Compared with lions and hyenas, African wild dogs are mentioned much less often, and they are indeed not too brilliant on the entire African continent, but this small and medium-sized carnivore, which is only more than 30 kilograms, has the survival wisdom that other populations do not have. In the natural world of the weak and the strong, the small African wild dog relies on the advantage of "large herd" to grab food on the territory of lions and hyenas, and has become a force to be reckoned with in the African animal kingdom.
African wild dog
People have always been interested in this dog-like non-dog, wolf-like non-wolf animal, but because there are not many fossils of African wild dogs excavated, people know very little about this animal, and more about their living patterns in today's environment.
African wild dogs are highly socialized animals, and they form a very strong group, because every member knows that the only way to survive on the African continent with their small body is to "huddle together and warm up".
In 1820, the Dutch zoologist Coenraad jacob Temminck first scientifically described this species, but at that time they were called "hyaena picta", from the name, it belonged to one of the hyenas, but this is a wrong perception, in fact, African wild dogs and hyenas are completely different species, even the family is different, African wild dogs belong to the genus of African wild dogs in the family Canididae, Hyenas, on the other hand, belong to the hyena family.
This misconception was not corrected until 1827, when they were classified into canines.
Left: Jackal, Right: African wild dog
Fossils of african wild dogs have been found at an archaeological site in Israel, the earliest fossils found about the animal, dating back about 200,000 years, when African wild dogs were already widespread. But because the number of fossils currently excavated is so small, humans know very little about their evolutionary processes. But in a 2018 whole genome sequencing study, a very old genetic mixture of African wild dogs and jackals was found, suggesting that the two animals are very closely related.
Butterfly ears and bat ears of African wild dogs (left) and bat ears (right)
But whether in appearance or habits, they have essential differences, African wild dogs weigh in the range of 17-36 kg, larger male leaders can reach more than 40 kg, their coat color looks more chaotic, there are black, white, yellow three colors, far from looking like Bando's stars, different individuals their coat color distribution is not the same, but in the eyes of ordinary people, they are similar.
The most important feature of the African wild dog is that it has a pair of large ears, and according to different subspecies, the shape of its ears can also be divided into butterfly ears and bat ears, and the common characteristics of the two ears are that they are large and disproportionate to the small head.
Comparison of the skulls and teeth of African wild dogs and gray wolves
African wild dogs have large front molars, two rows of a total of 42 teeth, bite force is not the top in wild animals, about 300 pounds, but this force is enough to tear the fur of most ungulates, especially their "posterior molars" The gap between the upper and lower rows of teeth is complementary, such a structure allows them to easily grind animal bones, become a real "meat eating meat without spitting bones" beast, once they start to eat, the upper and lower rows of teeth begin to work like a meat grinder. Crush the meat along with some tender bones.
5 subspecies of the African wild dog
According to the traditional classification, the African wild dog can be divided into 5 subspecies, namely nominate subspecies, East African subspecies, West African subspecies, Central African subspecies and Somali subspecies; however, according to the latest classification, it is divided into only two subgroups, namely the North African subgroup and the West African subspecies.
They were once found in much of sub-Saharan Africa, and only in some places, such as the driest deserts, have they been found, but over the years, african wild dogs have become endangered due to persecution, disease, habitat loss and other factors.
African wild dogs mainly live in some dry grasslands and semi-desert areas in Africa, once widely distributed on the African continent, but then they were mass extinct in North Africa, West Africa, in Central Africa, northeast Africa and other regions of the number is also greatly reduced, now most of the African wild dogs are distributed in southern and southeast Africa, if detailed to the country, then Zimbabwe, Namibia, Botswana and other countries are the most numerous.
At present, the survival status of African wild dogs is not optimistic, and there are only more than 3,000 heads in the world, perhaps from some of the following data, we can see how unoptimistic the survival status of this animal is:
Benin, which was thought to have gone extinct in 1988, also confirmed in a survey conducted in 1990 that the African wild dog was unlikely to exist in the country;
Algeria, the last sighting of african wild dogs occurred in 1989 and has not been found since;
In The Gambia, the last sighting of african wild dogs occurred in 1995 and has not been found since;
Nigeria, which has no population of African wild dogs, may have some neighbouring countries coming to feed, and after the last sighting in 1978, an individual was not found in a game reserve until 1991;
Cameroon, where 4 African wild dog populations were identified in 1997, but in a 2012 study in the north, no African wild dogs were found;
Republic of the Congo, after 1970, there are no more African wild dogs;
Rwanda, once found in large numbers in Akagueira National Park, but later in 1983-1984, the outbreak of disease caused this species to become extinct;
Angola, where the number of African wild dogs decreased significantly in the 1970s and there have been no reports of sightings since 1990;
Namibia, although distributed and protected by law, has no distribution except in the north-east;
Zambia, although distributed, has been on a downward trend since 1990.
Map of African wild dogs, data source: IUCN
For now, the habitat of African wild dogs is relatively scattered, there is no super large population, most of them are small groups of more than a dozen individuals, with the reduction of habitat, the impact of other predators, the survival status of African wild dogs is not optimistic, even in west Zimbabwe to establish an African wild dog reserve, but the threat they are still there.
