Dogs are fascinating animals, being intelligent, communicative and social.



Perhaps it's the Domestic Dog's innate pack instinct that makes them such valued family pets. Remember, the Domestic Dog is merely a subspecies of the Grey Wolf! A wild dog species list with pictures and information containing all of the different types of wild dogs in the world.



With the dizzying variety of domesticated dog breeds created by man, it can be easy to forget that there are some stunning species of dogs that man had nothing to do with. Everybody knows coyotes and dingoes, but have you ever heard of a Culpeo? Some of these wild canines are so rare, you will probably never see them in real life. But with enough luck, we may continue to still have them share our beautiful planet for years to come..



This list contains all of the currently recognised dog species. In the case of the Grey Wolf (Canis Lupus) we have included two well-known subspecies: the Dingo (Canis lupus dingo), and the Domestic Dog (Canis lupus familiaris). We felt that a list of dog species would be incomplete without them!



*** Subspecies are very closely-related animals, and are able to interbreed. They are different "types" of the same species, and are often only separated geographically. Many of the wild dog species on this list are endangered. The conservation status - where known - has been included. This information comes from the IUCN Red List.


African Golden Wolf (Canis anthus)
The African Golden Wolf is found in north and north eastern Africa, in countries such as Egypt, Algeria and Ethiopia. It is a desert specialist, able to live in areas with little water. The African Golden Wolf is a relatively small dog species, weighing between 7 and 15 kg (15 and 33 lb). Its coat varies in colour from silver-grey to light sandy-brown. It was until recently thought to be the same species as the Golden Jackal. Scientists now believe that there are sufficient differences for the animals to be considered separate species. The African Golden Wolf's conservation status has yet to be evaluated.


African Wild Dog (African Hunting Dog / African Painted Dog)
These beautiful, but dangerous, wild dogs live in scattered colonies throughout Africa. They hunt using teamwork, pursuing their prey until it tires. The African Wild Dog is easily identified due to its patterned coat, which gives rise to its alternative name, the African Painted Dog. The African Wild Dog is a relatively large animal, weighing up to 30 kg (66 lb) and with a shoulder height of .75 m (30 in). The African Wild Dog is listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List. There may be fewer than 6,600 individuals in the wild, and their population is fragmented over a wide area.


Arctic Fox (Vulpes lagopus)
This small fox is a natural survivor and has many adaptations for life in the Arctic. Its thick, insulating coat changes colour with the seasons, and is white in the winter and brown during the summer months. The adult male Arctic Fox grows to around 30 cm (11.8 in) tall at the shoulder, and weighs up to 9.4 kg (20.7 lb). Its conservation status is "Least Concern".


Bat-Eared Fox (Otocyon megalotis)
The Bat-Eared Fox is so named due to its distinctive large ears. These are used to locate termites, which form up to 80% of its diet. The two subspecies of Bat-Eared fox live in geographically separate regions. One is in southern Africa, the other in east Africa.



The short-grasslands dwelling Bat-eared Fox is native to Africa. They largely feed on termites, and use their ears to pick out food and predators The Bat-Eared Fox population is stable, and the species is rated Least Concern.


Bengal Fox (Vulpes bengalensis)
The Bengal Fox is found only in the Indian subcontinent. It prefers a short grassland habitat, and is a social animal, living in large underground dens. It is a small, pale-coloured fox, weighing between 2.3 and 4.1 kg (5 and 9 pounds). Although the population is declining due to habitat loss, the Bengal Fox is rated Least Concern by the IUCN.


Black-Backed Jackal (Canis mesomelas)
Like the Bat-Eared Fox, the Black-Backed Jackal lives in two separate areas of Africa. One subspecies is found in southern African countries, the other in eastern Africa. The Black-Backed Jackal lives in a variety of habitats, but prefers areas with sparse vegetation, including savannas and deserts. Both subspecies of Black-Backed Jackal have thick black, or dark coloured, fur on their backs. Their sides and undersides are a paler, sandy-orange colour. They have long ears and pointed snouts. The Black-Backed Jackal's conservation status is Least Concern.


Blanford's Fox (Vulpes cana)
Blanford's Fox is found in desert and mountainous regions of the Middle East and Central Asia. This small fox weighs between 0.9 and 1.5 kg (2 and 3.3 lb). It is an excellent climber, and uses its long tail for balance. Its large ears help it to stay cool in the desert heat. It has two distinctive dark stripes on its face. Blandford's Fox is listed as Least Concern.


Bush Dog (Speothos venaticus)
The Bush Dog is a rare South American Canid. "Canid" means member of the dog family, Canidae. It usually lives near water in rainforests and savannas. The Bush Dog has a long, squat body with short legs and a short tail, giving it a rather badger-like appearance.



Due to habitat loss, population fragmentation and loss of prey species, the Bush Dog is rated Near Threatened, and is likely to become Vulnerable in the future. They have webbed toes that allow them to swim efficiently, and their primary habitats are lowland forests and wet savannas.


Cape Fox (Vulpes chama)
This African fox species - the only "True" fox species found in Africa, has a grey-brown coat, and a long, bushy tail with a black tip. Average weight for an adult male is 2.8 kg (6.2 lb), females are slightly smaller. The Cape Fox lives in grasslands and semi-desert scrub. It is found in Zimbabwe, Botswana, and South Africa. It is common throughout its range and rated Least Concern by the IUCN.


Corsac Fox (Vulpes corsac)
The Corsac Fox lives in the steppes of Central Asia. It is a mid-sized fox, weighing between 1.6 and 3.2 kilograms (3.5 and 7.1 lb). The Corsac Fox has long fur, which thickens and becomes a lighter colour during the winter. Despite being hunted for its fur, the Corsac Fox is widespread and common throughout its range, and rated Least Concern by the IUCN.


