Top predator as measured by hunt success rate, around 80%. Taken in the Nsefu sector, South Luangwa NP, Zambia
Look at the first image and see an animal wonderfully evolved as an endurance predator: long legs, lithe body and powerful jaws.
The second image I just like 😀
I'm generally not much of a fan of wildlife shots, but these are really nice.
Beautiful creatures.
Very interesting and excellent photos, thanks for posting.
I presume this is the species more commonly known as the African wild dog?
Thanks, and yes indeed the African Wild Dog, though it's neither dog nor wolf. "Painted Wolf" is from it's Latin name, and I think it sounds nicer 😃
Nice images. I would love to see these in the wild. As others have noted its not really a wolf, but distantly related.
Nice, unusual colours/markings, is that for camouflage?
Jim
I don't think so, but I don't know. I believe dogs from different parts of Africa tend to have different colour combinations.
They hunt in daylight and in packs, so they are not hard to see. They are endurance rather than ambush hunters, so they don't need to get too close to start a hunt.
Some from South Africa:
Similar markings.
For comparison, Indian wild dog - boring compared with the markings of the African dogs but a similar reputations as hunters
Thaks, Chris. Very interesting. I have seen dhole a couple of times, but not close enought to get a decent image.
I think both are very ancient lineages, but with very different body shapes. I wondered if their habitats are very different, but so far as I can find out they both prefer open plains.
The South African shot was taken in the late evening with fill flash. The dogs wanted to drink at a waterhole but were worried that there might have been a crocodile in it - there wasn't. Just after this the driver stopped the vehicle and we all had drinks from the " cocktail bar" at the back. While we were doing this, the dogs were assembling for a hunt in the gloom about 70 yards away. Very surreal - drinking gin and tonics in the African bush in near darkness while the pack worked itself up for the hunt so close by.
On a previous trip we had seen interaction between a pack of 9 dogs and a hyena. The pack was feeding on an impala kill in long grass when a female hyena came up and stole a leg bone. The pack turned on the hyena and our driver was expecting them to kill it. 5 of them formed a circle round the hyena which went into total submission mode. Eventually the dogs let the hyena go and it went off with its bone.
The dhole shot that I posted when taken in a National Park when 4-5 dhole were milling around close to a breakfast/toilet stop for the tourist vehicles. On another very early morning drive we saw a pack of 15-20 dhole making a kill. It was about 300-400 yards away in long grass, so the only way we knew that there had been a kill was because the whole pack gathered round to feed. Our tour leader told us that large packs of 40 or so dhole had been known to kill tigers - although at a heavy cost to the pack. The Indian National Parks are mostly 90% or so forest with relatively few open clearings, so the dhole's hunting techniques must be different to the African dogs.
African wild dogs, along with cheetah and martial eagles, are definitely are favourite Soutern African animals.
