A highlight of any game drive for me…to find a pack of Wild Dogs and to spend time with them as they go about their business.
The African wild dog was known by many names, including Cape hunting dog or painted dog. Its scientific name, Lycaon pictus, means “painted wolf,” referring to the irregular, mottled coat, which features patches of red, black, brown, white, and yellow fur. No two wild dogs are marked exactly the same, making it easy to identify individuals.
Capable of running at up to 60 km/h, watching a pack in hunting mode is an experience that once witnessed, will never be forgotten.
Unlike many other pack-hunting animals, wild dogs of a single pack rarely intimidate or fight one another for position; instead they exhibit behaviors that support the health of the pack over individual members.
That being said, the pack is overseen by an Alpha male and female. They not only control the rest of the dogs in the pack, but they are the only pair that will breed.
African wild dogs are most active during twilight—the period immediately before dawn and after dusk—making them “crepuscular”.
Twilight is a key time for wild dogs because their prey is the most active during this period and the cover of night gives wild dogs a hunting and camouflage advantage, making them more difficult to be detected by both predators and prey.
With litters of 2-20 pups, wild dogs have some of the largest litters of wild canines. When the pups reach maturity, it is the females leave the pack to look for mates while the males stay in their natal pack.
The driver of this vehicle sat patiently while the pups incorporated it in their activities.
Like all pups, these are no different and were seen to investigate sundry parts of the game viewing vehicle.
Currently, African wild dogs are primarily found in National Parks and reserves where large areas of their original territory remain intact.
With apologies to Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weil, who first performed Mack the Knife in their 1928 anti-capitalist musical drama, The Threepenny Opera.
Oh the wild dog has such teeth, dear
And he shows them pearly white
Just a jackknife has old Macheath, babe
And he keeps it outta sight…
Meet Africa’s most successful hunter! Working together, African wild dogs are able to take on prey much larger than themselves and their success rate is 80% – compared to lions that have only a 30% success rate.
As hyena tend to do, this one was following the pack. And the dogs were NOT in the mood to tolerate an intrusion of any kind.
We heard screaming from a distance away and we thought that the dogs had made a kill. However, when we arrived at the source of the noise, we discovered that the dogs had taken out their frustration on this hyena, leaving it bloody and bitten.
It seemed to realize that discretion was the better part of valour, and chose to slink off into the gloom rather that attract the attention of the pack once again.
It was under this moon that we headed back to the lodge…an interesting and exciting end to a drive.
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