Coyote / Prairie Wolf (Canis latrans)
The Coyote is common throughout North and Central America. This adaptable member of the dog family is able to live in a wide range of habitats. With a sandy, grey-black coat, the coyote looks like a small wolf. It is well-known for its nocturnal howls. The Coyote population is rising, and Coyotes are rated Least Concern.


Cozumel Fox (Undescribed Species)
This small fox is only found on Cozumel, a Mexican island. It has not been thoroughly studied, and may now be extinct.


Crab-Eating Fox (Cerdocyon thous)
Found in South America, the Crab-Eating Fox has short, dark grey fur and short legs. It weighs between 4.5 and 7.7 kg (10 and 17 lb). The Crab-Eating Fox lives in forests and savannas. It spends the day in underground dens and comes out at night to hunt. It has been kept as a pet by indigenous peoples.



These foxes get their name from their preferred food source, but crabs aren't all they eat. They are opportunistic in their eating patterns and will consume birds, eggs, insects, and more. The Crab-Eating Fox often searches for crabs and other food in floodplains, giving it its name. It does not currently have a conservation status.


Culpeo (Lycalopex culpaeus)
The Culpeo is the second-largest member of the dog family found in South America (only the Maned Wolf is larger). In-between a Red Fox and a Coyote in size, the Culpeo has grey-red or yellow fur and a bushy tail. The Culpeo lives in forests and grasslands, and is found in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile and Argentina.


Darwin's Fox (Lycalopex fulvipes)
Darwin's Fox was discovered by English naturalist Charles Darwin. This rare canid is found in just two places in Chile: Nahuelbuta National Park, and on the Island of Chiloe. It lives in forests, and is rarely seen. It is one of the smallest members of the dog family.



This critically endangered animal is found in dense forests primarily on the Chilean island of Chiloe, though there are a few estimated to inhabit the mainland.


Dhole / Asian Wild Dog (Cuon alpinus / Canis alpinus)
The Dhole is found in Central, South and Southeast Asia. It lives in a variety of habitats, including rainforest and grasslands. This large member of the dog family can weigh up to 40 kg (88 lb). Around twice the weight of a Coyote. Dholes resemble members of the Canis genus - Domestic Dogs, Grey Wolves, and have fox-like reddish fur and bushy tails. The Dhole is a social animal, living in packs of around 12, but sometimes forming larger groups of 30 to 40 animals. The Dhole shares parts of its range with large felids such as tigers and leopards. Either of these big cats will always win a 1 on 1 encounter. However, the dhole's strength is teamwork and a pack of dholes may see off and even kill an individual tiger or leopard! Dholes have become Endangered, due mainly to habitat loss.


Ethiopian Wolf / Abyssinian Wolf / Simien Fox / Simien Jackal (Canis simensis)
The Ethiopian Wolf is endemic to Ethiopia, and lives in the mountainous Ethiopian Highland region of the African country. It is the only wolf species found in Africa. The Ethiopian Wolf is a medium-sized Canid, weighing up to 20 kg (44 lb). It is a handsome animal, with a red-brown coat and white chest and underparts. The Ethiopian Wolf is the world's most threatened Canid. It is thought that there are fewer than 500 left in the wild. This is mainly due to habitat loss. When a species' population is so small, it becomes very vulnerable to disease, and recent disease outbreaks have further reduced Ethiopian Wolf numbers.


Fennec Fox (Vulpes zerda)
The Fennec Fox is the smallest member of the dog family, weighing only 1 to 1.5 kg (2.2 to 3.3 lb). It has pale, orange-white fur and oversized ears, which look huge compared to its small body. The Fennec Fox's large ears help it to stay cool by dissipating heat. They are also useful for hunting, allowing the fox to hear animals moving underground. The Fennec Fox is found in hot, arid parts of North Africa, and is a desert specialist. Its pale coat reflects heat, and thick fur on the bottom of its paws allow it to walk over hot sand. It is listed as Least Concern in the IUCN Red List.


Golden Jackal (Canis aureus)
The Golden Jackal looks like a small wolf, and is more closely related to the grey wolf than it is to the other two jackal species. The Golden Jackal's range covers parts of Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. The adaptable Golden Jackal can live in dry habitats and is capable of hunting and scavenging for food. Its population is increasing and its conservation status is Least Concern.


Grey Fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus)
The Gray Fox is an American canid whose range covers southern Canada to northern South America. It is found throughout the USA, and is the most common fox in the Pacific states. Its coat is a mixture of greys, black and pale oranges. Its tail has a black tip. The Gray Fox is widespread, and lives in a variety of habitats including forests, scrubland and rocky environments. The Gray Fox is one of the few canids that can climb trees, and it is the only American canid able to do so. The Gray Fox's conservation status is Least Concern.


Grey Wolf Subspecies:
Dingo (Canis lupus dingo)
The Dingo is an Australian wild dog that lives in grasslands and deserts. It is the largest predator in Australia, and hunts a wide range of small animals, including rabbits, kangaroos, rats and birds. The Dingo resembles a large Domestic Dog, and has a sandy-gold coat with paler undersides. The Dingo is listed as Vulnerable, chiefly because inbreeding with wild dogs has caused the number of "pure" dingoes to decline.


Grey Wolf Subspecies:
Domestic Dog (Canis lupus familiaris)
The Domestic Dog is a subspecies of the Grey Wolf. Dogs have been domesticated for at least 10,000 years, and perhaps for as long as 40,000 years. Domestic Dogs perform a variety of roles, including protection, hunting, and assisting the disabled. Dogs have been selectively bred to specific tasks, and there is a huge amount of variation between different dog breeds. Dogs also provide companionship, and are popular family pets. Domestic dogs can interbreed with Grey Wolves, but pure Grey Wolves are generally bigger, with bigger paws, larger brains, erect ears and tails that point downwards.


