Dave Taylor's African Safari: Trophic Level IV: Large Carnivores - Wild Dogs

Trophic Level IV: Large Carnivores
Wild Dogs
Page 7

Lycaon pictus

Length: 76-112 cm (30-44")

Tail: 30-41 cm (12-16")

Weight: 18-36 kg (40-80 lb.)

Status: Endangered; less than 10,000 remain according to one source but another puts the number at less than 3,000.

Habitat: Wild dogs are found in woodlands, scrub brush and grasslands. They were once widespread across Africa but their range is fragmented due to eradication programs. In the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem, their numbers fluctuate but there are seldom more than 100. In recent years, there have been reports of as few as two. Wild dogs are vulnerable to domestic dog diseases such as distemper and rabies. A diseased dog may inadvertently wipe out its entire pack. Recently, a program to inoculate Maasai dogs has proven helpful in controlling these diseases.

Food: Wild dogs only eat mammals. They target the most common medium sized antelopes (14-45 kg or 31-100 lb.) in their range. They will also hunt smaller game such as rabbits.

In the Serengeti, the antelope of choice is the Thomson's gazelle, although calf wildebeest are popular during the calving season. Adult wildebeest are also taken. In the past (1970s), a pack of wild dogs learned how to hunt zebras but this behavior has since disappeared (see also Zebra entry). Zebra foals still make a tempting target but the pack must separate them from the protective stallion.

Wild dogs are coursers. They run down their prey. They approach as close to the herd as they can. Their stalking-walk is very distinctive and resembles that of a stalking lion. Dogs, however, make no attempt at concealment. When the prey bolts, which usually happens as soon as the pack is spotted, the dogs take off. With smaller prey, like Thomson’s gazelles, each dog may pursue its own prey. A Tommy that stotts will be ignored over one that runs full tilt. Stotting conveys a clear message to the dogs..."I'm healthy and can outrun you".

In the case of wildebeest, several feints by the pack may be made to startle a herd into running. Dogs quickly evaluate their chances of success. A herd of wildebeest that stands its ground will often be ignored. Running herds tend to reveal their weaker members. A sick or injured wildebeest will stand out to the dogs and they will target that animal.

The Hunt

In the Serengeti-Mara, when game is plentiful, the dogs will spend about an hour hunting in both the morning and evening. They are strictly diurnal hunters. The average distance traveled is about 10 kilometers (6 miles). When game is scarce, the pack will cover their home range in two or three days. They trot along at a rate of 9 to 11 kilometers per hour (5.5 to 6.8 mph) and may travel 40 kilometers (25 miles) a day to find suitable prey.

The chase may cover 5 kilometers (3 miles). Dogs can maintain a rapid 48 kph (30 mph) pace and sprint to 60kph (37 mph) for up to 2 kilometers (1.2 miles). The lead dog may change as the prey's escape path curves in an attempt to rejoin the herd. This often brings it closer to one of the dogs lagging behind.

When a dog catches up to the animal, it bites at the soft underside, tearing at the stomach and haunches. The idea is not to go for a swift kill but rather to inflict enough blood loss that the animal will tire and slow down. Dogs do not kill like lions. Lions strangle or suffocate their prey. There is little blood and the suffering seems less. Dogs bleed their prey to death and may open the belly, spilling intestines and their contents on the ground while the animal still lives.

It was this way of killing, so gruesome to human eyes, that caused the wild dog to be persecuted as a mad-killer by settlers and hunters alike. It was shot on sight. Today, ecologists take a less impassioned view. There is no right or wrong here. It is the way of the dog and the wolf. It may be ugly to see from a human's point of view but it is an efficient way of killing prey too large for a small predator to bring down any other way.

Wild dogs are the most successful hunters on the plains at least in terms of the number of hunts undertaken.

Social System: Wild dogs have a social system that is very much like that of the wolf (Canis lupus). If its killing method is seen as repulsive then one must admit that its social structure is admirable (although as noted above, a more neutral approach to this is issue is the sounder one...it is what they do, whether we like it or not).

A typical Serengeti-Mara pack contains ten animals. Packs of up to 60 have been seen in other parts of their range and 20 in a pack is common. In the 1970s, there were a dozen packs in the Serengeti but today the number fluctuates between 0 and 3.

A "typical" Serengeti pack contained six adults; 4 male, 2 female. Males normally outnumber females in a pack because it is the females that disperse while most males stay with their birth pack. Males leave a pack when there are three or more brothers in a litter. Usually, these male coalitions leave together and search the plains for a single female.

When a male group meets up with a female, they begin a new pack. Only the dominant or alpha male and female mate. Both males and females have separate but strict rank orders. Subordinate females do not breed and in the rare cases where two females in the pack both have litters, the dominant female will do her best to deprive the other of her pups. She will try to drive off the other mother and adopt the pups herself.

Daughters leave the pack when they are two and a half years old. Their chance of survival is best if several sisters leave together. One sister will pair with the alpha male and the other sisters will not breed until they leave the pack to begin one of their own. Females will produce litters until they are eight years old.

Thanks to these dispersal patterns, wild dogs are constantly emigrating into areas where packs have died out. Re-colonization of these empty areas is an ongoing process and explains much of the fluctuation seen in the Serengeti's populations. Unfortunately, a wandering dog may also carry a disease that might cause a pack to decline rapidly.

Behavior: The home range of a Serengeti pack is 1 500 to 2 000 square kilometers (579-772 square miles). Home ranges are not defended as they are far too big for any one pack to control. They frequently overlap. Finding a pack in such a huge area is never easy. Radio-collaring of individuals was tried in the past but some researchers feel that the stress of handling a dog affected its well-being in the long term.

Dogs roam constantly for most of the year. It is only when they have pups that they can be found in the same area for a long period of time. Gestation is 69 to 73 days. The dominant female will have a litter every 12 to 14 months. It is three to four weeks after birth that the pups first emerge from the den. They are weaned by the time they are five weeks old. The den is abandoned when they are 10 weeks old and the pups join their parents as pack members.

The average litter size is 10 but litters of over 15 have been seen. The more adults there are in the pack, the better a litter's chance of survival. In the Serengeti, packs that successfully weaned all their pups had over 11 adults.

Unlike lions, wild dogs share their kill. If a dog kills a gazelle out of sight of other pack members, it will bolt down as much meat as its stomach can hold and then trot off to join them. When the other pack members whine and beg, nipping at their jaws, it will regurgitate the meat for the others to share. Adults bring back food to the pups in the den the same way.

Predators: Wild dogs will chase off a lone spotted hyena if it attempts to steal their kill. If there are several spotted hyenas, the pack will mob them. They are faster than spotted hyenas and can rush in and nip at their rears before the spotted hyena can spin to defend itself. Hyenas will usually depart, annoyed but basically unhurt.

Select a Page:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10