Southern Africa is home to African wild dogs, home to the largest number of wild dogs in all of Africa, mainly in western Zimbabwe, northeastern Namibia and northern Botswana;
North Africa and its rarity, even some suspect that it is already a regional extinction;
In eastern Africa, there are many African wild dogs living in Mikumi National Park and the Selous Game Reserve, but in Kenya, Uganda and other regions, they have become regionally extinct;
Central Africa is relatively rare, and many places are extinct, and may still exist in Cameroon and Chad;
Wild dogs are also very rare in West Africa, and only occasionally can be seen in a few areas such as Guinea and Senegal.
The biggest reason why african wild dogs are on the verge of extinction is the destruction of the ecological environment, the reduction of their habitat for survival, as well as conflicts with humans, disease infection, etc., which have led to a decline in the number of African wild dogs.
In fact, the extinction of most species on the earth is related to humans, and the reason is nothing more than a few major factors.
African wild dog herd
Habitat is reduced, wild animals are not like intelligent animals such as humans, once the habitat they rely on is destroyed, waiting for them is to perish. As the population grows, the demand for natural resources is increasing, and the continuous reclamation of wasteland, the construction of roads, etc., dividing the living area of wild dogs into several pieces, is far more harmful than other factors.
Conflicts with humans, although African wild dogs rarely attack human livestock, but people do not have a good impression of this carnivore, so often because of fear of wild dogs preying on livestock, so they take the initiative to eliminate it first;
Or some of the livestock that were bitten to death by other beasts of prey were also blamed on african wild dogs, and thus were killed in retaliation.
Of course, there are also those who have indeed preyed on livestock, such as in Ozala National Park, there are African wild dogs that prey on livestock and are hunted by herds;
One of the most lethal ways is poisoning, people put the carcasses of animals with poison, once the wild dogs eat, then it is "even the pot end", the entire population will be wiped out.
Disease transmission, compared to other wild animals, African wild dogs are easily infected by livestock diseases, coupled with their high socialization of animals, once a small number of individuals are infected, it is easy to spread in the population, thus affecting the entire wild dog family.
In the case of the African wild dogs in Akagueira National Park, they all died in the 1983-1984 disease outbreak.
Poaching, poaching is also one of the reasons for the dramatic decline in the number of wild dogs in Africa, where poaching and the illegal meat trade are widespread in much of africa. It may be that some hunters target ungulates among antelopes, but it is undeniable that African wild dogs can also be "hit" because traps do not recognize species. Once a wild dog is captured by a trap and the other members go back to find it, there is a high probability of triggering the surrounding trap, resulting in more individual deaths and injuries.
A lion bites an African wild dog
Other factors, the african wild dog is on the verge of extinction, is definitely not determined by a single factor, but a combination of factors.
Although African wild dogs have no natural predators, lion hunting is still one of the main factors in the death of adult wild dogs and puppies, such as the introduction of a group of African wild dogs in Etosha National Park in northwestern Namibia, but they were ruthlessly hunted by lions. In addition, a number of other unnatural causes of death threaten African wild dogs.
What attracts my attention the most about African wild dogs is their survival patterns, and in general, when we mention "unity" now, we basically think of wolves, and African wild dogs are more united than wolves.
Although wolves are social animals, most of them live in pairs, consisting of "parents with children" in a small family model, only in winter when food is scarce and prey on large animals, they will temporarily form large families, and if you look at the long-term living together, the connection between members of African wild dogs is closer.
Although there are also small family groups between them, but more are living together in groups, so in the same group, the two wild dogs may not be related to each other, but they are like brothers to each other. In a large group, led by two male and female wild dogs, in zoology, they are called α males and α females (α: alpha, the first letter of Greece), and the large and small activities and hunting in the whole group can be said to be determined by these two wild dogs.
Like other social animals, the position of leader is not set in stone and is contested. When α male ages, he is challenged by younger and stronger males, and once defeated, the position of leader changes hands.
Lions attack one of the African wild dogs
African Wild Dog "United External"
The african wild dog's main rival is the lion, and their unity is vividly reflected in this regard. When one member of the group is attacked by a lion, the other members will rush to help and deal with the lion together, which is not uncommon in nature.
For example, in 2016, Okavango took a set of photos in the safari park, the photo showed a female lion attacking an adult African wild dog, originally thought that other wild dogs would immediately escape when they saw it, but did not expect other members to rush over and attack the lion, and finally forced the female lion back in the case of "many people", but unfortunately the wild dog that was attacked first finally died;
Coincidentally, McNat John also observed a group of African wild dogs freeing their companions in the mouth of the male lion, and finally succeeded, and the rescued companion subsequently joined the battle to repel the male lion.
This spirit of not abandoning makes many people ashamed! Or maybe because of this, each member can feel the warmth in the group, so it will be more united!
African wild dogs hunt en masse
The unity of African wild dogs is also manifested in predation, in general, this animal only weighs tens of kilograms, if you fight alone, there is no way to prey on medium and large herbivores such as wildebeests and antelopes, but in the African savannah, ungulates such as antelopes are an important food source for wild dogs.
In East Africa, African wild dogs most commonly prey on gazelles, and in central and southern Africa, their main diet is impala, springbok and so on.
Usually, African wild dogs prey on ungulates weighing about 15-100 kg, but occasionally they can be seen hunting large prey, and the main reason for their ability is the collective strength, the close unity between members and members, making every hunt more successful.
According to the size of African wild dogs, there is no advantage in the land of the African savannah, but they rely on their own survival wisdom to fight for a place under the "encirclement" of lions, leopards, hyenas, etc. If it is not human intervention, I believe they can live in this land full of life.