There are a number of large carnivores in Africa, but each obtains prey by different methods. Cheetahs, for instance, make a mad dash after their prey but can only keep up a high-speed chase for a short time, while wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) are endurance hunters. Much like wolves, a pack can chase prey over long distances and they are among the most successful predators out of the large African carnivores.
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The whole of natural history fascinates me, but everyone has their own favorite topics, and one of the most intriguing subject areas (to me, at least) is predator/prey interactions. Herbivores are interesting in their own right, surely, but for me it is the predators that are the most thought-…
An African wild dog (Lycaon pictus, left) compared to a spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta, right). Both photographed at the Bronx Zoo.
It never fails. Whenever I visit a zoo's African wild dog exhibit someone inevitably asks "Are those hyenas?", and when I visit spotted hyena enclosures I often…
This week I did a little search for Lycaon, one of the many suggestions given to me in the comments of the introductory post. This one came from Brian from Laelaps, who had a brief affair with World of Warcraft that his computer did not particularly like.
Lycaon is a popular name. There are 77…
African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus), photographed at the Bronx Zoo.
African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) don't have it easy. Their taste for large mammalian prey puts them in competition with lions and spotted hyenas for both prey and living space, meaning that wild dogs regularly have their kills…
I love African wild dogs! Amsterdam's Artis Zoo has a pack of them, and when I lived in Holland, I used to go visit on a regular basis. It was fascinating to see how much they act like their non-wild relatives in certain situations: for instance, when the raccoons next door were being fed, the ears of the dogs would shoot up and they would often go prop themselves up on the side of the enclosure to watch the process.
Considering the name of this blog, I'm just surprised that it took you until photo 175 to mention the wild dog and how they hunt down their prey ... I await the picture of the Teumessian Fox :)