FIELD GUIDE: MAMMALS

WILD DOG

 Scientific name: Lycaon pictus

 Family: Canidae

Phylum: Chordata

 Size: 76cm - 102cm

Biteforce: 317 PSI

Order: Carnivora

 Vulnerability: Endangered

The African wild dog (Lycaon pictus) also called the African painted dog and the African hunting dog, is a wild canine which is a native species to sub-Saharan Africa. It is the largest wild canine in Africa, and the only extant member of the genus Lycaon, which is distinguished from Canis by dentition highly specialised for a hypercarnivorous diet, and by a lack of dewclaws.The African wild dog has been listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List since 1990

A highly social animal, living in packs with separate dominance hierarchies for males and females. Uniquely among social carnivores, the females rather than the males disperse from the natal pack once sexually mature.

The species is a specialised diurnal hunter of antelopes, which it catches by chasing them to exhaustion. Its natural enemies are lions and hyenas: the former will kill the dogs where possible, whilst hyenas are frequent kleptoparasites.