African wild dog

• 1. Introduction

  ›

  The African wild dog, Lycaon pictus, makes some of its biggest decisions with a sneeze. In the Okavango Delta, researchers have watched packs gather in a restless huddle before a hunt. Whether the huddle breaks up and the dogs set off depends on a short, sharp puff of breath through the nostrils. This is a wild canine native to sub-Saharan Africa. It is the largest wild canine on the continent, and it is the only living member of its genus, Lycaon. It also carries several English names, and conservationists argue over which one helps it most. How does a predator without a rigid chain of command organise a hunt? How good a hunter is it really, once the numbers are checked? Why do lions and hyenas shape where it can live? What happens to a species when even its careful choice of mates hurries it toward extinction? And why did hunters in prehistoric Egypt and the San people of Southern Africa hold it in such regard? The answers begin with what people call it.

  463042

• 2. A Painted Wolf's Names

  ›

  Coenraad Jacob Temminck described the animal in 1820 from a specimen taken on the coast of Mozambique, and he mistook it for a hyena. He named it Hyaena picta. In 1827 Joshua Brookes recognised it as a canid and renamed it Lycaon tricolor. The genus name comes from the Greek lykaios, meaning wolf-like. The species name later returned to pictus, Latin for painted, to follow the international rules of nomenclature.

  Older writing is vaguer. The earliest written reference appears to come from Oppian, who described the thoa, a hybrid of wolf and leopard that resembled the first in shape and the second in colour. In the third century AD, Solinus wrote of a multicoloured, wolf-like animal with a mane living in Ethiopia.

  English has collected many names for the animal. They include African hunting dog, Cape hunting dog, painted hunting dog, painted dog, painted wolf and painted lycaon. Conservation groups worry that the plain phrase wild dog carries negative connotations that could hurt the animal's image. One organisation promotes painted wolf. Painted dog has been found to be the name most likely to counteract negative perceptions.

  Scientists have also argued about its relatives. The paleontologist George G. Simpson placed it with the dhole and the bush dog in a subfamily called Simocyoninae, because all three have similarly trenchant carnassials. Juliet Clutton-Brock disputed this, arguing that apart from their teeth the three species differ too much to share a subfamily.

  1210111421

• 3. Built to Run

  ›

  A shoulder height of 60 to 75 cm and a weight between 18 and 36 kg make this the bulkiest and most solidly built of the African canids. Dogs from East Africa typically weigh 20 to 25 kg. Among living canids, only the wolf species complex outweighs it. Females are usually 3 to 7 percent smaller than males. Compared with members of the genus Canis, it is lean and tall, with outsized ears. The middle two toepads are usually fused.

  The missing dewclaw is the key to its speed. Without a first digit on the forefeet, the stride lengthens, which lets the dog chase prey across open ground for long distances. The teeth tell the same story. Its premolars are the largest relative to body size of any carnivore except the hyenas. The heel of the lower carnassial tooth forms a single blade-like cusp, called a trenchant heel, which shears flesh and speeds up eating. The dhole and the bush dog share this feature.

  The coat is just as unusual. It consists entirely of stiff bristle-hairs with no underfur, and colour variation is extreme. Northeastern African dogs tend to be mostly black with small white and yellow patches. Southern dogs are brighter, mixing brown, black and white. The muzzle is black, a black line runs up the forehead, and the tail is usually white at the tip. Markings are often asymmetrical, so the two flanks of one dog can differ. The patterns may serve communication, concealment or temperature regulation.

  Five subspecies are recognised by Mammal Species of the World, though not universally. The Cape form is the largest and most colourful, with orange-yellow fur overlapping the black. The East African form is very dark with little yellow. Studies with larger samples showed that East African and Southern African populations once mixed extensively.

  A 2019 study found that the lycaon lineage split from Cuon and Canis 1.7 million years ago. That was when large grazing animals, its prey, were diversifying. The oldest fossil is about 200,000 years old and comes from HaYonim Cave in Israel. Because fossils are scarce, its evolution is poorly understood. One candidate ancestor is Lycaon sekowei of South Africa, which had teeth about 10 percent larger but still kept its first metacarpal.

  Genetics adds a puzzle. The African wild dog has 78 chromosomes, the same number as species of Canis. In 2018, whole genome sequencing found strong evidence of ancient interbreeding with the dhole. Yet no fossil dhole has been found in the Middle East or North Africa, where the two species would have met.

  1894961536

• 4. The Hunt

  ›

  Up to 66 km/h is the speed of a wild dog in full pursuit, and a chase can last anywhere from 10 to 60 minutes. The average chase covers about 2 km. The dogs approach silently, then run the prey down. A large animal is bitten repeatedly on the legs, belly and rump until it stops. Smaller prey is simply pulled down and torn apart.

  Tactics change with the target. Against wildebeest, the dogs rush the herd to cause panic and cut off one vulnerable animal. Territorial antelope run in wide circles to defend themselves, so the dogs cut across the arc to block their escape. Males usually take on the dangerous job of seizing a warthog by the nose. Medium-sized prey often dies within 2 to 5 minutes, while a wildebeest may take half an hour.