Grey Wolf (Gray Wolf / Timber Wolf)
(Canis lupus)
The Grey Wolf is the biggest member of the dog family, and is found in North America, Europe, and Asia. Its range was once much larger, but the spread of humans has confined the wolf to wilderness and sparsely-populated areas. The Grey Wolf's size and appearance varies throughout their range. Larger wolves can weigh up to 54 kg (120 lbs), and larger specimens have been found. Male wolves are larger and more powerful than females. Wolves are territorial, and hunt singly, in pairs, or in a pack. Even lone wolves are able to capture large prey. Wolves have a varied diet, which includes large animals such as Moose and Muskoxen, and smaller mammals and birds. Much myth and legend surrounds the Grey Wolf, and the wolf's howl is one of nature's most evocative sounds.


Hoary Fox (Lycalopex vetulus)
The Hoary Fox is endemic to Brazil, and is mainly found in grasslands. It is a small Canid, with a grey, black and brown-red coat.



The Hoary Fox of Brazil is unique in that it's diet is based on small invertebrates such as insects. They are nocturnal.


Island Fox (Urocyon littoralis)
The Island Fox is found on six of the Channel Islands of California. After severe population declines in the 1990's, the Island Fox became Critically Endangered. Several conservation programmes were put into place, and the Island Fox population is now increasing. The Island Fox is currently listed as Near Threatened.



This fox is native to the Channel Islands of California. It is nocturnal and largely easy to tame due to its generally docile nature. A combination of human activity and predation by Golden Eagles has led to their status as near threatened.


Kit Fox (Vulpes macrotis)
The Kit Fox is a small canid found in the USA and Mexico. It lives in arid and desert habitats, and its population is in decline due to habitat loss. Conservation programmes are now in place. Like other desert foxes, the Kit Fox has large ears that provide a means of losing heat, as well as giving it exceptional hearing.


Maned Wolf (Chrysocyon brachyurus)
The Maned Wolf is the largest member of the dog family in South America. Its average weight is 23 kg (51 lb), and its average height is 90 cm (35 in) at the shoulders. It has a reddish-brown coat, and a mane along its back. Despite its name, it is not closely related to the Grey Wolf.



These long-legged creatures are neither wolf nor fox - they are the only known member of the Chrysocyon genus. They live in grassy and wooded areas of South America and eat fruits, vegetables, rodents and birds.


Pale Fox (Vulpes pallida)
Little is known about this small canid that lives in the Sahel region of Africa. It has a pale, sandy coat and big ears, and is nocturnal. It is widespread, and rated Least Concern by the IUCN.


Pampas Fox (Lycalopex gymnocercus)
As its name suggests, the Pampas Fox is found in the South American pampas. These vast lowland grasslands are located in Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay. The Pampas Fox is a "zorro", or "false fox", meaning that it is not a member of the Vulpes, or "true fox", genus. It is typically fox-like in appearance, with sandy grey-white fur, erect ears and a bushy tail. It is listed as Least Concern.


Raccoon Dog (Nyctereutes procyonoides)
The Raccoon Dog, as its name suggests, resembles a raccoon, with its wide furry face and short, squat body. It is a relatively undeveloped member of the dog family. Like the Grey Fox, it is one of the few canids that climbs trees. The Raccoon Dog was originally found in East Asia, but was introduced to western Russia where it would be hunted for its fur.



The raccoon dog is indigenous to East Asia. It is named for its close physical resemblance to raccoons, but the two species are not related. They have long torsos and short legs, and are known as the only members of the canid family to hibernate. The Raccoon Dog is now found in several eastern and central European countries. Its conservation status is Least Concern.


Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes)
The Red Fox has a huge range that covers North America, Europe and much of Asia. It was introduced in Australia, where it is now considered an invasive species. The Red Fox is the largest member of the Vulpes, or "true fox" genus, and is recognisable by its red coat, white chest and underparts, and bushy tail. The Red Fox is an adaptable animal, able to live in suburban and rural areas. It is often found living alongside humans, but seldom poses any kind of threat. For many people living in suburban areas, the Red Fox is the largest of the few wild mammals that they will regularly encounter.


Red Wolf (Canis rufus)
The Red Wolf is a large canid, between a Coyote and a Grey Wolf in size and appearance. Its coat has a red-grey colour from which it gets its name. The Red Wolf is one of the most endangered members of the dog family, and is listed as Critically Endangered by the IUCN. The red Wolf was originally found in the eastern United States, but in the 1980's it was declared extinct in the wild. A captive breeding program, started in the 1970's, is responsible for the reintroduction of the Red Wolf in North Carolina. There is some argument over the Red Wolf's taxonomic status - i.e. how the species is classified. Some scientists consider the Red Wolf to be a coyote / grey wolf hybrid rather than a separate species, and others believe it to be a Grey Wolf hybrid.


Ruppell's Fox (Vulpes rueppelli)
Ruppell's Fox is a small desert fox found in North Africa and the Middle East. It has a pale sandy-coloured coast and big ears, and is similar in appearance to the smaller Fennec Fox. Its conservation status is Least Concern.


Sechura Fox (Lycalopex sechurae)
The Sechura Fox is the smallest member of the zorro, or "false fox" genus. This pale, yellow-grey fox is found in Ecuador and Peru. It is threatened by habitat loss, and is listed as Near Threatened by the IUCN.


Short-Eared Dog (Atelocynus microtis)
The Short-Eared Dog lives in the Amazon rainforest region of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and Brazil. Although it has a wide range it is seldom seen, and it is listed as Near Threatened. The Short-Eared Dog has a short, dark coat and small, rounded ears. It has slightly-webbed paws, and may have a partially aquatic lifestyle.



