Lycaon pictus is a large canid found only in
AfricaAfrica is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
, especially in
savannaA savanna, or savannah, is a grassland ecosystem characterized by the trees being sufficiently small or widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to support an unbroken herbaceous layer consisting primarily of C4 grasses.Some...
s and lightly wooded areas. It is variously called the
African wild dog,
African hunting dog,
Cape hunting dog,
painted dog,
painted wolf,
painted hunting dog,
spotted dog, or
ornate wolf. This dog is the only canine without dewclaws which are the claws that are on the inside of the front feet.
Anatomy and reproduction
The scientific name "
Lycaon pictus" is derived from the
GreekGreek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
for "wolf" and the Latin for "painted". It is the only
canidCanidae is the biological family of carnivorous and omnivorous mammals that includes wolves, foxes, jackals, coyotes, and domestic dogs. A member of this family is called a canid . The Canidae family is divided into two tribes: Canini and Vulpini...
species to lack
dewclawA dewclaw is a vestigial digit on the foot of many mammals, birds, and reptiles . It commonly grows high on the leg so that in digitigrade species, when the animal is standing, it does not make contact with the ground...
s on the forelimbs.
Adults typically weigh 18–36 kg (39.7–79.4 ). A tall, lean animal, it stands about 75 cm (29.5 in) at the shoulder, with a head and body length of 75–141 cm (29.5–55.5 in) plus a tail of 30 to 45 cm (11.8 to 17.7 in). Animals in southern Africa are generally larger than those in eastern or western Africa.
There is little
sexual dimorphismSexual dimorphism is a phenotypic difference between males and females of the same species. Examples of such differences include differences in morphology, ornamentation, and behavior.-Examples:-Ornamentation / coloration:...
, though judging by skeletal dimensions, males are usually 3-7% larger. It has a
dental formulaDentition pertains to the development of teeth and their arrangement in the mouth. In particular, the characteristic arrangement, kind, and number of teeth in a given species at a given age...
of for a total of 42 teeth. The premolars are relatively large compared with those of other canids, allowing it to consume a large quantity of bone, much like the
hyenaHyenas or Hyaenas are the animals of the family Hyaenidae of suborder feliforms of the Carnivora. It is the fourth smallest biological family in the Carnivora , and one of the smallest in the mammalia...
. The heel of the lower carnassial M1 is crested with a single cusp, which enhances the shearing capacity of teeth and thus the speed at which prey can be consumed. This feature is called trenchant heel and is shared with two other canids: the Asian
dholeThe dhole is a species of canid native to South and Southeast Asia. It is the only extant member of the genus Cuon, which differs from Canis by the reduced number of molars and greater number of teats...
and the South American
bush dogThe bush dog is a canid found in Central and South America, including Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Bolivia, Peru , Ecuador, the Guianas, Paraguay, northeast Argentina and Brazil...
.
The African wild dog has a
bite force quotientBite force quotient is the quotient of an animal's bite force divided by the mass of the associated muscle.-Carnivore BFQs:Table sources...
(BFQ, the strength of bite relative to the animal's mass) measured at 142, the highest of any extant mammal of the order
CarnivoraThe diverse order Carnivora |Latin]] carō "flesh", + vorāre "to devour") includes over 260 species of placental mammals. Its members are formally referred to as carnivorans, while the word "carnivore" can refer to any meat-eating animal...
, although exceeded by the
Tasmanian devilThe Tasmanian devil is a carnivorous marsupial of the family Dasyuridae, now found in the wild only on the Australian island state of Tasmania. The size of a small dog, it became the largest carnivorous marsupial in the world following the extinction of the thylacine in 1936...
, a marsupial carnivore.
The African wild dog may reproduce at any time of year, although mating peaks between March and June during the second half of the rainy season. The copulatory tie characteristic of mating in most canids has been reported to be absent or very brief (less than one minute) in the African wild dog, possibly an adaptation to the prevalence of larger predators in its environment. Litters can contain 2-19 pups, though ~10 is the most common. The time between births is usually 12–14 months, though it can also be as short as 6 months if all of the previous young die. The typical gestation period is approximately 70 days. Pups are usually born in dens dug and abandoned by other animals, such as the
AardvarkThe aardvark is a medium-sized, burrowing, nocturnal mammal native to Africa...
