The African Wild Dog (Lycaon pictus)

Life Span: 10-12 years

Population Size: 1,409 and decreasing 🙁

Geographical Location: The African Wild Dog can be found in Southern and Eastern Africa in Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Botswana and South Africa. The climate of these regions consist of deserts, forests, and grasslands.

Diet: They are strictly carnivorous and hunt in packs. They rely on large mammals such as Antelope, Warthog, Gazelles, and wounded Wildebeest. If large mammals were not available they will supplement their diet with small mammals, birds, reptiles, and insects.

Size: 3 feet long, 60-75 cm tall, 49-70 lbs

Conservation Status: Endangered

Predators: They will be occasionally hunted by lions and hyenas if separated from their pack, fallen ill, or severely injured and no longer able to keep up with their pack. Humans are also a continuous threat due to illegal poaching.

Reproduction: The African Wild Dog has a gestation period that lasts for 70 days with a litter size 8-10 pups There is no specific mating season, but they tend to mate during the months from March-June. While the mother is caring for her pups other pack members will bring food to the her for the first three months while she takes care of her pups. Other females from the pack will also ‘babysit’ for the mother. The alpha female will typically be the only one mating with the alpha male (monogamous life pair), but other females may also mate on occasion.

Communication: They live in large packs consisting of 15-40 members. They communicate with one another in many ways such as short barks for alarms, rallying howels, bell-like contact calls that can be heard over long distances, twittering, whining, sniffing, muzzle licking, sneezing, and brushing up against each other.

• Fun Facts:
• The scientific name means “painted wolf”
• No two dogs have the same markings
• Males with stay with the pack they are born with while females will go and join new packs (unlike many pack species)
• They hunt at dawn and dusk
• They can run more than 44 mph
• The alpha female is the leader of the pack (not the alpha male)
• They have an 80% success rate while hunting
• They cannot be domesticated

Websites Used for Research: https://www.awf.org/wildlife-conservation/african-wild-dog https://www.nathab.com/blog/ten-facts-about-the-african-wild-dog/ https://www.worldwildlife.org/species/african-wild-dog https://a-z-animals.com/animals/african-wild-dog/ https://hesc.co.za/species-hesc/african-wild-dog/