Distribution:  Formerly throughout non-forested, non-desert areas of Africa but range is now fragmented.

Habitat:  Most common in savannah and arid zones, but also range in woodland, deep scrub, and montane habitats at all altitudes wherever sufficient prey for their visual-chase hunting technique exists.

Food:  Exclusively mammals with preference for commonest, medium-sized antelope not more than twice wild dog’s weight (30 to 110 lbs.).  Larger prey is also taken but not regularly. 

Hunting Behavior:  Diurnal, efficient pack-hunters that rely on unconcealed fast chase of up to 3 miles at steady 30 mph pace.  During short spurts, can exceed 37 mph but it is their endurance that allows them to catch faster prey such as gazelles.  Snap and tear at rear and sides of running prey until it tires and can be grabbed, thrown down and quickly disemboweled.  Usually try to single out unfit and young animals by scattering prey and testing before all-out pursuit.  Rarely eat carrion but occasionally scavenge kills from other predators.  Most successful large hunter in Africa.

Social Behavior:  Diurnal, gregarious, cooperative hunters, related males remain in natal pack while females emigrate.  Social behavior of pack centers on 1 breeding pair, with non-breeding adults assisting in feeding (through regurgitation of meat) of large litters.  Within pack, separate rank hierarchies exist among male and female members, headed by breeding or alpha pair identifiable by their tendency to urine-mark.  Unlike most social mammals, males usually remain in natal pack and females emigrate no later than 2 ½ years, leaving only dominate, breeding female and related males in pack.  Females will continue to transfer to other packs until they become dominate and are able to breed themselves.  Young males will sometimes emigrate from natal pack if there are 3 or more male littermates.  Today packs average about 6 males and 4 females, but in past, aggregations of hundreds of wild dogs were recorded.  Packs travel over home ranges that vary from 100 to 1,250 sq miles but don’t defend ranges that overlap with other packs.  If two packs meet, the larger always chases the smaller off.

 Instead of aggression, submissive behavior is emphasized in social relations within a pack.  Essence of social and reproductive systems is cooperative hunting and food-sharing, which are reinforced through a form of infantile begging.  Whenever a pack becomes active after resting or a separation, members greet intensely and display active submission in what is called a ‘greeting’ or ‘meet’ ceremony.  Mobbing, twittering, mouth tugging and prostrate positions are all used to beg for regurgitated meat or appease more dominate pack members.  Two dogs will contend to be the underdog and receive food.  Through this behavior, young dogs are able to replace adults at kills until about 1 year, after which they lose privileged status and are absorbed into the rank hierarchy.  The ‘meet’ ceremony is also a form of social coercion and mobilization of individual dogs into a hunting pack.   Pungent and distinctive body odor allows separated dogs to track pack and stay in contact.  Repetitive low, bell-like hoot serves as contact call while staccato twittering accompanies any reunion or social excitement, especially during ‘meet’ ceremonies.

Reproduction:  Slight breeding peak during late rains.  After gestation of 6 months, 6 to 16 puppies (average of 10 in litter) are born blind in burrow, emerging after about 1 month.  Weaned off mother’s milk and eating regurgitated meat as early as 5 weeks, they abandon the den and follow adults by 9 weeks, and are adult at 1 year.  Young have higher survival rate in larger packs.  Females start breeding as early as 22 months and males at 1 ¾ years, with intervals between litters about 12 to 14 months.  Short-lived, few survive to 10 years.

Status:  Have suffered greatest reduction of range in shortest time of any African carnivore.  Use of their range for livestock farming, direct persecution and diseases from domestic dogs have decimated their numbers (probably less than 5,000 left in wild).  As populations become fragmented and pack size declines, pup mortality rate increases, increasing chance of extinction. 

Adaptations:  Marbled coloring helps to create a visual experience of inclusion and merging in clustering of dogs during ‘meet’ ceremonies, where isolation is avoided.  Meet ceremony may be used to weed out unfit dogs and occasionally wounded dogs are killed by pack members.  By provisioning young of just 1 breeding pair, pack better ensures survival of offspring.

Head/Body Length:    2 ½ - 3 ½ ft.                   Tail Length:       1 - 1 ¼ ft.       
Shoulder Height:             2 - 3 ½ ft.                    Weight:            40 - 80  lbs.

