African wild dog

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African wild dog
Lycaon pictus (Temminck, 1820) .jpg

African wild dog ( Lycaon pictus )

Systematics
Order : Predators (Carnivora)
Subordination : Canine (Caniformia)
Family : Dogs (Canidae)
Tribe : Real dogs (Canini)
Genre : Lycaon
Type : African wild dog
Scientific name of the  genus
Lycaon
Brookes , 1827
Scientific name of the  species
Lycaon pictus
( Temminck , 1820)

The African wild dog ( Lycaon pictus ) is the largest wild dog in the African savannah. As a pack animal , it primarily hunts larger prey such as gazelles . Only the dominant pair within a pack reproduces, the offspring are raised collectively in the pack. The distribution area of ​​the African wild dog stretches across the entire African savannah landscape , but it is highly fragmented and the species is nowhere common. The IUCN classifies the African wild dog as critically endangered.

Especially in older literature, the species is usually called a hyena dog , as it looks a little like a hyena and also has morphological similarities, such as only four front toes (instead of five like most other dogs).

features

The scientific name Lycaon pictus means something like "colorful wolf" and refers to the colors of the fur. The black base color is interspersed with brown, reddish, yellow and white spots all over the body. This coat pattern is different for each individual, so that individual wild dogs can be identified relatively easily. The fur has no undercoat, it is short and sometimes so sparse that the bare, black skin shows through in several places.

An African wild dog has a head body length of 80 to 110 cm, plus a 35 cm tail. The shoulder height is 70 cm, the body weight is between 17 and 36 kg. With these dimensions he stands between jackals and wolves . Wild dogs from southern Africa are on average larger than those from eastern parts of the continent. In contrast to other canids, it has only four toes, but 12 to 16 mammary glands instead of eight to ten.

As is characteristic of dogs, their limbs have little lateral mobility, which has a great impact on the technique with which they hunt their prey. Because of this restriction, unlike cats, they are not able to grip their prey with their paws.

Habitat and existence

Remaining distribution areas (rust-red) of the African wild dog
Call of the University of Zurich to report wild dog sightings in the north of Botswana

The preferred habitat is the African savannah. However, sightings have been documented on the snow line of Kilimanjaro and on the fringes of the Sahara . The wild dog largely avoids wooded or arid areas. It lives in all the grass steppes of Africa south of the Sahara; Drawings from ancient Egypt suggest that it could once have occurred north of the Sahara. Today, however, the distribution area is highly fragmented. Through reenactments, especially through wire snares, habitat loss and diseases such as distemper and rabies , it has become one of the rarest large mammals in Africa. A rabies infection can lead to the complete annihilation of all pack members.

Herds of wild dogs require large hunting grounds of up to 500 square kilometers and more. Their action area is also very large with 200 to 2000 km². According to the IUCN, the species is endangered. The total population in 2018 was 6,000 to 7,000 animals, and there are only survivable populations in Kenya , Tanzania , Zambia , Zimbabwe , Botswana and South Africa . Even in the 20,000 square kilometer Kruger National Park , which offers a good habitat and high density of prey, there are only about 115 of these animals. The largest population lives in the Selous game reserve, other reserves with significant occurrences are the Okavango Delta with the Moremi game reserve , the Hwange National Park , the Kafue National Park and the Hluhluwe-Umfolozi Park.

Way of life

Wild dog pack with young animals

African wild dogs are active during the day. As very social animals, they live in packs , with an average of ten animals. In earlier times, when the species was even more common, pack sizes between forty and a hundred seem to have been possible. Their territories are not strictly limited, which is why, unlike other dogs, they do not set any markings.

There is a dominant alpha pair in the pack , but there is no fights for hierarchy and little aggression between the pack members. The order of precedence in the pack is therefore not clearly recognizable, so that in older literature one can sometimes find the statement that there is no hierarchy at all.