The Short-eared Dog is an elusive and rare breed that calls the Amazonian Basin home. It is known to have a feline-lightness in its movement, and its diet consists of fish, insects, small mammals, crabs, frogs, and reptiles. A unique feature of the species is that the females are about a third larger, on average, than the males.


Side-Striped Jackal (Canis adustus)
The Side-Striped Jackal is found in sub-Saharan Africa. It is a member of the Canis genus, along with the Grey Wolf and Domestic Dog. Its coat is grey with darker and light patches, and it has a white stripe running along its sides.


South American Gray Fox / Patagonian Fox / Chilla (Lycalopex griseus)
The South American Gray Fox is the most common member of the Lycalopex - zorro or "false fox" genus. It is found in Chile and Argentina. This small fox has been hunted for its attractive red-brown tinged coat. It is currently listed as Least Concern.


Swift Fox (Vulpes velox)
The Swift Fox lives in the prairie grasslands of the Great Plains of the United States. It is also found in Canada, where it was introduced after having been extirpated. About the size of a Domestic Cat, the Swift Fox is pale yellow and white in colour, and has large ears. It is closely related to the Kit Fox. The Swift Fox is listed as Least Concern by the IUCN.


Tibetan Sand Fox (Vulpes ferrilata)
The Tibetan Sand Fox lives high on the Tibetan Plain and surrounding areas. It is a member of the Vulpes, or "true fox", genus, and has a typically fox-like appearance, with reddish-grey fur and a bushy tail.

African wild dogs are some of Africa's lesser known animals and certainly some of the most misunderstood. Due to their being critically endangered, with only 5,000 left in the wild, sightings are rare outside of specific areas. However, they are probably Africa's most effective predators, boasting an 80% success rate with hunts - far higher than the 30% rate of lions.


1. A fascinating Physique
Their scientific name Lycaen pictus literally means painted wolf, referencing their mottled fur with black, brown, yellow and white colourings. Every dog's coat has a unique pattern making individuals easy to spot. They have an extremely powerful bite with specialised molars for shearing meat and breaking bone and have exceptionally keen senses of sight, smell and particularly hearing. Large rounded ears lined with numerous muscles allow the dogs to swivel them like two radar dishes, picking up the minutest of sounds. Long legs, a lean build and rapid muscle recovery all assist in making this animal a formidable endurance hunter.


2. They have a Unique Social Hierarchy
The social structure of a wild dog pack is a fascinating, almost altruistic system. Like other pack animals there is a strict hierarchy, with an alpha breeding pair in charge of the group and the rest of the pack members are all subordinates. When a litter of pups is born, they take priority over even the alphas. At first pups are fed by the dogs regurgitating fresh meat after returning from a hunt, but once old enough, they are taken to the kill and given first choice over the spoils. The other dogs patiently wait on the side lines, standing guard until their turn to feed. They almost never fight amongst themselves over food due to this ranking system. When a dog becomes ill, injured or elderly restricting or even incapacitating their effectiveness as a hunter, the rest of the pack cares for and feeds them. Recently the alpha female of a pack in Botswana lost one of her forelegs during a hunt. For any other predator, this would be a death sentence. However, she remained the alpha female for a few years afterwards continuing to breed and raise pups while being looked after by the pack.


3. They are Nomads
Wild dogs are nomadic animals and can traverse 50km in a single day. As a result, their territories can range between 400 and 1500 square kilometres. They only remain in one area when denning.


4. Wild dogs are Well Coordinated
The 80% success rate in wild dog hunts can be attributed mainly to the coordinated nature of the pack. Communication is key and the dogs constantly let one another know both their location and that of the prey. Their high intelligence and teamwork allows them to adapt to changing scenarios during a hunt.


5. They are Agile Hunters
Most predators rely on stealth to hunt their prey, but wild dogs rarely require such tactics. The dogs are built for high stamina chases. A typical hunt will involve the pack spreading out in a line to cover more ground and give each member space to manoeuvre. Upon finding prey the dogs will immediately approach and test the animals' defences, probing a herd for any weak members. Once a target is selected, the pack attempts to panic and separate the herd. The pack then gives chase to the selected individual, with some dogs performing flanking movements to cut off any avenues of escape. Like an Olympic cycling team, the dog at the head of the chase will pull back as they tire and another one will take their place. Eventually, after a few kilometres, the prey begins to become exhausted. At this point the pack, with their high endurance and teamwork, easily take the animal down.



Another favorite tactic of the wild dogs is to herd their prey towards rivers, lakes and other bodies of water. Most wildlife in Africa is afraid of deep water due to the risk of crocodiles. So when an animal is chased towards water it will either be brave enough to dive in, or, the more likely outcome is that they will panic, turn back into their pursuers and be quickly dispatched. Sometimes the dogs use tactics similar to the lions, where one pack member flushes out and drives prey into the others waiting in ambush.


6. They have Few Natural Enemies
Humans are easily the largest threat to the wild dogs' survival. For a very long time they were considered pests though there was little to no evidence suggesting so. They would only go after livestock if desperate, and to this day there are no recorded incidents in Africa of wild dogs attacking humans. In the wild, lions are the dogs' main threat. When an area has a high population density of lions, it directly correlates to a low population of wild dogs. Other predators, while still a threat, generally don't cause the dogs any problems. Hyenas will attempt to steal kills from them but wouldn't hunt adult members of the pack.


