Paulayjah Porch ; African Wild Dogs .

A Pack Of Wild Dogs 

The African wild dog (scientific name: Lycaon pictus) are beautiful animals with their blotches of black, white and orange or yellow colored coats and their thin and muscular white tipped tails. An adult Lycaon pictus can grow to the height of 30 inches, weight up to 40 – 70 pounds, and be the length of 30 – 56 inches.

•   Lycaon pictus are animals that stay in packs up to 15 other members.
•  They are known to be great hunters next to the cheetah. 
• Their strong and powerful jaws with sharp teeth made to bring down and hunt prey larger than they are, like the antelope, or maybe a medium sized prey such as the impala or the gazelles.

              The African wild dogs live in small parts of Africa, such as Southern Tanzania and Northern Mozambique. 

• They are usually found in tall, grassy plains near water. 

• The tall grasses help shield the wild dog when hunting so they cannot be seen by their prey. 

Usually only the two dominant pair will mate, but all members of the pack take care of the young.  Wild dogs breed in the middle of the dry season and females give birth to litters of 7 to over 20 pups.  The wild dog will sleep during the day, in the shade of a tree or near water with members of the pack lying very close together.

before in 1996

After

There were African wild dogs all over Africa, in fact in 1996 there was 9 – 12,000 remaining. Once distributed through much of sub – Sahara Africa mostly in game preserves or national parks. Today the population of the wild dogs have decreased now the population is between 3 – 5,500 confined to the few areas where human population is low.

There are many causes of population decline of the wild dog in the past sum of years. 

• One reason is accidental and targeted killing by human which is a huge part of the decline. 
• Another reason is viral diseases such as rabies and distemper, and habitat loss and competition with larger predator such as loin. 
• The biggest threat is human activities decreasing their habitat.

  

 http://www.animalinfo.org/species/carnivor/lycapict.htm#ixzz2TC9U02q2 ,

Glenn, C. R. 2006. "Earth's Endangered Creatures - African Wild Dog Facts" (Online).
Accessed 5/13/2013 at http://earthsendangered.com/profile.asp?sp=125&ID=1.

http://canids.org/species/Lycaon_pictus.htm