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AFRICAN WILD PAINTED HUNTING DOGS!!! On our last day of safari, as we planned to go look for kudu - we had a call on our radio that wild dogs had been spotted on the far side of the property! We RACED over there, so excited, but fully expecting just a quick glimpse of big ears and tops of tails just over the tall red oat grass a they ran away. We went to the top of a hill with our binoculars, looking, looking but not seeing them - we were looking hard in the grass! Then we got a radio call from some rangers who had come to help us look and they said - "They are lying in the road"!!! We dashed into our truck and drove frantically towards where they were pointing. And there - in the road - were the wild dogs I've been trying to see for the last thirteen years that I've been going to Africa!! Just lying in the road, watching us with those big round ears!!! I can't tell you how excited I was!!!!!!!! |
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| As we got closer we kept expecting them to run off. We had been told they had been spotted on the property two weeks prior but had been very shy. We slowly crept towards them in the vehicle - they did get up and watch us. But once we stopped, they began milling around, staying completely comfortable and unafraid. |
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The African Painted Wild Dog (Mbwa mwilu in Swahili) is an extremely endangered animal with fewer than 3000 - 5000 remaining in the wild. The Painted Dog requires large undisturbed territories, and so loss of habitat is the major threat to the species. They are also susceptible to outbreaks of viral diseases carried by domestic dogs such as rabies, distemper and parvo. African wild dogs live in packs that are usually dominated by a monogamous breeding pair. The female has a litter of 2 to 20 pups, which are cared for by the entire pack. These dogs are very social, and packs have been known to share food and to assist weak or ill members. Social interactions are common, and the dogs communicate by touch, actions, and vocalizations. Their communication is usually a "twittering" sound similar to a bird call. |
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| We were able to spend two wonderful hours with this pack of ten which gave me some time to sketch and observe. It was interesting to note and then confirm later in my books, that these wild canids do not have a dew claw on their front feet as most animals in the canid "dog" family do. Further research actually shows that many believe this wild dog split from the canid "tree" early on and is actually not closely related to wolves - which are the ancestor to all our domestic dogs. |
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| In being able to watch the dogs I observed many interesting things. Their ears are very large and round - which is obviously to help in heat dissipation - blood flowing through the ears returns to their body a few degrees cooler. Also, an interesting behavior was that as they were lying in a heap under the shade of a bush, one would periodically get up and move away from the pack to scratch. It was evident that what they were doing was moving away from their pack mates to scratch so as not to dislodge parasites onto each other. We watched this behavior over and over with different pack members in the two hours we watched them. Such FASCINATING stuff to be able to just observe for such a long period of time! |
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| I love this series of photos that I took with the alpha male and female. I love that his paws are crossed - look for this idea soon in one of my paintings!!! |
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fine Wildlife art and photography  |