Furthermore, to reduce the illegal bushmeat trade to prevent wild dog deaths from wire snares, and community engagement and education. Discover 29 Paintings by top emerging artists from around the world, including Dominique Janssens - DEAU. An African wild dogs colorful patchy coat is mottled in shades of brown, black and beige. Solutions for effective conservation entail securing and rebuilding vast tracts of habitat, and creating connectivity between isolated habitat fragments. Its Latin name, Lycaon pictus, means painted wolf-like animal. Natural causes of mortality include direct (predation) and indirect (stealing of kills, disturbance at den sites) competition from other predators such as lions and spotted hyenas. Wire snares set by poachers for bushmeat are a significant cause of wild dog mortality, as is mortality on roads. As well as suffering direct persecution due to occasional livestock predation, they are also susceptible to diseases spread by domestic animals (e.g. In the face of increasing habitat loss and fragmentation, and as a result of their wide-ranging behaviour, wild dog packs often come into contact with humans and domestic animals. Much of their continuous decline is due to human activity and there are now less than 1,500 mature painted dogs left in the wild. Nowadays, they typically roam the open plains and sparse woodlands of sub-Saharan Africa. Sadly painted dogs are listed as Endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and they are known to be one of the world’s most threatened carnivores. Wild dogs are habitat generalists there is historical evidence of them near the top of Mount Kilimanjaro and in the sea off the Kenyan coast. During the denning season, home ranges are severely restricted (80 km²). A single pack can range over 3,000 km², but average home ranges tend to be more in the region of 300-800 km². Wild dogs are crepuscular, favouring the early mornings and evenings for hunting.Īfrican wild dogs are a wide ranging species living in low densities, and thus require vast areas of intact habitat to sustain a viable population. They can run at speeds up to 60 km per hour and maintain this speed over long distances (3-4 km). Wild dogs are highly successful and efficient hunters known for their endurance, skill and speed. They are also capable of taking much larger prey such as wildebeest, mainly targeting weak or injured individuals. Very rarely seen in its natural habitat today, the wild dog is one of southern Africas most highly endangered mammal species. Wild dogs are almost exclusive hunters (rarely scavenge), and prey on a variety of medium-sized antelope.

Painted wild dogs