African Wild Dog: Profile and Information

The African wild dog (Lycaon pictus), the Cape hunting dog or the painted dog, is a canine endemic to sub-Saharan Africa.

It is one of the largest Indigenous canines in Africa and the only still-existing member of the genus Lycaon.

It is differentiated from Canis by a lack of dewclaws and dentition, which are highly specialized for a hyper-carnivorous diet.

Approximately 6,600 adults (including 1,400 mature individuals) live in 39 subpopulations that are all threatened by human persecution, habitat fragmentation, and outbreaks of diseases.

Considered one of the largest subpopulations, probably consisting of less than 250 individuals, the African wild dog is a well-known endangered species listed on the IUCN Red List since 1990.

The African wild dog is a well-known social animal, moving and living in packs with separate dominance hierarchies for both sexes.

Common among social carnivores, females disperse from the natal pack once they become fully sexually mature, unlike males.

The offspring are allowed to feed only on carcasses at first. Like other canids, the African wild dog regurgitates food for its offspring, but this action is also done to other adults, to the point of being central to their daily lives.

Its natural enemies are hyenas and lions: the former are frequent kleptoparasites, while lions will kill the canids where possible.

Scientific classification

Subspecies

Evolution

The African wild dog has the most specialized adaptations among the canids for diet, coat color, and chasing its prey through its running (cursorial) ability.

The absence of the first digit on its forefeet increases its speed and stride while still possessing a graceful skeleton. This adaptation allows it to pursue its prey long distances across open plains.

The teeth are commonly carnassial-shaped, and its premolars are one of the largest relative to the body size of any living carnivoran.

On the first lower molars (lower carnassials), the talonid has become a sharp cutting blade for flesh-slicing, with a loss or reduction of the post-carnassial molars.

This adaptation also occurs in two other hypercarnivores – the bush dog and dhole. Individuals differ in colors and patterns, which indicates a diversity of the underlying genes.

The main purpose of these coat patterns is an adaptation for concealment, communication, or temperature regulation.

The oldest African wild dog fossil dates back to 200,000 years ago. It was discovered in HaYonim Cave, Israel. Canis falconeri (Xenocyon) shared the African wild dog’s absent first dewclaw (metacarpal), though its dentition was still averagely unspecialized.

Characteristics

The African wild dog is one of the bulkiest and most solidly built of African canids. The species stands 24 to 30 in (60 to 75 cm) in shoulder height, measures 28 to 44 in (71 to 112 cm) in head-and-body length, and has a tail length of 11 to 16 in (29 to 41 cm). The body weight of adults ranges from 40 to 79 lb (18 to 36 kg).

On average, dogs from East Africa weigh around 44 to 55 lb (20–25 kg), while in Southern Africa, males weigh a mean of 72 lb (32.7 kg) and females a mean of 54 lb (24.5 kg)). Females are usually 3 to 7% smaller than males.

Distinct to members of Canis, the African wild dog has outsized ears, is comparatively tall and lean, and lacks dewclaws. Its dentition also varies from Canis through the narrowness of the canines, the degeneration of the last lower molar,  and proportionately wide premolars, one of the largest relative to the body size of any carnivore.

A single, blade-like cusp crests the heel of the lower carnassial M1, which increases the shearing ability of the teeth, thus the speed at which prey can be eaten.

This trait is shared with two other canids (the Asian dhole and the South American bush dog), called the trenchant heel. The skull is comparatively shorter and wider than other canids.

The fur of the African wild dog, composed entirely of stiff bristle hairs with no underfur, varies greatly from that of other canids. It sheds its hair as it ages, with older individuals virtually almost naked.

Color variation is extreme and can be used in visual recognition, as African wild dogs can identify each other at distances of 50 to 100 m.

There is also some geographical variation in coat color, with northeastern African specimens with small white and yellow patches appearing mostly black.

Southern African ones are more brightly colored, sporting a combination of brown, black, and white coats. Most of the coat patterning of the species occurs on the legs and trunk.

