Myth or Misunderstood? Unique facts you need to know about the African Wild Dog
Safari Lodges near the Kruger Park may be best known for their Big 5 populations, but there’s many other unique animals that call these areas home. Of these, none is perhaps as mysterious (and often misunderstood) as the critically endangered African Wild Dog. This utterly unique canid species calls the area home, and here at the Kambaku Lodges your chances of a Wild Dog encounter are high as you safari with us, yet many fascinating facts about these unique animals remain unknown to our visitors. Here’s a few scintillating titbits about these iconic mammals.
Unique teeth, unique tempers
Life in the bush may be beautiful to behold, but it’s a do-or-die race for many of the animals that call it home. The African Wild Dog is no different. Despite being full predators, each individual dog is only a small mammal, so it’s no surprise they retain a canine-like tendency to hunt in packs. This cooperative effort makes hunting even pretty large prey easy- but with many larger and more dominant predators in the bush, doesn’t mean they’ll get to keep what they kill!
Nature has thus provided them with teeth very different from your (larger) average canid. These specially adapted teeth shred the carcasses of their kill rapidly, ensuring everyone gets a chance to eat before the risk of being driven off by other animals. This especially benefits the pups, who, as soon as they are able to eat solid food, are given priority over every other pack member to eat.
Home is where the family is
As with most members of the dog family, the African Wild Dog hunts in a pack led by a dominant pair. As younger members mature, however, it is the female offspring that leave the nest to seek out a pack of their own, not the males as with other species. Males thus form the nucleus of the pack. In a very human-like twist, wild dogs lose their coats as they age, leaving the oldest pack members almost naked. This fur is very unlike typical canine hair, comprising mostly of stiff bristles with no underlying undercoat, a unique adaptation to the African climate.
The Wild Dog pack is a democracy, with pack members voting before heading out on the kill. Their method of doing so, however, may surprise you- as it’s done through sneezing! While pack elders and leaders have more say in what the pack does, it’s perfectly possible for the ‘leadership’ to be outvoted by other members. Sneeze voting is a strange idea, but hey…. If it works, it works!
The African Wild Dog is a complex (and sadly, often misunderstood) animal as iconic to the game lodges of the Timbavati as our elephants and larger animals. During your stay at the Kambaku Lodges, be sure to keep your eyes peeled for these uniquely wonderful animals- and maybe, just maybe, your ears too, in case a fit of sneezes announces the pack’s new hunt!