Reproduction

As a rule, only the alpha couple produces offspring. The other sexually mature animals in the pack have an altered hormone balance, which usually leads to temporary infertility. This state lasts until a change in the social structure. The willingness to mate is not subject to a fixed seasonal rhythm, but there are seasonal clusters in the second half of the rainy season. As a rule, it takes between 12 and 14 months until the female is ready to mate again. However, if the puppies died prematurely, the period can be shortened to six months. The gestation period is about 70 days. Then six to eight, in exceptional cases up to seventeen, puppies are born. As soon as the pregnant female begins to prepare for birth, the pack reduces its activities to the area around the birth structure.

The puppies are preferably born in burrows. The milk weaning begins around the tenth week of life, after a good three months the puppies leave the den. Only the mother is suckling, but other roles in rearing young are taken on by the whole herd. Even young males sometimes choke out meat to feed older pups. From the sixth month onwards, the pups join the hunt and the pack returns to its nomadic way of life.

There are documented situations in which, in addition to the alpha female, a second female has successfully raised puppies. The ratio of the alpha female to the other offspring can be described as ambivalent. In this specific case, the puppies, which were just a few days old, were partially transported from the birth den by the alpha female. These were then treated by the somewhat older offspring of the alpha female in a kind of mixture of play and hunting behavior. At least one of the younger pups did not survive this behavior. The mother did not defend her own offspring, probably out of consideration for the hierarchy. The other pack members did not intervene in the situation. However, these puppies were then accepted by the alpha female at the age of approx. 8-10 weeks and also fed by him.

Other social behavior

Wounded and sick pack members are cared for in a similar way to the offspring by the whole association - provided they can still follow the pack in its nomadic way of life. This behavior can be explained by the fact that the African wild dog is not a top predator in its habitat. The evolutionary strategy behind it is the principle of the many strong: The general strengthening of the entire pack has a greater effect on competitiveness than lions and spotted hyenas - the direct, larger and stronger food competitors of the wild dogs than the strengthening of individual animals that are higher in the group hierarchy stand. The latter principle can be seen in the top predator Löwen: Here, one to three males are primarily responsible for defending the food and the territory against the competition. Fewer but strongest individuals offer an advantage here. The lack of fixed territories in the African wild dog favors the development of social behavior aimed at strengthening the group: Since the species-specific competition is low as a result, individual advantages do not generate any overall advantage.

The packs are made up of related male members. Unlike many other group-organized predators, the sexually mature females leave the pack, not the male members. Presumably because of the resulting lack of consanguinity, the females are exposed to greater rivalry and aggression in the pack, both among themselves and through the males.

nutrition

Wild dog pack and a game shot young wildebeest , Madikwe Game Reserve, South Africa

The entire pack, except young and sick members, take part in the hunt. African wild dogs typically hunt twice a day. The first hunt usually takes place between six and eight in the morning. The second is usually between five and seven in the evening. The hunting pack is led by the alpha male . The prey is not found by smell, but by sight. As canine species, African wild dogs are persistent hunters who can pursue their prey over three to five kilometers. When chasing , speeds of 55 kilometers per hour are reached. If the fleeing prey is tired, the alpha animal grabs it by the hind legs; the other dogs then catch up and tear the animal alive. A killing bite is not applied. Preferred prey animals are gazelles , impalas and other antelopes, as well as warthogs . Wild dogs are very efficient hunters, the success rate of the hunt is almost 90%. They also do not disdain rabbits , rodents , young birds and other small animals that they encounter on their forays. On the other hand, zebras are almost never attacked, as the wild dogs apparently fear their hoofbeats.

Wild dogs defend their crack against larger predators, especially spotted hyenas , if they are not too numerous. Skirmishes often occur between the two species, but serious injury is rare. The threat posed by lions , who kill African wild dogs when given the opportunity, is much higher . The rift is therefore not defended against them. The African wild dog can eat six to eight kilograms of meat with one meal, depending on its size.

