Diana Logan
Mon, September 9, 2024 at 9:43 AM PDT
https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/endangered-wild-dog-puppies-playing-164317551.html
3 min read8
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The first time I ever saw a dingo I was completely shocked. They looked no different, to my estimation, than the kind of mixed-breed mutts I was used to coming across in the pound. And that made perfect sense, for dingos—though wild dogs and actually quite dangerous—are descended from previously domesticated dogs thousands upon thousands of years.
But I was also interested to see the videos of these African Painted Dog pups playing on the Savannah. African Painted Dogs have always been a wild animal, and in fact bear little relation to their domesticated (very distant cousins) despite the use of the name “dog.” However, you’d never know it to watch this pack of pups playing with their mom.
In this video, a pack of eight African Painted Dog puppies gambol and vocalize on a dirt road, while adults in their group look on. They have giant black splotches of coloration all over their light bodies and comically huge, adorably rounded ears.
But don’t let their adorable faces fool you—these little fur ball are actually savage and vicious hunters, who use their incredible stamina, mouth full of sharp teeth and cooperative hunting methods to bring down game far larger than they are.
A Common Name, An Uncommon Ancestry
The name of this species is one of some degree of controversy. They are most often called African Wild Dogs, though conservation groups say that the term makes them sound as if they are domestic dogs who are stray or feral, rather than actual wild creatures who have as much right to the land as any other. Others call them African Painted Wolves. African Painted Dogs are extremely endangered due to habitat loss and fragmentation.
They are the only surviving member of the genus Lycaon, and broke off from the rest of the canine family over two and a half million years ago. (Compare this to wolves and even coyotes, who like, domesticated dogs, are part of the genus Canis.) Their far remove from more familiar, American canines make these an animal more suited to zoos and far-off savannahs than as pets.
All About African Painted Dogs
Behaviorally, African Painted Dogs are not suited to domestication or taming, as they are extremely aggressive and adapted to run great distances in pursuit of their large antelope prey. All of their teeth are sharp, and they hunt in large packs dominated by a male and female breeding pair. Young females go off to join their own packs, which is an unusual structure in pack animals.
Their painted coats are made entirely of bristle hair, which becomes sparser and sparser as they age, until they are mostly hairless. They communicate through body language like tail movements and also a range of vocalizations, including a “sneeze” sound used during hunting to confer with the rest of the pack.
African Painted Dogs eat primarily antelope, impala, wildebeest, kudu, gazelle and sometimes warthogs. They compete with lions for their food, and lions will kill African Painted Dogs they perceive to be encroaching on their food source. They are also often the victims of having their kills stolen by hyenas. But the biggest threat to this species’ survival is habitat loss.
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