7. We are the Reason They are Endangered
The reason why there are only about 5,000 African wild dogs left is mainly down to people. Farmers, believing them to be vermin, would shoot any dogs they saw, sometimes even tracking down dens and poisoning the inhabitants inside. Poachers' snares meant for other game and human civilisation encroaching on their habitats also contribute. The main causes of their population decline though are diseases such as rabies, contracted usually from domestic animals. Because of their highly social nature one rabid wild dog would quickly infect the rest of the pack, wiping them out entirely.


8. Wild Dogs have Great Relationship Values
The dominant pair is monogamous and would usually be the only ones to breed in a pack, though a beta pair does sometimes produce pups as well, which are then either killed or adopted by the alpha pair. Each litter can have between four and 12 pups. Unlike most other pack animals, male wild dogs tend to stay within their pack's territory once reaching sexual maturity, whereas the females will travel long distances to find a mate. This behaviour is a good countermeasure against inbreeding.


9. An Interesting Set of Genetics
African wild dogs used to be found across the whole continent but are now limited to countries in the south and east of Africa, the main strongholds being in the Okavango Delta and the Selous Game Reserve. East African wild dogs are slightly smaller than their counterparts in the south. There are five subspecies of wild dog in Africa. The Cape wild dog, the East African wild dog, the West African wild dog, the Chadian wild dog and the Somali wild dog, though the genetic diversity of these subdivisions is under debate. Although wild dogs do share a common ancestor with wolves from a few million years ago, they are not genetically compatible, so interbreeding with any other canid is not possible. The selective breeding applied to domesticated dogs which formed the different breeds could never work with African wild dogs. These long-legged canines have only four toes per foot, unlike other dogs, which have five toes on their forefeet.


10. They Cannot Be Domesticated !
People have attempted to tame wild dogs but never successfully. They are naturally distrusting of humans or indeed any animal outside of their own pack. When humans have domesticated dogs in the past, it was due to certain character traits prevalent in canines that could be amplified through breeding. One of these traits was a willingness to be touched by humans.



This combined with traits of curiosity and opportunism paved the way for humanity's greatest symbiotic relationship with an animal affectionately named man's best friend. Wild dogs have never displayed these traits and it's unlikely they ever will.


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The African wild dog (Lycaon pictus), also known as African hunting dog, African painted dog or painted wolf, is a canid native to Sub-Saharan Africa. It is the largest of its family in Africa, and the only extant member of the genus Lycaon, which is distinguished from Canis by its fewer toes and its dentition, which is highly specialised for a hypercarnivorous diet. It is classified as endangered by the IUCN, as it has disappeared from much of its original range. The current population has been estimated at roughly 39 subpopulations containing 6,600 adults, only 1,400 of which are fully grown. The decline of these populations is ongoing, due to habitat fragmentation, human persecution, and disease outbreaks.



They are the largest canids in Africa and have a hyena-like head with very large, bat-like ears. They are slender bodied and long legged and their tri-colored coat is short and coarse: black and white at birth, with tan patches developing during the second month. Patterns are unique to each individual. These carnivores will eat almost anything they can catch and are extremely effective hunters, with success rates averaging 70% of all prey chased being caught. They are intensively hunted and poisoned because of a largely undeserved reputation as killers of livestock. Other reasons for decline are loss of habitat and introduction of diseases such as distemper and anthrax. Each pack has a dominant breeding pair which tends to remain monogamous. Gestation is approximately ten weeks and litter sizes can vary from 2 to 20. Females give birth in grass-lined burrows and pups remain in the den for three to four weeks. Once out of the den, they become the responsibility of the whole pack and can nurse from any female. They can run incredibly fast and have been clocked at 37 miles per hour.



The African wild dog is a highly social animal, living in packs with separate dominance hierarchies for males and females. Uniquely among social carnivores, it is the females rather than the males that scatter from the natal pack once sexually mature, and the young are allowed to feed first on carcasses. The species is a specialised diurnal hunter of antelopes, which it catches by chasing them to exhaustion. Like other canids, it regurgitates food for its young, but this action is also extended to adults, to the point of being the bedrock of African wild dog social life. It has few natural predators, though lions are a major source of mortality, and spotted hyenas are frequent kleptoparasites. Although not as prominent in African folklore or culture as other African carnivores, it has been respected in several hunter-gatherer societies, particularly those of the predynastic Egyptians and the San people.



The wild dog is one of the world's most endangered mammals. The largest populations remain in southern Africa and the southern part of East Africa - especially Tanzania and northern Mozambique. Wild dogs are social and gather in packs of around ten individuals, but some packs number more than 40. They are opportunistic predators that hunt medium-sized ruminants, such as gazelles. In a sprint, African wild dogs can reach speeds of more than 44 miles per hour. African wild dogs live in widely distributed, fragmented populations throughout the grasslands, savannas and open woodlands of Africa. Versatile carnivores, African wild dogs feed on animals up to twice their size, and will sometimes take on larger prey, like wildebeests, that are sick or old. There is an intricate social structure within African wild dog packs. Wild dogs take care of one another, and food is shared with individuals that did not participate in the hunt. Currently, these predators face increasing threats posed by habitat loss and diseases from non-native species.

Swahili Name: - Mbwa Mwitu

Scientific Name: - Lycaon pictus

Family: - Canidae, the dog family.

Life Span: - 10 to 12 years

Gestation: - 21/2 months

Places - Coastal East Africa.

Habitats - Forest Habitat, Grasslands, Deserts.

Trophic Level: - Carnivorous

Conservation status: - Endangered (Population decreasing)

Population - 6,600

Scientific Name - Lycaon Pictus

Height - 30 inches

Weight - 40-70 pounds

Length - 30-56 inches



One of the coolest African wild dog facts is that they are the most efficient hunters of any large predator, and succeed at a rate of over 80%. The African wild dog, also known as the Cape hunting dog, and African painted dog, is a large, intelligent, canine with a complex social life similar to a wolf. On the hot plains and grasslands of Africa, wild dogs live in tight-knit packs of 20 to 40 animals, the members of which remain so for their entire lives, Often confused with hyenas and having a bit of a reputation, African wild dogs regularly appear on peoples least-liked animals list. This page however, is unashamedly partial and will attempt to gain favor upon these fabulous fellows whose intense social drives echo back to the first four paws to ever recline beside us in dark caves of centuries past.



