IUCN- (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Classification:
Grade of endangerment: 7 – threatened with extinction
Characteristics
The Lycaon Pictus, better known as the African wild dog, is the most seldom found mammal in Africa. Its body length is only about 0.9 m, its width 0.7 m and its weight around 25 kg. In comparison to other cats of prey, wild dogs are much smaller and frailer. They are cursorial hunters, as they can only move slightly from side to side. However, when chasing, wild dogs can achieve a speed of up to 55km/h and maintain that speed for several kilometers. Studies have shown them roaming through a territory of 15 km in just 35 minutes. A wild dog’s fur is colorful, short and shaggy. They resemble wolves and are not territorial.
The tint of skin and fur is black, though the fur is covered with spots ranging from red to brown to yellow tones. Since there is no distinct pattern, no dog looks alike. Solely the white tip of the tail can be found on all of them. The large ears are an indicator of the importance of hearing, which mostly serves as communication purposes among the pack. The outstanding sense of smell is important, in order to identify pack members.
African wild dogs are a species that evolved through evolution and not, as originally assumed, breeds of distant relatives. Most dogs lives in packs led by a monogamous male and female couple.
Habitat
The wild dog lives in the African savannah. Basically, it conforms to the available prey and existing predators. It loves wide plains and avoids deserts and woods. In contrast to earlier times, today, wild dogs are only found in a few African countries. Many of them live in animal reservations and wild parks. They need a lot of room, hence, their territories can be as large as 500 squared kilometers. However, these territories are flexible, meaning they do not mark its range. Merely during the estrus phase, male and female alpha animals will make their mark around their site, although, it is more about marking their dominance than marking their territory.
Diet
The entire pack always hunts together. Because of their special hunting technique and in order to avoid rivalry issues with lions and hyenas that seek food at night, African wild dogs tend to hunt during the day. They are able to track down their prey by detecting their movements. Once they do, the hunt begins and the alpha animal leads. Only the weak and young stay away. Antelopes and gazelles are the most frequent kind of prey for wild dogs. However, smaller animals such as rodents and migratory birds are eaten as well. The soon to be food is hunted down until total exhaustion. Then, the pack leader grabs the victim by its rear legs. As soon as the rest of the pack has joined the alpha dog, it is ripped to pieces. There is no single deadly bite that occurs. Often with smaller prey, the “dead-shake” is applied, in which the neck or back is broken. With larger animals, they tend to bite them in the lips or snout, forcing them to die of shock or loss of blood. Wild dogs hunt twice a day, once in the morning and once in late afternoon. As they are frequently on the move, they require a lot of energy, which can only be supplied by food.
Social behavior
The lycaon pictus, which means colorful dog, is a very social animal. It lives in packs with around 10 other dogs. Ideally, a pack is made up of 20 animals. However, the quantity depends on prey sources. In the past, packs consisted of over 100 dogs. The alpha male and female are the only ones that reproduce. It is forbidden for the others to mate. Nevertheless, the young are raised within the whole pack. Thus, there is a special hierarchy. Although there are rarely any fights among the pack they can occur for ranking purposes causing repression, which in turn, causes the disablement of the lower ranked dogs’ hormone production. This is a natural process that takes place in order to ensure that only the alpha-couple mates. It is not until the alpha couple is either unable to continue reproducing or one of them dies that a new coming of power can occur. Despite the small size of an African wild dog, it is very strong. One reason for their high activity during daylight is that it can defend itself against predators without a doubt. Wild dogs always battle their enemy in packs, thus being especially a threat to the predator’s young.
Reproduction
Summarized, alpha couples are the only members of a pack that are allowed to mate. The actual mating occurs standing. Rutting season begins the beginning of February. Being prepared animals, they build their mating structures for the puppies even before the actual mating occurs. Sometimes aardvarks or warthog caves are adapted for such purposes. Often the same caves will be re-used at other times.
The gestation period ranges around 70 days. A litter consists of 5-8 puppies. African wild dogs are the only known mammals, in which the litter size depends on the body size of the mother. Although the entire pack cares for the young, it is only the mother, and at the same time, the strongest female of the pack that is able to nurse. Unfortunately, this means that the immune system is not very versatile, a fact that could differ if more than one female nursed the puppies. When the young ones are older they begin to eat solid foods in form of food that was formerly eaten by pack members and then thrown up. In the case that another pack female, other than the alpha female, litters, the puppies are often killed by the alpha female or the actual mother is forced to give her young up. The death rate among youngsters during their first two birth years is 66 %, which is quite high. They are very fragile and especially endangered in parts of Africa where there is a high density of lions. As an example, during one of our organization’s projects an entire litter was killed when otters invaded a structure. On the other hand, the death rate is only 35% among grown wild dogs.
Threats
Unfortunately, African wild dogs are endangered animals. The IUCN ranked them on their list of endangered species. At one time, they were spread across every grass plain south of the Sahara, as opposed to now, where they are only found in a small part of Africa such as Kenya, Botswana, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Zambia, and at the South African Kruger National Park. It is estimated that there are only 600 to a 1000 individual packs left. At fault is man, who has been hunting them for the past generation. During the sixties, wild dogs were hunted in order to ensure their prey’s population. In many regions it is still legal today. However, the gradual disappearance of natural habitats and the upcoming of viral diseases such as rabies and distemper are a further reason for the growing extinction.
Furthermore, for unexplainable reasons, many dogs fall in to animal traps that were put up for other animals.
The preservation of the African wild dog population depends on the size of the region in which they can live. To ensure such, there has to be at least 9 packs to a 10,000 squared kilometer space. Another option would be the junction of as many different meta-populations possible. Meta-populations are individual or packs of animals that live in confined areas and do not have a chance to congregate with other animals. Meta-populations could also be animals living in captivity. Though, animals living in freedom have much better chances of reproducing than captivated ones. There have been frequent junctions of such groups. Many have succeeded, others have not, as they have caused the extinction of packs through rabies. Nevertheless, these attempts resulted in the realization that meta-populations must be vaccinated against rabies. In order to be able to find solutions for the endangering population, a harmonious co-existence between farmers and wild dogs must be considered as well.