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Lycaon pictus
Also known as African Wild Dog or Cape Hunting Dog is Africa's largest wild canid(second largest wild canid), standing about the same height as a German shepherd dog. It is the only canid without dew claws. Alpha females give birth to large litters that are then reared by the rest of the pack. From wickipedia: The African wild dog is an endangered species due to habitat loss and poaching. It uses very large territories (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 lion and the spotted hyena. 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 them. One-to-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 parks 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 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
Kruger Nat Park
This was literally my first spotting once inside the park. Almost made the rest of the trip anti-climatic. We also saw the pack sleeping by the side of the road as we were leaving. There were at least 12, and in photo 4 they stopped to sniff something that made them very stressed(note expressions in photo 50
Spotted on Dec 20, 2013
Submitted on Jan 23, 2014
18 Comments
Dan, I know we were lucky. And thank you! We saw them briefly in Chobe too: running down an impala(according to our guide). They run with magnificent single mindedness, that's for sure. I was disappointed that we never found the kill
Wow Karen, so lucky! Congrats on SOTD. I've been hoping to see these but even with 3 trips to Africa, still no luck.
Thank you, everyone!!
Congrats Karen for the SOTD!
Congrats Karen! Great series.
Nice series Karen,congrats on the SOTD and thanks for sharing
Congrats Karen!
This is a rare spotting indeed! Well deserved and what a great moment it must have been :) Congratulations Karen!
Thank you Karen. Such an honor!
I was both excited and humbled to be in their presence. I will say that they are so much bigger than I imagined them to be, and they've been my favorite wild canid since I was very little and there was a litter of them at the San Francisco zoo
Congrats Karen! Much deserved for an amazing series!
What a wonderful spotting Karen, and how sad to think that these beautiful canids are faced with extinction. Your encounter has earned you Spotting of the Day -
Once common, African painted dogs are now endangered; victims of habitat loss and diseases spread by domestic animals.
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They were moving at a pretty good clip or I think we would have. They are amazingly beautiful animals despite what seem to be some proportion issues :)
Great series. Great spotting. I think I would watch this mob for hours. So entertaining. These dogs seem to have long legs big floppy feet for added amusement :-) Congratulations Karen.
Not sure when we'll go back. This was my mom's grand finale for Africa(maybe - not so sure now, she's hooked) and she wanted a leopard and the dogs(and cheetah and lion and we got those plus jackels).
I'll make it back in a few years (hopefully), and carnivores will be top of my list! Glad you were able to see these guys since you wanted to so badly!
This was #1 on my spotting wish list. We also saw(at a distance) a pack hunting an impala in Chobe, but after driving around for 45 minutes had to conclude that while they must have made a kill, it was not visible from the road. We were hoping for the trifecta in hwange, but that didn't happen either. It was pouring rain, so I skipped out on the only drive where a hyena was spotted(only one member of our group went because she could cage the seat next tot he driver in the dry truck).
I love them! Nice series.
I am so incredibly jealous of this! The first time we went to Africa we went to Kruger, but the only carnivore we saw was a hyena, and as soon as we saw it she went under the road in the big colverts and wouldn't come out for pictures. Super upsetting!