

There were once approximately 500,000 African Wild Dogs in 39 of Africa’s 45 countries, and packs of 100 or more were not uncommon.  Now there are only about 3,000-5,500 Wild Dogs remaining in all of Africa with approximately half that population residing in the Selous Game Reserve in southern Tanzania where sightings are still common.

Today, African Wild Dogs live in much smaller packs of 6 to 20.  One would have to be very fortunate to see Wild Dogs today in the Serengeti where only about 60 wild dogs remain.  Our generation may be the last to see the African Wild Dog in the wild.


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