African Wild Dog

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Location: Southern Africa
Status: Endangered
Population: 1400

Wild African Dog-Fun Facts
Meet Africa's most successful hunter and also one of the world’s most endangered mammals. The largest populations remain in southern Africa and the southern part of East Africa. 
African Wild Dogs are very a very social bunch, with large pack size it would be hard not to be.  The do have a hierarchy dominated by a dominant breeding pair with the female in the top rank. The work together within the pack to looking out for each other and not just when on the hunt. African wild dogs are able to take on prey much larger than themselves and their success rate is 80% - that's far more than lions, who kill successfully 30% of the time!  They are opportunistic predators. In a sprint, African wild dogs can reach speeds of more than 44 miles per hour.  Wild dogs are social and gather in packs of around 10 to 20 individuals, but some packs number more than 40+. Wild dog packs can occupy a space that spreads well beyond 386 square miles.

The scientific name of the African wild dog is "lycaon pictus", a latin term meaning "painted wolf" and a common nickname for the African wild dog.  They are are known by many other names including: cape hunting dog, painted dog, African hunting dog, painted hunting dog, and ornate wolf.  Their distinctive coats are mottled with black, brown, white and yellow, and each individual’s coat is unique, like a fingerprint!  While they do have dog in their name they are neither wolves or dogs and belong to their own genus.
 
Wild dogs communicate with one another through touch, tail wags and a variety of vocalizations that include a short bark (which can signify alarm), a howl (which rallies the wild dogs together), and a bell-like sound which can be heard over long distances.

Click on the sources below to learn more about the African Wild Dog, what is being done to help their populations, and how you might get involved. (source: WWF, One Kind Planet, Lion World Travel,  Wilderness Safaris and Aurifil)

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