Wildlife: Mammals -
Wild Dog 1/3
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Lycaon Pictus, Wild Dog, Wildehond, Wildem Hund.
 Description
The wild dog is the ancestor, like the wolf, of the modern day pet dogs. The
head is large, with a heavy muzzle and powerful jaws. Te coat looks shabby with
black, white and yellow spots. Every individual has its own pattern of spots in
the various colours. The ears are very large and rounded. Thus enabling the wild
dog to hear over great distances. The tail is bushy with a white tip. There are
no dew claws on the front legs, and four toes on each foot. Females have six or
seven pairs of mammae on their belly. Wild dogs reach lengths of up to 142
centimetres. The tail can reach up to 35 centimetres in length. Shoulder height
reaches 75 centimetres. Weight ranges from 24 to 35 kilogramms. Males are
slightly larger than females.
Habitat
The wild dog feels most at home in savannah, bushveld and open
forest lands. They need an enormous area to be able to maintain
their way of live which comes down to ranging over vast
distances. Thus the Kruger National Park is one of the few
places remaining nowadays to maintain a population living in the
wild.
Diet
Wild dogs prey mainly on antelopes weighing around 50 kilogramms.
Sometimes they will prey on larger species of antelope such as
kudu. Occasionally they will also prey on warthog and hares.
Adult specimens of zebra and wildebeest are not preyed on. These
animals stand ground to wild dogs. The wild dog is not a
scavenger. Only one sighting of scavenging has been observed in
Kruger National Park. In Kruger National Park the diet of wild
dog consists out of kudu 8%, impala 75% and small other antelope
15%.
Life history
One pair in a pack will breed. Sometimes a second female will
give birth. Litters of 12 to 21 puppies are born in May to June.
Only after three weeks of age the puppies will start eating
meat. When there is a lot of prey in the area the number of wild
dogs will increase at great pace. In the Kruger National Park
often wild dogs die from malnutricion, lions, snares and
fighting amongst the pack.
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