. Weaning takes place at about 10 weeks. After 3 months, the pups leave the den and begin to run with the pack. At the age of 8–11 months they are able to kill small prey, but depend on the pack kills for most of their food. They do not become proficient hunters until the age of 12–14 months. Wild dogs reach sexual maturity at the age of 12–18 months.
Females will disperse from their birth pack at 14–30 months of age and join other packs that lack sexually mature females. Males typically do not leave the pack in which they were born. This is unusual among social mammals, among which the core pack tends to consist of related females. Among African wild dogs, females compete for access to males that will help rear their offspring. In a typical pack, males outnumber females by a factor of two to one, and only the dominant female is usually able to rear pups. This atypical situation may have evolved to ensure that packs do not over-extend themselves by attempting to rear too many litters at the same time. The species is also unusual in that some members of the pack, including males, may be left to guard the pups whilst the others, including the mothers, join the hunting group. The practice of leaving adults behind to guard the pups may decrease hunting efficiency in smaller packs.
Social structure
Packs are separated into male and female hierarchies, though previously thought that if one of the alphas were to die the pack would split up, this was recently disproven (although on a small scale) by Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom, in which 6 dogs who had previously been held in captivity (only 5 made it to the island, 1 died of anesthesia) lost their 2 alphas, by what was presumed to be crocodiles, but the pack of 3 stuck together and a new alpha male and female were made. In the female group, the oldest will have alpha status over the others, so a mother will retain her alpha status over her daughters and sisters. Among males, the father and most dominant brother of the others will be dominant. Without a father or brother, the one of the others may become the new dominant breeder. When two such loner separate-gender groups meet, they may form a pack together if unrelated. Dominance is established without blood-shed, as most dogs within a group tend to be related to one another in some way. When this is not the case, they form a hierarchy based on submission rather than dominance. Submission and nonaggression are emphasized heavily; even over food, they will beg energetically instead of fight. This behavior may be due to their manner of raising large litters of dependent pups in which the loss of a single individual due to injury would mean that the hunting pack might not be able to provide for all the pack's members.
Unrelated African wild dogs sometimes join in packs, but this is usually temporary. Instead, unrelated cape dogs will occasionally attempt hostile takeovers of packs.
Hunting and diet
The African wild dog hunts in packs and small groups. Like most members of the dog family, it is a
cursorialCursorial is a biological term that describes an organism as being adapted specifically to run. It is typically used in conjunction with an animal's feeding habits or another important adaptation. For example, a horse can be considered a "cursorial grazer", while a wolf may be considered a...
hunter, meaning that it pursues its prey in a long, open chase. Nearly 80% of all wild dog hunts end in a kill; for comparison, the success rate of lions, often viewed as ultimate predators, is only 30%. Schaller found that 9 of 10 wild dog hunts in the Serengeti ended in kills. Members of a pack vocalize to help coordinate their movements. Its voice is characterized by an unusual chirping or squeaking sound, similar to a bird. Wild dogs frequently kill larger prey via disemboweling, a technique that is rapid but has caused this species to have a negative, ferocious reputation. For this reason, even some early wildlife conservationists, such as
Carl AkeleyCarl Ethan Akeley was a taxidermist, sculptor, biologist, conservationist, inventor, and nature photographer, noted for his contributions to American museums, most notably to the Field Museum of Natural History and the American Museum of Natural History...
took pride in killing entire wild dog packs.
After a successful hunt, the hunters will regurgitate meat for those that remained at the den during the hunt including the dominant female, the pups, the sick or injured, the old and infirm, and those who stayed back to guard the pups.
The African wild dog's main prey varies among populations but always centers around medium-to-large sized
ungulateUngulates are several groups of mammals, most of which use the tips of their toes, usually hoofed, to sustain their whole body weight while moving. They make up several orders of mammals, of which six to eight survive...
s, such as the
impalaAn impala is a medium-sized African antelope. The name impala comes from the Zulu language meaning "gazelle"...
,
Thomson's GazelleThe Thomson's gazelle is one of the best-known gazelles. It is named after explorer Joseph Thomson and, as a result, is sometimes referred to as a "tommie"...