  A species-wide study found five favourites: the greater kudu, Thomson's gazelle, impala, Cape bushbuck and blue wildebeest. In East Africa the most common prey is the Thomson's gazelle. Certain Serengeti packs specialised in adult plains zebras weighing up to 240 kg. Footage from Lower Zambezi National Park in 2021 showed a large pack hunting a healthy adult buffalo, which is apparently extremely rare. One pack was even recorded rolling on the carcasses of bat-eared foxes before eating them.

  The species has a reputation for near-perfect success. More than 60 percent of chases often end in a kill, and sometimes up to 90 percent. But an analysis of 1,119 chases by a pack of six Okavango dogs found most were short and uncoordinated, with an individual kill rate of only 15.5 percent. Kills are shared, so each dog still gains efficiently. A compilation across prey species put the average success rate at 31.2 percent. That figure undercuts the claim that wild dogs succeed more than 80 percent of the time.

  The meal itself is quick. A pack can finish a Thomson's gazelle in 15 minutes. Each dog eats 1.2 to 5.9 kg a day, and one East African pack of 17 to 43 animals killed an average of three animals daily. Large kills are stripped of meat and organs, leaving the skin, head and skeleton. In the Okavango Delta, packs eat jackalberry fruits just before setting out. Older dogs eat more, which suggests a learned habit, and no other population has been seen doing it.

  5859495162

• 5. Life in the Pack

  ›

  Packs of two to 27 adults plus yearling pups are the normal unit, and solitary living is extremely rare. The bonds are stronger than those among lions and spotted hyenas. In Kruger National Park and the Maasai Mara, a typical pack has four or five adults. In Moremi and the Selous Game Reserve, it has eight or nine. Temporary gatherings of hundreds may have formed to follow the seasonal migration of springbok herds in Southern Africa.

  Males and females keep separate dominance hierarchies. The oldest female usually leads the females. Males may be led by the oldest male, but younger males can supplant him, so some packs include elderly former leaders. The dominant pair typically monopolises breeding, and the dominant female may kill the pups of subordinates.

  The usual pattern among social carnivores is reversed here. Males stay in the pack where they were born, and females leave. Males outnumber females about 3 to 1. Dispersing females join other packs and evict some resident females, which prevents inbreeding and sends the evicted animals off to found packs of their own. Litter sex ratios shift to match. First litters from maiden females contain more males, second litters are evenly split, and later litters lean toward females. Early litters supply stable hunters, while female departures keep a pack from growing too large.

  Southern African packs usually breed between April and July, while East African populations have no fixed season. Gestation lasts 69 to 73 days. Litters range from about six to 16 pups, averaging 10, the most of any canid. The mating tie typical of canids is absent or lasts under a minute, possibly because larger predators are nearby. At three to four weeks the pups eat solid food, and by five weeks they are weaned onto meat regurgitated by other pack members. At eight to 10 weeks the pack leaves the den. The youngest eat first at a kill, even before the dominant pair, until they become yearlings.

  Decisions are shared, and the sneeze is the vote. Okavango packs hold rallies before hunting, and not every rally ends in a departure. When a member of a dominant mating pair sneezes first, about three sneezes guarantee that the group leaves. When a less dominant dog starts, about 10 sneezes are needed. The researchers describe a "specific vocalization (the sneeze) along with a variable quorum response mechanism in the decision-making process".

  Sneezing is only one entry in a wide vocal repertoire. The list includes twittering, whining, yelping, squealing, whispering, barking, growling, rumbling, moaning and hooing. The dogs lack the elaborate facial expressions of wolves, probably because their social structure is less hierarchical and they stay together for much longer stretches. A wild dog cut off from its pack is said to become depressed and can die of broken heart syndrome.

  4637433028

• 6. Lions and Hyenas

  ›

  One pack reintroduced to Etosha National Park was wiped out by lions. Lions dominate African wild dogs and are a major cause of death for adults and pups alike. Where lions are plentiful, dog densities are usually low. In the 1960s, the lion population in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area crashed, and wild dog sightings rose. Their numbers dropped again once the lions recovered. Lions usually leave the dead dogs uneaten, which shows the rivalry is competitive rather than predatory.

  The dogs sometimes fight back. A few old or wounded lions have fallen prey to them. In March 2016, safari guides photographed an Okavango pack in what they called "an incredible fight" with a lioness that had attacked a subadult dog at an impala kill. The lioness retreated, although the subadult died. Another pack of four defended an old male dog from a male lion at a kill, and the dog survived to rejoin the pack.

  Spotted hyenas steal rather than kill. They follow packs to take their meals, and they inspect resting places for leftovers. A lone hyena approaches a kill cautiously and tries to slip away with a piece of meat unnoticed. Groups of hyenas are more successful, but the dogs' habit of helping one another gives them an edge, since hyenas rarely cooperate. Dog densities fall where hyenas are numerous.