There is no difference in facial markings, with the muzzle being black on the cheeks and forehead, eventually shading into brown. On the back of the ears, a black line runs up the forehead, becoming blackish-brown.

The neck and back of the head are either yellow or brown. Occasionally, a white patch occurs behind the forelegs, with some specimens having fully white forelegs, throats, and chests.

The tail’s tip is normally white, the middle is black, and the base is brown. Some may have black fur below the white tip, while some lack the white tip entirely.

With the left side of the body sometimes having different markings than that of the right, these coat patterns may be asymmetrical.

Social behavior

The African wild dog packs have very close social relations, stronger than those of sympatric spotted hyenas and lions; solitary life and hunting are also highly rare.

They live in permanent packs of 2 – 27 adults and yearling pups. In Kruger National Park and the Maasai Mara, the average pack size is 4 or 5 adults, while packs in Moremi and Selous include 8 or 9.

However, larger packs have been spotted in response to the seasonal migration of vast springbok herds in Southern Africa, and temporary aggregations of hundreds of individuals may have gathered.

Males and females have different hierarchies of dominance, with the oldest female typically leading the latter. The oldest male can lead the males, but younger specimens may be substituted for these; therefore, some packs can contain older former male leaders.

Usually, the dominant pair monopolizes breeding. Since males stay in the natal pack, the species differs from most other social species, while females disperse (a pattern also found in primates such as chimpanzees, gorillas, and red colobuses).

In addition, males appear to outnumber females 3 1 in any given pack. Dispersing females join other packs and expel some resident females associated with the other group members, thus preventing inbreeding and allowing the evicted individuals to find new packs of their own and race.

Males seldomly disperse, and when they do, other packs already containing males are invariably rejected. The breed, while possibly the most social canid, lacks the intricate facial expressions and body language seen in the grey wolf, undoubtedly due to the less structured social structure of the African wild dog.

In addition, while elaborate facial expressions are essential for wolves to re-establish bonds after long periods of separation from their family groups, African wild dogs, which remain together for much longer, are not as important.

Feeding and hunting behavior

The African wild dog and the cheetah are the only major African predators, mostly daily. By approaching prey quietly, the African wild dog hunts and then chases it in pursuit, clocking for 10 – 60 minutes at up to 41 mph (66 km/h).

Usually, the typical chase only goes as far as 2 km. During this time, the prey animal, if large, is bitten repeatedly on the belly, legs, and rump until it stops moving, while the smaller prey is pulled down and ripped apart.

Regarding hunting prey, African wild dogs have a higher success rate, although they are smaller than leopards and lions.

The African wild dog’s hunting tactics vary depending on the prey species, with wildebeest being rushed to the herd to panic and isolate a helpless individual. In contrast, territorial antelope species that protect themselves by running in large circles are captured by cutting off their escape routes.

In 2 to 5 minutes, medium-sized prey is often killed, whereas larger prey, such as wildebeest, will take half an hour to be brought down. Usually, male wild dogs, such as warthogs, catch dangerous prey by the nose.

Performance in hunting varies with the type of prey, vegetation cover, and pack size, but wild African dogs tend to be very successful, sometimes with more than 60% of their chases resulting in a kill, often up to 90%.

This is much higher than a lion (27-30 percent) and hyena (25-30 percent) success rates appear to be, but these two large predators also lose their good kills to African wild dogs.

A study of 1,119 chases by a pack of 6 Okavango wild dogs found that most were uncoordinated short-distance chases, with a 15.5 percent individual kill rate. Each dog enjoyed an efficient benefit-cost ratio by sharing the kill.

To prevent injury, small prey such as mice, hares, and birds are hunted individually, and dangerous prey such as porcupines and cane rats are killed with a swift and well-placed bite.

Large animals are deprived of their meat and organs, with the skin, head, and skeleton remaining intact, while small prey is consumed entirely. The species’ consumption rate in the wild is 1.2 to 5.9 kg (2.6 to 13.0 lb) per African wild dog a day, with an average of three animals per day killed by one pack of 17 to 43 individuals in East Africa.