Evolution and systematics

Phylogenetic position of the genus Lycaon according to Koepfli et al. 2015
 Canis , Lycaon and Cuon  


 Lycaon pictus (African wild dog)


   

 Cuon alpinus (red dog)


   

 Canis aureus (golden jackal)


   

 Canis simensis (Ethiopian wolf)


   

 Canis anthus (African gold wolf)


   

 Canis latrans (coyote)


   

 Canis lupus (wolf; + domestic dog )








   

 Canis mesomelas ( black-backed jackal)


   

 Canis adustus (striped jackal)




Template: Klade / Maintenance / Style

The African wild dog is the only representative of the monotypical genus Lycaon . The nominate form Lycaon pictus pictus and L. p. lupinus , L. p. manguensis , L. p. sharicus and L. p. somalicus differentiated five subspecies.

As part of the presentation of the genome sequence of the domestic dog , Lindblad-Toh et al. 2005 published a phylogenetic analysis of dogs (Canidae). In the context of this presentation, the monophyly of the wolves and jackals (genus Canis ) was questioned on the basis of molecular biological data . Accordingly, the filters strip Schakal ( Canis adustus ) and the jackal ( Canis mesomelas ) sister species , which fall as basalste types of all other members of the genus, and in addition the Rothund ( Cuon alpinus ) and the African wild dog ( Lycaon pictus ) are compared. Accordingly, either the red dog and the African wild dog would have to be included in the genus Canis , or the striped jackal and the black-backed jackal would have to be deleted from it so that Canis survives as a monophyletic genus.

literature

Web links

Commons : African Wild Dog  album with pictures, videos and audio files

supporting documents

  1. ↑ a b Lycaon pictus in the Red List of Endangered Species of the IUCN 2006. Posted by: McNutt et al. , 2004. Retrieved May 10, 2006.
  2. ↑ a b Animal Rights Association Canis: African Wild Dog (Lycaon pictus) on trv-canis.de
  3. ↑ a b Markus Kappeler: African wild dog
  4. ↑ Kim Wolhuter: Video from min. 27 The life of the wild dogs ( Memento from June 1, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  5. ^ Britta Meyer: Wildlife of special interest . ( Memento of February 16, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF: 87 kB; English)
  6. ↑ Zimbabwe: The Last Refuge for the African Wild Dog? at dw.com, accessed April 13, 2019.
  7. ^ Anne A. Carlson, Ron Carlson, Fred B. Bercovitch: African Wild Dog Conservation Project, Kafue National Park, Zambia 2004 Annual Report . Conservation and Research for Endangered Species Zoological Society of San Diego, 2005.
  8. ↑ African wild dogs. (PDF) p. 5 section reproduction
  9. ↑ Kim Wolhuter: Video from min. 12 The life of the wild dogs ( Memento from June 1, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  10. ↑ a b Loehleins Tierleben: Wildhund
  11. ↑ Christopher McGowan: The Raptor and the Lamb - Predators and Prey in the Living World . Penguin Books, London 1998, ISBN 0-14-027264-X , p. 18
  12. ↑ Kim Wolhuter: The life of the wild dogs , part 1 you Youtube, from 6:52
  13. ↑ African wild dog . herz-fuer-tiere.de; accessed on January 27, 2018
  14. ↑ Klaus-Peter Koepfli, John Pollinger, Raquel Godinho, Jacqueline Robinson, Amanda Lea, Sarah Hendricks, Rena M. Schweizer, Olaf Thalmann, Pedro Silva, Zhenxin Fan, Andrey A. Yurchenko, Pavel Dobrynin, Alexey Makunin, James A. Cahill , Beth Shapiro, Francisco Álvares, José C. Brito, Eli Geffen, Jennifer A. Leonard, Kristofer M. Helgen, Warren E. Johnson, Stephen J. O'Brien, Blaire Van Valkenburgh, Robert K. Wayne: Genome-wide Evidence Reveals that African and Eurasian Golden Jackals Are Distinct Species. In: Current Biology. 2015, doi: 10.1016 / j.cub.2015.06.060 .
  15. ↑ a b Don E. Wilson, DeeAnn M. Reeder (ed.): Lycaon pictus ( Memento from February 17, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ) In: Mammal Species of the World. A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference . 3rd ed.
  16. ↑ Kerstin Lindblad-Toh et al .: Genome sequence, comparative analysis and haplotype structure of the domestic dog . In: Nature , 438, December 2005, pp. 803-819. ( Abstract ).