Wild dogs are achingly social, playful, and full of mischief and raw energy. They are constantly on the move, rarely staying in one location for more than a day or two, and this need for roaming space has contributed to their critical status in the wild. There are no preserves large enough to comfortably contain a pack of African wild dogs, and when they stray out onto farmlands and roadways, they fall prey to car bumpers and farmers bullets. The African wild dog is the second largest canine in the world, with the northern grey wolf being much heavier, but not neccessarily taller.



These dogs make lots of eerie noises and their habits of grinning and bowing to one another to show submission and friendship is perceived as skulking, and kind of creepy to many observers. The most unfortunate habit wild dogs have is their hunting style, or rather their killing style. As opposed to using a choke hold or a kill bite like most predators, African wild dogs will as a group grab a piece of their victim and basically tear it apart. This is an absolutely horrific sight, but actually may be a shorter death for the hapless victim.


African Wild Dog Reproduction
Within the pack generally only the dominant male and female, called the Alpha pair, will reproduce. After a six week pregnancy the Alpha female will find a safe place, often an abandoned aardvark den, where she may deliver up to 20 puppies in a single litter - the most in the canine kingdom! More commonly about 10 puppies are born. The entire pack helps in the rearing of this one litter. In the world of wild dogs it is the submissive animal who can most fervently beg that tends to eat first. Food is distributed to the youngest pack members and sometimes the Alpha pair are actually be the last dogs to eat. The pack will settle down for several weeks while the pups are growing, going out to hunt twice a day and bringing food back in thier bellies which they will regurgitate for the mother and pups to eat. At some point, however, in a strange twist, the mother will join in the hunts - being the Alpha female with lots of experience and several designated "babysitters, usually males, will stay behind. Because the entire pack contributes to the raising of one large litter of puppies a year, African wild dog puppies catch on quick, and may be seen out hunting with the pack by the time they are 6 months old.


African Wild Dog Leader
The African wild dogs intensely close pack structure is its greatest strength, making the pack a force to be reckoned with. Wild dogs are the most efficient hunters in Africa. They are successful 80% of the time in bringing down antelope, pig, and massive prey such as zebra and wildebeast that may easily be 10 times the size of an individual dog. After the hunt, the meal is freely distributed to pups, the nursing mom, and the sick, old or injured. Although they make a tremendous amount of noise and may scream and squabble, African wild dogs are rarely aggressive with each other. In fact, it is often a race to submission rather than dominance, with each dog giving the other a wide-lipped grin, bowing their heads low and "ha-ha" or "huffing" in reverance.



The wild dog pack is extremely tight-knit and works as a big, well-oiled machine because of this harmony. They build up each others confidence with group "rallies" where they trot about shoulder to shoulder, tails held high, jostling and mouthing each other, definitely similar to wolves, but also to football players before the big game. With the right numbers on their side, they will take on some of the largest land predators in the world, including hyenas and African lions, surrounding and tormenting their foe with a circle of grimacing determination. Wild dogs don't generally kill these big adversaries, although there are accounts of them doing so. Usually though, the plan is just to gain whatever the larger animal had in its possesion, or drive it from their territory.


Girl Power
Female African wild dogs are often larger than males, and many male/female roles in the pack structure are reversed. Although the pack most often hunts together, when the Alpha female has a young litter, it is usually a small group of adult males that will remain back at the den with her, tending to the many pups, while a hunting party of swift and powerful females set out first thing in the morning, and then again in late afternoon to procure the two meals a day the pack enjoys. But in one of the most unique role reversals, small groups of young females wean away from the pack to form a new pack of their own, or join a pack whose females have also left, while the majority of young males stay with the pack their entire lives, dutifully tending to the needs of another males puppies. Amazing!


Cricket? Owl? Dolphin? No!
Just an African Wild Dog!
The African wild dog is an incredibly vocal animal emitting squeaks, chirps and hoots reminiscent of many common birds, but they make very few of the sounds created by the more familiar dog species we may have overheard. They really do not bark at all, and instead of howling in the night, a separated wild dog looking for the pack makes a "hoo" noise which sounds almost exactly like an owl! While hunting and feeding, the pack chirps and squeals like a flock of small birds, or a noisy pod of dolphins! They also make many cackling noises similiar to hyenas, although there is no relation.


Proximity = Play = Personality
Almost all animals are driven to play as youngsters, practicing fight or flight techniques that will make them successful adults. Even without siblings or friends to experiment with, youngsters who grow up alone, like certain antelope, bear or cat species, will entertain themselves all day long with imaginative play. As most animals mature, however, play is replaced by the actual activities they once practiced and, especially with animals whose destiny after leaving their mothers side is to live a solitary life, with only occasional interaction for breeding purposes, the urge to play may simply fade away. But many canine species maintain high levels of play and joyful interaction with no real purpose all through their adult lives leading to mature animals that are full of curiosity and richness of character.


A little bit more
about African Wild Dogs...
Wild dogs are known by many different names including painted dog, painted wolf, cape hunting dog, African hunting dog, singing dog and ornate wolf. They are the most efficient hunters of any large predator with an 80% success rate. Wild dogs don't use a kill bite when hunting, the pack will actually begin to eat their prey alive, which may be a big reason for their unpopularity, but is often actually a quicker ending. The African Wild Dog is the second largest dog species after the grey wolf.


