African Painted Dogs

Once distributed widely across most of Africa, African painted dogs have been persecuted by man to the edge of extinction. The best estimate is that fewer than 5,500 African painted dogs now exist in the wild. The scientific name is lycaon pictus which means painted wolf-like animal. Also know as, cape hunting dogs, spotted dogs, and painted wolves. +I am going to discuss the description and the actions of the African painted dog. *The African painted dog has a unique description, a remarkable biology, and a devastating extinction problem.

The African painted dog has a unique description. It is one of the world’s most social and distinctive mammals. The dogs have long fur on their neck and have a short coat on their body. Their fur is yellow, grey, black and white in color. Also, each dog has a unique coloration pattern. This is used by researchers to identify each individual. The African painted dogs have long legs, a muscular body, bushy tail and big round ears. The males are also slightly bigger than the females. The average size of the African painted dog is about 33 to 55 inches in length and weights 40 to 75 pounds. The African painted dog is different then a domestic dog in that it only has four toes on their front paws.

The biology of the African painted dog is remarkable. African painted dogs are highly sociable animals. They live in packs that can contain up to thirty dogs or more. In these packs, only the dominate male and female will breed. The litter of one female is about ten pups on average, but can go up to as many as sixteen. “Pups are all black and white at birth but later develop tan spots.” ("African Painted Dog") The other members of the pack will help nurture and raise the pups until they are adults. Adults regurgitate their food for the pups to eat until their hunting skills develop by about twelve months. “Juveniles are fully independent at 16 to 24 months but remain with their pack, females are more likely to disperse, usually leaving in a sub-group with their sisters