Unlike other social predators, both adults and young family members will regurgitate food. When killing feeding well before the dominant pair, pups old enough to eat solid food are given priority; subordinate adult dogs help feed and protect the pups.

Reproduction

African wild dog populations in East Africa tend to have no set breeding season, while those in Southern Africa typically breed between April and July.

A single male closely follows the female during estrus, which holds other members of the same sex at bay. In most canids, the copulatory tie characteristic of mating has been documented to be absent or very brief (less than one minute) in African wild dogs, likely adjusting to the prevalence in their environment of larger predators.

The gestation period lasts 69 to 73 days, with the time usually being 12 to 14 months between each birth. With litters from 6 to 16 pups, the African wild dog produces more pups than any other canid, with an average of 10, suggesting that a single female can produce enough young people per year to form a new pack.

As it would be difficult for the average pack to obtain the food required to feed more than two litters, breeding is strictly restricted to the dominant female, which may kill its subordinates’ pups.

The mother stays close to the offspring in the den after giving birth while the rest of the pack hunts. Usually, she scares away pack members approaching the pups until the offspring are old enough, at three or four weeks of age, to consume solid food.

Around the age of three weeks, the pups leave the den and are suckled outside. The other pack members wean the pups at the age of five weeks, where they are fed regurgitated meat. The pups begin to adopt an adult appearance at seven weeks, with visible lengthening in the muzzle, legs, and ears.

The pack abandons the den once the pups reach the age of eight to 10 weeks, and the young pursue the adults during hunts. Eating first on kills, a privilege that ends once they become yearlings, is allowed to the youngest pack members.

Diet

A species-wide analysis found that five species were the most frequently selected prey by preference: Thomson’s gazelle, the greater kudu, impala, blue wildebeest, and bushbuck.

Thomson’s gazelle is the most common prey in East Africa, while impala, reedbuck, lechwe, kob, and springbok are targeted in Central and Southern Africa. However, its diet is not limited to these species since warthog, duiker, oribi, waterbuck, Grant’s gazelle, African buffalo calves, ostrich, and smaller prey such as hares, dik-dik, spring hares, rodents, and cane rats are also hunted. In some local studies, staple prey sizes are normally between 33 and 441 lb (15 and 200 kg), while upper prey sizes vary from 90 – 135 kg (198 – 298 lb).

Calves are primarily but not solely targeted for larger species such as wildebeest and kudu. However, some packs in the Serengeti are very commonly specialized in hunting adult plain zebras weighing up to 530 lb (240 kg). Another study suggested that some wild dog prey could weigh up to 637 lb (289 kg).

African wild dogs seldomly scavenge, but suitable carcasses of spotted leopards, hyenas, cheetahs, lions, and animals trapped in snares have been observed on occasion.

African wild dogs in packs of 17 – 43 eat 3.7 lb (1.7 kg) of meat daily in East Africa.

Habitat

The African wild dog is mainly found in savanna and arid zones, usually avoiding forested areas. This preference is possibly related to the hunting habits of the species, requiring open areas that do not block vision or hinder pursuit.

Nevertheless, in search of prey, it can pass through the scrub, woods, and montane areas. Land-dwelling populations of African wild dogs have been recorded, including one in the Harenna Forest in the Bale Mountains of Ethiopia, a wet montane forest up to 2400 m in altitude.

At least one record of a pack being spotted at the top of Mount Kilimanjaro. The species has been seen and recorded at altitudes of 1,800 m in Zimbabwe.

This species has been found at high altitudes in Ethiopia; several live wild dog packs were observed at altitudes from 1,900 – 2,800 m, and a dead individual was found at 4,050 m on the Sanetti Plateau in June 1995.

Distribution

Formerly ranging through most of sub-Saharan Africa, African wild dogs were once absent only in the driest desert regions and lowland forests.

In North and West Africa, the species has been completely exterminated, and the number has substantially decreased in Central and Northeast Africa. Most species’ population now occurs in Southern East Africa and Southern Africa, more precisely in Namibia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe.

However, the lack of habitat makes it difficult to track where they are and how many there are.