A Diet...
In East Africa, its most common prey is Thomson's gazelle, while in Central and Southern Africa it targets impala, reedbuck, kob, lechwe, and springbok.Its diet is not restricted to these animals though, as it will also hunt wildebeest, warthog, oribi, duiker, waterbuck, Grant's gazelle, zebra, bushbuck, ostrich, African buffalo, especially calves, and smaller prey like dik-dik, hares, spring hares and cane rats. Certain packs in the Serengeti specialized in hunting zebras in preference to other prey. One pack was recorded to occasionally prey on bat-eared foxes, rolling on the carcasses before eating them. African wild dogs rarely scavenge, but have on occasion been observed to appropriate carcasses from spotted hyenas, leopards, cheetahs, and lions, as well as animals caught in snares. Lions dominate African wild dogs, and are a major source of mortality for both adults and pups. Population densities of African wild dogs are low in areas where lions are more abundant. One pack reintroduced into Etosha National Park was destroyed by lions.



A population crash in lions in the Ngorongoro Crater during the 1960s resulted in an increase in African wild dog sightings, only for their numbers to decline once the lions recovered. However, there are a few reported cases of old and wounded lions falling prey to African wild dogs. On occasion, packs of wild dogs have been observed defending pack members attacked by single lions, sometimes successfully. One pack in the Okavango in March 2016 was photographed by safari guides waging "an incredible fight" against a lioness that attacked a subadult dog at an impala kill, which forced the lioness to retreat although the subadult dog died. Naturalists John McNutt and Lesley Bogg McNutt, founders of the Botswana Predator Conservation Trust, observed a pack of 4 wild dogs furiously defend an old adult male dog from a male lion that attacked it at a kill, the dog survived and rejoined the pack.



Spotted hyenas are important kleptoparasites, and will follow packs of African wild dogs in order to appropriate their kills. They will typically inspect areas where African wild dogs have rested and eat any food remains they find. When approaching African wild dogs at a kill, solitary hyenas will approach cautiously and attempt to take off with a piece of meat unnoticed, though they may be mobbed in the attempt. When operating in groups, spotted hyenas are more successful in pirating African wild dog kills, though the latter's greater tendency to assist each other puts them at an advantage against spotted hyenas, who rarely work in unison. Cases of African wild dogs scavenging from spotted hyenas are rare. Although African wild dog packs can easily repel solitary hyenas, on the whole, the relationship between the two species is a one-sided benefit for the hyenas, with African wild dog densities being negatively correlated with high hyena populations.


Modern Predators & Cleaners
A "Painted Wolf-Like Animal" - The African wild dog is a highly intelligent and social animal. Like most predators, the African wild dog plays an important role in eliminating sick and weak animals. This helps to maintain a natural balance in nature, and in the long run, improves the prey species. African wild dogs face a number of serious threats, including habitat loss, hunting and poisoning by human, as they are considered a threat to livestock. Another danger that these dogs face is disease that spreads from domestic animals. African Wild Dogs have disappeared from much of their former range, and most of those that remain live in game preserves or national parks. Many organizations work to understand and combat the problems that these dogs are facing. These organizations also have conservation and education programs to change the negative attitudes that have existed for decades, towards these colorful painted African wild dogs. No two wild dogs have the same markings, which makes them easily identifiable as individuals.

AFRICAN WILD DOGS:
HISTORY, ORIGINS, EVOLUTION
& PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION
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The earliest possible written reference to the species comes from Oppian, who wrote of the thoa, a hybrid between the wolf and leopard, which resembles the former in shape and the latter in colour. Solinus's Collectanea rerum memorabilium from the 3rd century AD describes a multicoloured wolf-like animal with a mane native to Ethiopia.



The species was first described scientifically in 1820 by Coenraad Temminck, after having examined a specimen taken from the coast of Mozambique. He named the animal Hyaena picta, erroneously classifying it as a species of hyena. It was later recognised as a canid by Joshua Brookes in 1827, and renamed Lycaon tricolor. The root word of Lycaon is the Greek lykaios, meaning "wolf-like".



The specific epithet pictus - Latin for "painted", which derived from the original picta, was later returned to it, in conformity with the International Rules on Taxonomic Nomenclature. The English language has several names for Lycaon pictus, including painted lycaon, African wild dog, Cape hunting dog, and painted dog or painted wolf. The latter name is being promoted by some conservationists as a way of rebranding the species, as "wild dog" has several negative connotations that could be detrimental to its image. Nevertheless, the name "African wild dog" is still widely used.


AFRICAN WILD DOG
EVOLUTION
The evolution of the African wild dog was once poorly understood, due to the scarcity of fossil finds. One proposed ancestral genus was Xenocyon, which lived throughout Eurasia, from Germany to Japan, as well as in Africa from the Early Pleistocene to the early Middle Pleistocene. The species X. falconeri shared the African wild dog's absent first metacarpal (dewclaw), though its dentition was still relatively unspecialised. This connection was rejected by one author because X. falconeri's missing metacarpal was a poor indication of phylogenetic closeness to the African wild dog, and the dentition was too different to imply ancestry. A more likely ancestral candidate is the Plio-Pleistocene L. sekowei of South Africa, on the basis of skull shape and tooth morphology, which shows the same adaptations to a hypercarnivorous diet as the modern species. L. sekowei had not yet lost the first metacarpal absent in L. pictus, and was more robust than the modern species, having 10% larger teeth.



