AFRICAN WILD DOG – PAINTED WOLVES
The African Wild dog, Lycaon pictus, is a lean and
lightweight killer. Members of the dog family, this painted dog of the savannah is one of the most awesome species
to see in nature.
The African wild dog is the most flamboyantly patterned of any of the other dog species in the world. With
black and tan and yellows, they are truly a remarkable animal. Not only is their colouring very special, their
whole manner is special.
Contact us to arrange your Namibia safari and try to spot these animals in the wild.
The African Wild dog is a carnivore, and one of the best in the business. Their method of killing is not that
pleasant to watch, but they are very successful. A wild dog will not use stealth or ambush to catch its prey. It
will literary run its prey into the ground and then tear it apart. Wild dogs are superb athletes. They are long
legged and lightly built, which is part why they are such tremendous runners. Equipped with relatively short and
broad muzzle the biting force of the jaws is increased a lot. The African wild dog can easily run for 5 kilometres
at anything between 50 to 60 kilometres per hour. Simply put, no antelope can sustain this kind of chase, and this
is what makes this animal such a feared predator. The African Wild dog are pack hunters. Therein lays their
strength. Solitary animals can hunt as well, but only small prey is taken successfully. The jaws of the wild dog,
though strong is nothing when compared to the big cats. It lacks that killer bite; therefore it is a pack hunter to
the extreme.
The wild dog has a highly developed social structure. Each dog has its own specific colouring, and some
scientists believe this plays a significant role in their social structure. Each pack of wild dogs have and alpha
female with her chosen mate. They are the top part of the structure. The rest of the pack usually can consist out
of younger males and females. The strange thing about the social structure of a wild dog pack is that it is the
males that have very strong bonds. They are nearly like blood brothers, and this enforces and strengthens the ties
between each individual. With elaborate greeting behaviours, and a lot of time nuzzling and licking each other,
this bond is just strengthening each time. This behaviour comes from the time when the animals were still pups, and
is carried through their whole adult life. Licking at the lips of another dog is a form of submission.
Judging by the environmental conditions mating will take place. If there is enough food in an area, the female
will quickly come into heat and mating will take place. Gestation period for a female is about 2 to 3 months. The
interesting thing about this is that the foetus inside the female stays very small until the last 4 weeks, and then
it suddenly starts to grow. This gives the female still enough time to continue with hunting and her role in the
pack before she finds a den to give birth to her pups. The litter size is about 7 to 10 puppies at a time. They
suckle on the female for about 3 weeks. Their eyes are also open by this time and they can start leaving the den.
From a very young age these pups form part of the pack and are taught and watched by all the members of the pack,
thus cementing the bond between all the members of such a pack.
The African Wild dog has few predators. Lion and Spotted Hyena will kill the young pups if found, but this does not happen often.
Their main enemy is man. This is the main reason why their numbers have been so reduced. In Namibia the African
Wild dog was declared a problem animal in earlier years. This meant that if you see a wild dog you are allowed to
shoot it. Part of this is the revulsion felt by man when he sees how a pack of wild dogs rip apart its prey. Only
recently the African Wild dog have been put on the endangered specie list, and is also now a specially protected
specie in Namibia. Wild dogs are found in the Kaudom Game Reserve and parts of Bushmen land in the north east of
Namibia.
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