Just feel these guys deserve their own topic...

These are probably among my favourite's. I would LOVE to see these, but because they are so rare it isn't very likely. I am going to South Africa sometime in the future once we're settled in the new house and everything and have the money, and there are populations there but to come across them I'd have to be super lucky. In Kruger National Park, on of the planned stops, they are supposed to be fairly common but still its a big area to search!

Anyway, for those that fancy a lot of reading on the African Wild Dogs, check this out:

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Oh yeah, it was just a couple days ago I saw a Jack Hannah show on them. Quite interesting bunch there but like all wild canids, they're shot and killed by farmers and such.

They get into some large packs and are good hunters.

I dont' remember much more detail about them from the show.

The pups are cute with big ears and big feet and cute little faces

Yeah, they're highly endangered, super social creating the largest packs of any canid I do believe.

Rabies and canine distemper is currently their biggest threat though, because they are so social and form such large packs, large numbers can be lost all in one go and disease spreads quickly. An entire pack can vanish after a single outbreak so the most important thing with protecting them right now is actually trying to stop these diseases getting to them.

Oh, I saw some of these at a zoo once. They made the strangest noises, if I remember correctly- it has been a while.

Yeah, they have a wide variety of noises as far as I can remember from the show. When they eat, they make noise to warn other packs that the food is already taken. Also when the hunters kill their prey, they'll make some calls to let the other members of the pack to know that dinner is served

Cool, I like their big, round ears.

They look cool, especially the ears.

Whenever you go to South Africa, I hope you get to see one!

I was going to post a topic about them but since one was posted before I joined I don't have too, I'm glad that someone decided to post a topic about them, I love African Wild Dogs. Anyways, now I'll post what I was really wanting to say....

I did a report on them a long time ago for school, I think it was about 5 years ago now. I am going to post what I can remember from the report and what I learned.

African Wild Dogs are also known as Cape Hunting Dogs. They are very few in number in the wild these days, but they are making a comeback. The reason that they are few and so far spread in Africa is because of hunting by the African Natives that don't like them messing with their herds of livestock every once in awhile.

Now typically a litter will be between the size of 5 and 11, if I am not mistaken that is, it has been a few years since the report. The larges litter ever recorded on record however was 21 or 25 if I remember correctly.

Cape Hunting Dogs live in packs, much like wolves do. Also like wolves they feed the pups with milk when they are first born but later move on to regurgitated food that has been brought back from the hunt in one of the pack member's stomach. The regurgitated food is supposed to be more healthy for them but I don't remember what exactly was said about it.

The Cape Hunting Dog is on the endangered species list but is making a comeback because of the efforts of some of the African people that realize what has happened to the numbers and want to save them from extenction like the Tazmanian Tiger that was native to Australia at one time but went extenct in the 1920's.



That is about all I can remember and I even add a little extra fact in there about the Tazmanian Tiger of Australia. I hope that you found the information interresting, I just hope that I put down the correct information because like I said, it has been a few years. Hope this was helpful.

That's a big litter, 21 or 25. I hope they come off the endagered list soon; its so stupid how most canids are on the endagered list.

I love their ears. If I go to Africa when I am eighteen I will have to try to find one. I am going on a trip when I am eighteen but I am not sure where to go. I had The Amazon Rainforest, Borneo, Africa, the Galagos, or Madagascar. It also matters if I save up enough money, each of them is a different price. Has anyone ever been to one of these places, if so how was it?

I have I actully already started praparing even though I won't be going on the trip for 2 or 3 years. I do know that the organization I am giong through provides shelter and food.