Wild Dog

Their markings are unique to each individual, like fingerprints, and help the pack identify each other.

Wild dogs live in Africa, south of the Sahara to South Africa, except for the rainforest of West and Central Africa. They have been lost from much of their original range.

Nowadays, wild dogs typically live in packs of up to 10 individuals, although in the past up to 30 was the norm, and pack sizes of up to 100 dogs occasionally occurred. There is a high degree of social co-operation and interaction between the individuals, and they communicate using calls and body postures.

They roam over large areas in search of prey, and undergo a meeting ceremony before the hunt. There is usually a dominant male and female pair within the pack. The females are related to each other and the males are related to each other, but the females are not related to the males. The whole pack care for the pups and will feed any without mothers. Pups are the first in the pack to feed at a kill, eating even before the dominant pair.

Wild dogs are classified as Endangered by the IUCN Red List and there are roughly only about 4,000 worldwide. They are persecuted by man, run over by cars, and are susceptible to domestic dog diseases such as canine distemper. They are also suffering from loss of habitat.