, Springbok, kudu, reedbuck, and
wildebeestThe wildebeest , also called the gnu is an antelope of the genus Connochaetes. It is a hooved mammal...
calves. The most frequent single prey species depends upon season and local availability. For example, in the Serengeti in the 1970s wildebeest (mostly calves) were the most frequently taken species (57%) from January to June, but Thompsons gazelle were the most frequently taken (79%) during the rest of the year. In the Selous Game Reserve, the most frequent prey is impala. While the vast majority of its diet is made up of mammal prey, it sometimes hunts large birds, especially
OstrichThe Ostrich is one or two species of large flightless birds native to Africa, the only living member of the genus Struthio. Some analyses indicate that the Somali Ostrich may be better considered a full species apart from the Common Ostrich, but most taxonomists consider it to be a...
es. Other predators, such as lions, sometimes steal the prey that wild dogs catch.
Some packs are also able to include large animals among their prey, including
zebraZebras are several species of African equids united by their distinctive black and white stripes. Their stripes come in different patterns unique to each individual. They are generally social animals that live in small harems to large herds...
s and warthogs. The frequency and success rates of hunting zebra and warthogs varies widely among specific packs. To hunt larger prey, wild dogs use a closely coordinated attack, beginning with a rapid charge to stampede the herd. One African wild dog then grabs the victim's tail, while another attacks the upper lip or nose, and the remainder attempt to disembowel the animal. Male wild dogs usually perform the task of grabbing
warthogThe Warthog or Common Warthog is a wild member of the pig family that lives in grassland, savanna, and woodland in Sub-Saharan Africa. In the past it was commonly treated as a subspecies of P...
s by the nose. This behaviour is also used on other large dangerous prey, such as the
African BuffaloThe African buffalo, affalo, nyati, Mbogo or Cape buffalo is a large African bovine. It is not closely related to the slightly larger wild Asian water buffalo, but its ancestry remains unclear...
,
giraffeThe giraffe is an African even-toed ungulate mammal, the tallest of all extant land-living animal species, and the largest ruminant...
calves, and large
antelopeAntelope is a term referring to many even-toed ungulate species indigenous to various regions in Africa and Eurasia. Antelopes comprise a miscellaneous group within the family Bovidae, encompassing those old-world species that are neither cattle, sheep, buffalo, bison, nor goats...
—even the one-ton
Giant ElandThe giant eland is an open forest savannah antelope. It is found in Central African Republic, South Sudan, Cameroon and Senegal. There are two subspecies: the endangered T. d. derbianus, found in Senegal's Niokolo-Koba National Park, and the low risk T. d...
.
Studies indicate that this large-animal hunting tactic may be a
learnedLearning is acquiring new or modifying existing knowledge, behaviors, skills, values, or preferences and may involve synthesizing different types of information. The ability to learn is possessed by humans, animals and some machines. Progress over time tends to follow learning curves.Human learning...
behavior, passed on from generation to generation within specific hunting packs, rather than an
instinctInstinct or innate behavior is the inherent inclination of a living organism toward a particular behavior.The simplest example of an instinctive behavior is a fixed action pattern, in which a very short to medium length sequence of actions, without variation, are carried out in response to a...
ive behaviour. Some studies have also shown that other information, such as the location of watering holes, may be passed on similarly.
Distribution and threats
The home range of packs varies depending on the
size of the packMany animals, including humans, tend to live in groups, herds, flocks, bands, packs, shoals, or colonies of conspecific individuals. The size of these groups, as expressed by the number of participant individuals, is an important aspect of their social environment...
and the nature of the terrain. In the
SerengetiThe Serengeti ecosystem is a geographical region in Africa. It is located in north Tanzania and extends to south-western Kenya between latitudes 1 and 3 S and longitudes 34 and 36 E. It spans some ....
