Threats
Introduced disease,
poisoning, loss of
habitat
STATUS:
ESA -- ENDANGERED
IUCN -- ENDANGERED
SIZE:
Weight:
37.5-79.4 pounds (17-36 kg)
Shoulder Height:
23.8-30.4 inches (61-78 cm)
HABITAT:
savanna, grassland,
open woodland
POPULATION:
4,000-5,000 total
CURRENT RANGE:
Africa south of the Sahara
CONSERVATION:
Species Survival Plan;
monitoring incidence of epidemic disease
Loss of habitat is particularly critical for nomadic animals like the African wild dog. Hunting dog packs range over very large areas -- from 600
to more than 1,500 square miles (1,560-3,900 sq km) a year. Even large parks may not provide enough territory to support viable dog populations.
Four legs are faster than two; in a sprint, African wild dogs can reach speeds of more than 40 miles per hour (65 km/h). Compare this to Olympic champion Michael Johnson, who set
a (human) world record when he attained a top speed of about 23 miles per hour (37 km/h).
African wild dogs have an unusual breeding system. Only one pair of dogs reproduces in a pack; other pack members act cooperatively to care for the young of the breeding pair. It has been said that African wild dogs are the most social of all mammals, never
living apart from
a pack at any
stage in
their lives.
African wild dogs have a very strong, musky odor, which may help the pack find individuals that have become separated
from the group.
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Pack Hunters
Looking out from a small hummock, a pack of mottled big-eared dogs peers over the vast Serengeti
Plain in a diorama on the mezzanine level
of the Museum's Akeley Hall of African Mammals. The dogs are African wild dogs, one of the most remarkable animals of the African plains. The view you see in the diorama is a rare one today.
African wild dogs are the continent's most endangered predator.
African wild dogs live in tightly knit social groups and hunt cooperatively, preying primarily on grazing animals such as gazelles, springboks, wildebeest and zebras. Most predators stalk or ambush their prey, but these animals make no attempt to hide. They simply approach a herd until it stampedes, then single out an individual -- usually one that's slowed by old age or disease -- and chase it until it's exhausted. The dogs are swift, tireless runners. They've been known to chase prey for an hour, for as far as three and a half miles (5.6 km).
The Shrinking Pack
African wild dogs were once common in virtually every environment in southern Africa except rain forests and deserts. But human encroachment has drastically reduced their range and their numbers. Because of land clearance, urbanization, and other factors, Africa's once-great herds of grazing animals are now restricted to scattered populations in parks and reserves. As their prey goes, so go the dogs. They are also widely regarded as pests; they've been poisoned, shot, and trapped in many areas. Perhaps their most serious threat, though, is introduced diseases. Burgeoning human populations have brought the African wild dogs into frequent contact with domestic dogs, many of which carry canine distemper and rabies. These diseases are ravaging the wild packs. This kind of contact is one of the less obvious ways that human populations disrupt wild populations.
A century ago, African wild dog packs numbering a hundred or more animals could be seen roaming the Serengeti Plains. Today, pack size averages about 10, and the total population on the Serengeti is probably less than 60 dogs.
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