The African Wild Dog, Lycaon pictus also known as the African Hunting Dog, Cape Hunting Dog, or Painted Hunting Dog, is a mammal of the Canidae family, and thus related to the domestic dog. It is the only species in monotypic genus, Lycaon, and the only species in the canid family to lack dewclaws on the forelimbs. They are, as their name indicates, found only in Africa, especially in scrub savanna and other lightly wooded areas. The Latin name of the species means painted wolf and it is characteristic of the species that no two individuals have the same pattern of coat. Individuals can easily be recognized in the basis of coat patterns. The pelage is an irregular pattern of black, yellow, and white. Their coats are sparse in comparison to canids in temperate zones, and the skin is black.

An African Wild Dog gnawing on a bone

African Wild Dogs hunt in packs. Their main prey varies among populations, but always focuses on medium sized ungulates such as impala, wildebeest, and kudu. Like most members of the dog family, they are cursorial hunters, meaning that they pursue their prey in a long, open chase, rather than relying on stealth as most members of the cat family. Typically, about 45% of their hunts result in a kill. Members of a hunting pack vocalize to help coordinate their movements. Their voice is characterized by an unusual chirping or squeaking sound, similar to a bird. After a hunt, dogs regurgitate meat for the pups and dominant female, if they remained at the den during the hunt. Occasionally, they will also feed other pack members such as very old dogs that cannot keep up. Wild dogs are endangered, primarily because they use very large territories (and consequently can persist only in large protected areas) and they are strongly affected by competition with larger carnivores that rely on the same prey base, particularly lions and hyenas. The dogs are also killed by livestock herders and game hunters, though they are typically no more (perhaps less) persecuted than other carnivores that pose more threat to livestock. Like other carnivores, wild dogs are sometimes affected by outbreaks of viral diseases such as rabies, distemper and parvovirus. Although these diseases are not more pathogenic or virulent for wild dogs, the small size of most wild dog populations makes them vulnerable to local extinction due to diseases or other problems.

They have a highly complex social system. A pack is usually composed of a set of related males and set of related females, though adults of the two sexes are usually not closely related. Typically, the pack cooperates to raise a single litter produced by the socially dominant (alpha) female. Pack size varies within and among populations but is typically around 8-10. Small packs usually do not raise any young, and breeding pairs without non-breeding 'helpers' virtually never succeed. Most of the pups (about 90%) are fathered by the alpha male. The breeding female occupies a den while she bears the pups, usually re-excavating an abandoned burrow dug by other species for this purpose. Some populations have more males than females because more male pups appear in litters. It is unusual among mammals to have a gender bias as large as is common in wild dogs (though most species, including humans, show small biases in the sex ratio). Females are more likely to disperse from the natal group, and they may form a pack by joining an all-male group, or evict existing females from an existing group. Most packs have more than one adult female, but only female one typically breeds, leading to social competition between females.

African Wild Dog seen in Kalahari National Park, Botswana

The current estimate for remaining wild dogs in the wild is approximately 5,600. Of these, the majority live in the two remaining large populations associated with the Selous Game Reserve in Tanzania]] and the population centered in northern Botswana and eastern Namibia. Smaller but apparently secure populations of several hundred individuals are found in Zimbabwe, South Africa (Kruger National Park) and in the Ruaha/Rungwa/Kisigo complex of Tanzania. Isolated populations persist in Zambia, Kenya and Mozambique.

References

• McNutt et al (2004). Lycaon pictus. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 10 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is endangered
• Nowak, Ronald M. (2005). Walker's Carnivores of the World. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press. ISBN 0-8018-8032-7
• Creel, Scott & Creel, Nancy. (2002). The African Wild Dog: Behavior, Ecology and Conservation. Princeton Univeristy Press.