This behavior is uncharacteristic of other large carnivores, such as lions, which often fight over a carcass, jostling with each other for access to food. Disabled pack members share alongside more able adults, and pups receive regurgitated food from any adult in the pack. The feeding scene is a peaceful one rather than a savage frenzy. After a prey animal has been successfully brought down, each pack member is allowed to eat. Perhaps the most obvious expression of the wild dogs' altruistic tendencies is their feeding style. In fact in one instance, following the death of a pack female, male pack members were observed successfully raising her pups from the age of five weeks. This is particularly evident in pup raising, which is a pack effort with males shouldering much of the responsibility. Recent research has shown the wild dog to have behaviors verging on classic altruism. Pack members exhibit well-defined greeting behaviors, the most obvious being affectionate face licking. They live in tightly bonded social groups or packs of 2 to 30 individuals led by a dominant male and female.
Wild dogs are about the size of a German shepherd, have long legs, large ears and mottled fur of browns, black and white.
Of additional concern is inbreeding due to the formation of genetically distinct groups of dogs in the southern and eastern regions of their current range. Today, the effects of diseases (e.g., rabies, canine distemper, and parvovirus) spread by domestic dogs are having an even more devastating effect on wild dog numbers. The initial population reduction came during the early part of the century as a result of a very successful extermination campaign led by ranchers who feared the loss of livestock.
The largest populations exist in Botswana, Zimbabwe and Tanzania. It is believed that fewer than 5,000 wild dogs currently exist in the wild, and their range has declined from 33 to 15 countries. Once numbering in the hundreds of thousands, the African wild dog ( Lycaon pictus) is now one of the African continent's most endangered animals.
0 kommentar(er)