, the average dog density (prior to the local extinction of the species) was 1 dog per 208 square kilometres (80.3 sq mi), whereas in the Selous Game Reserve the average density was 1 dog every 25 square kilometres (9.7 sq mi). Their preferred habitat in the Serengeti is
deciduousDeciduous means "falling off at maturity" or "tending to fall off", and is typically used in reference to trees or shrubs that lose their leaves seasonally, and to the shedding of other plant structures such as petals after flowering or fruit when ripe...
woodlandEcologically, a woodland is a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade. Woodlands may support an understory of shrubs and herbaceous plants including grasses. Woodland may form a transition to shrubland under drier conditions or during early stages of...
s because of large prey herd size, lack of competition from other carnivores, and better sites for denning. In the
SerengetiThe Serengeti ecosystem is a geographical region in Africa. It is located in north Tanzania and extends to south-western Kenya between latitudes 1 and 3 S and longitudes 34 and 36 E. It spans some ....
, the average range has been estimated at 1500 square kilometres (579.2 sq mi), although individual ranges overlap extensively.
There were once approximately 500,000 African wild dogs in 39 countries, and packs of 100 or more were not uncommon. Now there are only about 3,000-5,500 in fewer than 25 countries, or perhaps only 14 countries. They are primarily found in eastern and southern Africa, mostly in the two remaining large populations associated with the
Selous Game ReserveThe Selous Game Reserve is one of the largest faunal reserves of the world, located in the south of Tanzania. It was named after Englishman Sir Frederick Selous, a famous big game hunter and early conservationist, who died at Beho Beho in this territory in 1917 while fighting against the Germans...
in
TanzaniaThe United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...
and the population centered in northern
BotswanaBotswana, officially the Republic of Botswana , is a landlocked country located in Southern Africa. The citizens are referred to as "Batswana" . Formerly the British protectorate of Bechuanaland, Botswana adopted its new name after becoming independent within the Commonwealth on 30 September 1966...
and eastern
NamibiaNamibia, officially the Republic of Namibia , is a country in southern Africa whose western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and east. It gained independence from South Africa on 21 March...
. Smaller but apparently secure populations of several hundred individuals are found in
ZimbabweZimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the African continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia and a tip of Namibia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three...
,
South AfricaThe Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
(
Kruger National ParkKruger National Park is one of the largest game reserves in Africa. It covers and extends from north to south and from east to west.To the west and south of the Kruger National Park are the two South African provinces of Limpopo and Mpumalanga. In the north is Zimbabwe, and to the east is...
), and in the Ruaha/Rungwa/Kisigo complex of
TanzaniaThe United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...
. Isolated populations persist in
ZambiaZambia , officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. The neighbouring countries are the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north, Tanzania to the north-east, Malawi to the east, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia to the south, and Angola to the west....
,
KenyaKenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
, and
MozambiqueMozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique , is a country in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west and Swaziland and South Africa to the southwest...
. African wild dogs are carnivores.
The African wild dog is endangered by human overpopulation, habitat loss and predator control killing. It uses very large territories (and so can persist only in large wildlife protected areas), and it is strongly affected by competition with larger carnivores that rely on the same prey base, particularly the
lionThe lion is one of the four big cats in the genus Panthera, and a member of the family Felidae. With some males exceeding 250 kg in weight, it is the second-largest living cat after the tiger...
and the
Spotted HyenaThe spotted hyena also known as laughing hyena, is a carnivorous mammal of the family Hyaenidae, of which it is the largest extant member. Though the species' prehistoric range included Eurasia extending from Atlantic Europe to China, it now only occurs in all of Africa south of the Sahara save...
. While the adult wild dogs can usually outrun the larger predators, lions often will kill as many wild dogs and cubs at the brooding site as they can
but do not eat themSurplus killing is the behavior predators exhibit when they kill more prey than they can immediately use. They may partially consume, cache, or abandon intact prey...
. One on one the hyena is much more powerful than the wild dog but a large group of wild dogs can successfully chase off a small number of hyenas because of their teamwork. It is also killed by livestock herders and game hunters, though it is typically no more (perhaps less) persecuted than other carnivores that pose more threat to livestock. Most of Africa's
national parkA national park is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individual nations designate their own national parks differently A national park is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or...
s are too small for a pack of wild dogs, so the packs expand to the unprotected areas, which tend to be ranch or farm land. Ranchers and farmers protect their domestic animals by killing the wild dogs. Like other carnivores, the African wild dog is sometimes affected by outbreaks of viral diseases such as
rabiesRabies is a viral disease that causes acute encephalitis in warm-blooded animals. It is zoonotic , most commonly by a bite from an infected animal. For a human, rabies is almost invariably fatal if post-exposure prophylaxis is not administered prior to the onset of severe symptoms...
