Did you know, African Wild Dog's are ENDANGERED

Hi Everyone!

I have thinking about which species I was going to talk about today and I decided upon the African Wild dog. One reason I chose them was because I recently did a project on these amazing creatures, but I also want to talk about them because not many people know enough about them. I am a cheetah lover (it's always been my favorite animal) and I used to always research everything and anything about them, including where they live. Though the African Wild dog doesn't (usually) live in the same areas as Cheetah's because they both live in similar habitats I would learn small tid bits about them. I thought they were okay, I had the idea that they were aggressive and almost like hyenas (which are both false). But, I didn't know anything past that. Then, a month ago, I was looking through the IUCN Red List of Endangered Species and there the African Wild Dog was. What? That can't be, I thought they were so common. But alas, no. Their numbers have been small for many many years and they continually becoming less abundant. I also learned what truly intelligent and adorable creatures they are. So, here I begin (sorry if it is long, I have so much I want to share with you).

   

Their latin name means "painted wolf-like animal" and they are also called: Cape hunting dog, painted hunting dog, spotted African dog.

The Basics:

Height 2.5 to 5 feet

Weight: 40 to 75 pounds

Bushy tail with a white tip

Only four toes on the front feet (most canids have five)

Large rounded ears

Each dog has a unique coloration pattern

Yellow, black, white gray coloring

Used for identification because no two wild dogs are marked exactly the same

Great endurance and thin, muscular body,

Long legs

            Improves their speed (able to run 30 mph for over three miles)

Strong jaw and sharp teeth (second strongest biting force in the world)

Very good eyesight

They live about 11 years and in captivity 15

One litter per year (average of 10 pups)

This species used to live in sub-Saharan Africa. But now they are found in fragmented populations throughout southern and eastern Africa (the largest populations exist in Botswana, Kenya, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe)

They hunt in the dawn and dusk of the day and in groups. They are able to take down large prey and have a high success rate (often estimated at 70 to 90%) (impressive huh?) I won't go into detail with this (we would be here all day if I did) but the African Wild Dog has a "ceremony" before each hunt called the meet. Basically it is waking up the whole pack and getting them excited for hunting, then they run off together. They will most often hunt medium sized antelope species.

These dogs are highly sociable and can't exist alone. They live in packs ( average 5 to 15 dogs) and get along with each other very well: searching for a lost member for days, pacifying each other with actions (sometimes like those that domestic dogs do when they want food or a belly rub), and help the wounded members by feeding them and licking the wounds.

          Fun pack facts:

          All members of the same sex are related!

          Only the dominant female and male will breed

          If another female becomes pregnant, the alpha female may steal the pups to raise as her own

Random facts:

Though they are hunters, lions and the spotted hyena are their predators.

Chemical communication through scent marking is the most common way for the dogs to recognize pack boundaries

The hoot of a lost African wild dog can be heard by humans from as far away as 2.5 miles

They are nomads when it's not breeding season and their home ranges can be up to 3000 miles

The sad truth

Maybe I didn't do these amazing creatures justice, because if I were to go into full detail with all my facts, you wouldn't want to read it :) but these animals are important. They keep the populations and ecosystems in balance, they deserve to be here and isn't it impressive how they work together, how they hunt, how they live? If this creature can do that, imagine what else we can learn from them. They are endangered, and have been for years. This is in part due to a various number of diseases like Canine distemper. Habitat loss and human encroachment also hurts their populations, as well as, humans killing them (intentionally and accidentally).

The numbers:

3,000–5,500 free-ranging wild dogs remain in Africa and less than 2,500 are mature individuals

And only about 500 in captivity (zoos, private ownership)

 We need to change these numbers. Sadly, there aren't many ways to help right now, but people are trying more and more to save these creatures. In this project I was involved with, we formulated some ways to help, other than what has been put in place. I'm not going to list them, if you want to know more please just leave a comment and I will give you my email address. I do want to stress that the easiest way to help is simply telling people. Maybe you knew everything I just said or mabye you didn't even know such a canine existed, but now you do. So just pass one fact onto your friends or parents or teachers. The more people that know, the more that

care and the more that will help.

I hope you enjoyed this nature chat. Go search African Wild Dog pups (they are really cute)
Stay tuned for more,
KZ