  In the Selous Game Reserve, dogs were reported to lose 2 percent of their kills to spotted hyenas, under 1 percent to lions and under 1 percent to larger packs of their own species. Those losses are small, but the margin is thin. A 25 percent loss rate would force the dogs to hunt 7.6 to 12 hours a day to recover the energy, which is unfeasible. Wild dogs are apex predators that lose fatally only to larger social carnivores. Even so, a pup left briefly unguarded outside the den can fall to a large eagle such as the martial eagle.

  6574767566

• 7. A Vanishing Species

  ›

  In the Chinko area of the Central African Republic, surveys counted 160 wild dogs in 2012 and only 26 in 2017. Over the same period, pastoralists from the border area with Sudan moved into the area with their livestock. That collapse illustrates the three forces behind the species' decline: habitat fragmentation, human persecution and outbreaks of disease. Wild dogs have been exterminated across large parts of North and West Africa, and their numbers are greatly reduced in Central Africa, Uganda and much of Kenya.

  The present estimate is about 6,600 adults, of which 1,400 are mature individuals, spread over 39 subpopulations. The largest subpopulation probably has fewer than 250 individuals. The IUCN Red List has classed the species as endangered since 1990. In West Africa only two subpopulations survive, in Niokolo-Koba National Park in Senegal and in W National Park, spanning Benin, Burkina Faso and Niger. Roughly 70 adults remain there. A stable population of more than 370 lives in Kruger National Park.

  The animal prefers savannas and arid zones, probably because open ground lets it see and chase prey. Yet it can surprise observers. A forest-dwelling population lives in the Harenna Forest of Ethiopia's Bale Mountains, at elevations up to 2400 m. One pack was sighted on the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro. In June 1995, a dead individual was found at 4050 m on the Sanetti Plateau.

  Small, scattered populations create a cruel paradox. Wild dogs avoid inbreeding by choosing unrelated mates, which is rare within natal packs. Computer simulations suggest that populations which keep avoiding incest will go extinct within 100 years, because unrelated mates run out.

  One response began in 2003, when the African Wild Dog Conservancy started working in northeastern and coastal Kenya. With help from local pastoralists, a pilot study confirmed a population largely unknown to conservationists. Over the next 16 years, local ecological knowledge showed the area to be a significant refuge and a wildlife corridor linking Kenya's Tsavo National Parks with the Horn of Africa. The IUCN/SSC Canid Specialist Group has named the project a wild dog conservation priority.

  781324781

• 8. Myth and Screen

  ›

  On the cosmetic palettes of Egypt's predynastic period, African wild dogs appear prominently. They likely symbolised order over chaos and the passage between the wild and the domestic dog. The Hunters Palette shows hunters wearing the animals' tails on their belts, which suggests they identified with the dog. By the dynastic period such images had become much less common, and the wolf took over the symbolic role.

  In Ethiopia's Tigray Region, according to Enno Littmann, people believed that wounding a wild dog with a spear brought instant death. The dog was thought to dip its tail in its wound and flick the blood at its attacker. Tigrean shepherds therefore drove the dogs off with pebbles instead of edged weapons.

  The San people of Southern Africa tell several stories about the dog. In one, the moon cursed the hare to be hunted forever by wild dogs after the hare rejected its promise that all living things would be reborn after death. In another, the god Cagn takes revenge on the other gods by sending men transformed into wild dogs, and the winner of the battle is never revealed. The San of Botswana regard the dog as the ultimate hunter and believe shamans and medicine men can turn into one. Some hunters smear the dog's bodily fluids on their feet to gain its boldness and agility. Despite all this, the only notable rock art is a frieze at Mount Erongo showing a pack hunting two antelopes.

  The Ndebele explain pack hunting with a story of a sick wife. When the first wild dog's wife fell ill, an impala went to Hare, a medicine man, who gave him a calabash of medicine and warned him not to turn back. The scent of a leopard startled the impala, and the medicine spilled. A zebra tried next and turned back at the sight of a black mamba, breaking the gourd. Then a terrible howling announced that the wife had died. Wild Dog and his family tore Zebra to shreds, and to this day wild dogs hunt zebras and impalas in revenge.

  Modern documentaries have followed individual dogs. A Wild Dog's Tale, from 2013, follows a single dog named Solo by researchers, who befriends hyenas and jackals in the Okavango and cares for jackal pups. The Pale Pack, an episode of Savage Kingdom in 2016, told the story of the Botswana pack leaders Teemana and Molao. It was written and directed by Brad Bestelink, narrated by Charles Dance and shown on National Geographic.

  In 2018, the fourth episode of the series Dynasties followed Tait, the elderly matriarch of a pack in Zimbabwe's Mana Pools National Park. Her daughter Blacktip led a rival pack of 32 that needed more space and drove Tait's family from its territory. Tait led her family into lion country during a drought, with Blacktip's pack pursuing them for eight months. When Tait died, the pack was observed performing a rare "singing", whose purpose is unclear.

  8283848991