,
distemperCanine distemper is a viral disease that affects animals in the families Canidae, Mustelidae, Mephitidae, Hyaenidae, Ailuridae, Procyonidae, Pinnipedia, some Viverridae and Felidae...
, and
parvovirusParvovirus, often truncated to "parvo", is both the common name in English casually applied to all the viruses in the Parvoviridae taxonomic family, and also the taxonomic name of the Parvovirus genus within the Parvoviridae family...
. 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.
The Painted Dog Conservation (PDC) effort, based in
Hwange National ParkHwange National Park is the largest game reserve in Zimbabwe. The park lies in the west, on the main road between Bulawayo and the widely noted Victoria Falls.It was founded around 1928 by a 22-year-old game ranger, Ted Davidson...
, western
ZimbabweZimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the African continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia and a tip of Namibia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three...
, works with local communities to create new strategies for conserving the wild dog and its habitat.
Taxonomy
Lycaon pictus is the only extant
speciesIn biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
in the
genusIn biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
Lycaon. An extinct species from the African
PleistoceneThe Pleistocene is the epoch from 2,588,000 to 11,700 years BP that spans the world's recent period of repeated glaciations. The name pleistocene is derived from the Greek and ....
,
Lycaon sekoweiLycaon sekowei is an extinct canid species from southern Africa that lived during the Pliocene and Pleistocene epochs. Like L. pictus, the other species in the genus that is alive today, L. sekowei was a hypercarnivore; however, its front paws were not as specialized for running....
, is a possible ancestor of the modern species. Another possible ancestor of these (and several other canids) from the Pleistocene of
EurasiaEurasia is a continent or supercontinent comprising the traditional continents of Europe and Asia ; covering about 52,990,000 km2 or about 10.6% of the Earth's surface located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres...
is
Xenocyon lycaonoidesXenocyon lycaonoides is an extinct canid from the Pleistocene of Eurasia. It lived from 1.8 Ma to 126,000 years ago, existing for approximately .It preyed on antelope, deer, elephant calves, aurochs, baboons, wild horse and perhaps humans...
; this is sometimes also placed in
Lycaon. Although in a lineage distinct from wolves, domestic dogs, and coyotes, Wild dogs are more closely related to them than to other canids.
There are five recognized subspecies of
Lycaon pictus:
- Lycaon pictus pictus
- Lycaon pictus lupinus
- Lycaon pictus manguensis
- Lycaon pictus sharicus
- Lycaon pictus somalicus
Interspecies adoption
In 2009 at the Pittsburgh Zoo, a female mixed breed domestic dog was brought in to nurse nine African wild dog pups, after the pups' mother had died. The nursing was going successfully, and the pups had gained weight. This is the first time that a domestic dog has ever been documented nursing African wild dog pups.
Research and conservation links
AWCF - Lowveld Wild Dog Project
Botswana Wild Dog Research ProjectFounded as the Botswana Wild Dog Research Project in 1989, the Botswana Predator Conservation Trust has expanded to cover all the large carnivore species in Botswana. It is one of the longest running large predator research projects in Africa and one of only a handful of its caliber worldwide...
Institute of ZoologyThe Institute of Zoology is the research division of the Zoological Society of London in England. It is a government-funded research institute specialising in scientific issues relevant to the conservation of animal species and their habitats...
Wild dog research
Cheetah & Wild Dog Conservation Planning Process
Harnas Wildlife Foundation
African Wild Dog ConservancyThe African Wild Dog Conservancy is a non-profit, 501, non-governmental organization, working with local communities, and national and international stakeholders, to conserve the African wild dog through scientific research and education....
Zambian Carnivore Programme
Wildlife Conservation NetworkThe Wildlife Conservation Network is a United States-based 5013 non-profit organization that partners with conservationists from around the world and is dedicated to developing community-based projects to help wildlife and people co-exist. WCN does this by providing their partners with capital,...
External links