Samburu and Wild Dogs

The Samburu have always respected wild dogs as their brothers.  They tell a story about a group of boys on the day of their circumcision and how they defied the rule not to go outside after dark.  As punishment, they were turned into wild dogs, which the Samburu call suiun.  Ever since, the Samburu look at wild dogs as their lost little brothers who got into mischief.  Like their little brothers, the wild dogs sometimes cause them trouble, but they wouldn’t want to lose them.

Wild Dog Fields (Forever)

I finally saw my first wild dogs on Sosian!  Driving home in the dark, the first thing I noticed was a lot of bright white, seemingly detached objects moving rapidly in the dark, like giant white fireflies.  It took only a few seconds to realize that they belonged to a pack of wild dogs that was in a state of high excitement, what wildlife field guides would call a 'greeting' or 'meet' ceremony.  There in the bright headlights were about 18 dogs in a wriggling mass of blotchy black, white and tan coats, and white-tipped tails high in the air, mobbing each other, playing, begging, and twittering away.  Seven or eight small pups ran around in the center of action, one carrying a piece of dikdik skin that the others tried to steal away.  Finally the alpha male, after several unsuccessful attempts punctuated by loud barking alarm calls, convinced the pack that it was time to move away from this strange metal object in the road.  Even after they disappeared into the thick bush, we could still hear their excited twittering. 

The area we saw them in is a big open field next to the Central Road on the way to our house.  The dogs have been spotted here several times already, and the area is heavily used by wildlife due to a wide elephant path that descends from a big plateau on the escarpment above.  I’ve named this area ‘Wild Dog Fields (Forever)’ and it is now on the official map of Sosian.

The next day, the same pack of wild dogs showed up below our house and killed an impala right under our noses without us knowing.  They had chased a female impala to less than 20 feet below the house, where they killed and ate her.  Normally we go out in the morning and scan the area with binoculars but it was too cold and windy that morning, so we stayed inside.  Some workers heading down to fix the water pipe from the spring surprised the dogs just as they had finished eating the impala and all that was left were scraps of reddish tawny fur lying about.  It was a humbling and embarrassing experience to say the least and a reminder that you can't ever be complacent around here. 

 Wild Dogs Back on Sosian

The wild dogs have returned, much to my joy.  It has been almost a year since we last saw them on Sosian.  One morning in the middle of October, Mike looked out the window and saw a wild dog standing on the dam wall.  Suddenly four more dogs appeared, trotting across the dry dam.  A big male warthog appeared on the dam wall and one of the smaller of the dogs, perhaps a female, decided to have a go at him.  He would have none of that and charged her before trotting off in a huff.  About an hour later, they returned to our spring and two more dogs had joined them.  We watched as they played like pups, chasing and jumping on top of each other in the grass.  Then they were off.  Wild dogs have incredible energy and just never seem to stop.  No wonder they are so thin and lean.

That evening our askari Leringanto saw the same group chase impala by the turnoff to our house.  Fortunately for the impala but unfortunately for the dogs, they didn't catch any.  The next morning Mike woke me at 6:30, saying the wild dogs were back.  As I ran out on the verandah and looked down toward the spring and water pump through my binoculars, I saw a steady stream of dogs appearing from the bush.  I counted 17 of them, including about eight or nine half-grown pups.  One of them was limping with an injured front paw.  I didn't see any snare attached, so hopefully it was a minor injury.  They drank from the spring and then headed toward our house, alertly watching something.  I peered over the rock ledge and there was a big dog, possibly the alpha male, signaling them to follow.  Now we had 18 dogs in the pack.  We jumped in the Land Rover to try to follow them and get some photos but they had disappeared.  An hour later, they were all back at the spring, drinking, lying in the mud and playing.  Then they were off again. 

Wild Dogs vs.  Hyenas

Our neighbors on Kisima Ranch to the east of us saw the same pack of dogs several days after they were at our house and counted 21, including 11 pups.  They had the most incredible viewing when the adults in the pack attacked four hyenas they encountered.  The pups ran off while the adults circled two adult hyenas.  Every time the hyenas faced the attacking dogs to defend themselves, other dogs would dart in from behind and bite their rumps.  Only when the two juvenile hyenas reappeared did the dogs back off, probably realizing that four hyenas were far more dangerous than two.  I'm sure that having pups made the wild dogs much more aggressive toward the hyenas that were a potential threat to the younger dogs but this is a very feisty pack of dogs.  No doubt the hyenas had very sore bums for a day or two!