Wang and Tedford proposed that in Eurasia during the Middle Pleistocene, C. falconeri gave rise to the hypercarnivore genus Xenocyon, which then gave rise to genus Cuon (the dhole) and genus Lycaon (the African hunting dog). Just before the appearance of C. dirus, North America was invaded by genus Xenocyon that was as large as C. dirus and more hypercarnivorous. The fossil record shows them as rare and it is assumed that they could not compete with the newly derived C. dirus. The large wolf C. antonii from late Pliocene to early Pleistocene China was assessed as being a variation within C. chihliensis and the large wolf C. falconeri occurred abruptly in Europe in the Early Pleistocene, perhaps representing a westward extension of C. antonii. Fossil of Lycaon sekowei, a possible ancestor of the modern L. pictus.



Paleontologist George G. Simpson placed L. pictus in the subfamily Simocyoninae, along with Cuon alpinus and Speothos venaticus, on the basis of all three species having similarly trenchant carnassials. This grouping was disputed by Juliet Clutton-Brock, who argued that, other than dentition, there were too few similarities between the three species to warrant classifying them in a single subfamily. The species' molecular genetics indicate that, although it is far removed from the genus Canis, it is nonetheless more closely related to it than to other canid lineages. Phylogenetic studies place L. pictus and Cuon alpinus into a clade of "wolf-like canids" alongside the extant members of the Canis genus, including C. simensis, C. aureus, C. latrans, C. lupus and the more basal C. adustus and C. mesomelas.



Nevertheless, although the species is genetically diverse, these subspecific designations are not universally accepted. It was once thought that East African and Southern African L. pictus populations were genetically distinct, based on a small number of samples. More recent studies with a larger number of samples showed that there has been extensive intermixing between East African and Southern African populations in the past. Some unique nuclear and mitochondrial alleles are found in Southern African and north-eastern African populations, with a transition zone encompassing Botswana, Zimbabwe and south-eastern Tanzania between the two. The West African L. pictus population may possess a unique haplotype, thus possibly constituting a truly distinct subspecies.


PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
The African wild dog is the bulkiest and most solidly built of African canids. The African wild dog is long-legged, with massive jaws and very large, erect batlike ears. Although it resembles some domestic dogs, it differs in that it has four toes on each foot instead of five. The colorful coat of dark brown, black and yellow patches. Wild dogs have bushy tails with white tips that may serve as a flag to keep the pack in contact while hunting The species stands 60-75 cm (24-30 in) in shoulder height, and weighs 20-25 kg (44-55 lb) in East Africa and up to 30 kg (66 lb) in southern Africa. Females are generally 3-7% smaller than males.



Compared to members of the genus Canis, the African wild dog is comparatively lean and tall, with outsized ears and lacking dewclaws. The middle two toepads are usually fused. Its dentition also differs from that of Canis by the degeneration of the last lower molar, the narrowness of the canines, and proportionately large premolars, which are the largest relative to body size of any carnivore other than hyenas. The heel of the lower carnassial M1 is crested with a single blade-like cusp, which enhances the shearing capacity of the teeth and thus the speed at which prey can be consumed. This feature, termed "trenchant heel", is shared with two other canids: the Asian dhole and the South American bush dog. The skull is relatively shorter and broader than that of other canids.



The fur of the African wild dog differs significantly from that of other canids, consisting entirely of stiff bristle-hairs with no underfur. It gradually loses its fur as it ages, with older specimens being almost naked. Colour variation is extreme, and may serve in visual identification, as African wild dogs can recognise each other at distances of 50-100 metres. There is some geographic variation in coat colour, with north-east African specimens tending to be predominantly black with small white and yellow patches, while southern African ones are more brightly coloured, sporting a mix of brown, black and white coats. Much of the species' coat patterning occurs on the trunk and legs. There is little variation in facial markings, with the muzzle being black, gradually shading into brown on the cheeks and forehead. A black line extends up the forehead, turning blackish-brown on the back of the ears.




A few specimens sport a brown teardrop shaped mark below the eyes. The back of the head and neck are either brown or yellow. A white patch occasionally occurs behind the forelegs, with some specimens having completely white forelegs, chests and throats. The tail is usually white at the tip, black in the middle and brown at the base. Some specimens lack the white tip entirely, or may have black fur below the white tip. These coat patterns are asymmetrical, with the left side of the body often having different markings from that of the right. Pups that are old enough to eat solid food are given priority at a kill, even over the dominant pair. An adult dog will look for days for a lost pup or juvenile, calling out in a special vocalization and listening for a reply to bring the lost dog back to the pack. Although once considered a "pest", the African wild dog has become a symbol of pride in Zimbabwe. Thanks to efforts by local communities and NGO's, the wild population in Zimbabwe has almost doubled in recent years.


Behavior
Wild dogs live in packs of six to 20. If the pack numbers fall below six, hunting efficiency is eroded. The dogs have a peculiar rather playful ceremony that bonds them for a common purpose and initiates each hunt. They start circulating among the other pack members, vocalizing and touching until they get excited and are ready to hunt. They start the hunt in an organized, cooperative manner. When prey is targeted, some of the dogs run close to the animal, while others follow behind, taking over when the leader tired. They can run long distances, at speeds up to about 35 miles per hour. Of the large carnivores, wild dogs are the most efficient hunters - targeted prey rarely escapes. They tear the flesh until the animal falls, consuming even if it is still alive. This behavior may prejudice people against them, although in reality it may be no worse than the prolonged kills of other carnivores. Apart from its undeniable bloodiness, the remarkable aspect of the their hunting is the complete lack of aggression toward each other. Wild dogs have a social hierarchy but unlike many other social animals, there is little obvious intimidation. They have elaborate greeting rituals, accompanied by twittering and whining. Their large range of vocalizations includes a short bark of alarm, a rallying howl and a bell-like contact call that can be heard over long distances.


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DINGO - THE WILD DOG
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Technically, dingoes are not a breed of dog. They're only semi-domesticated and are just as much wolf as they are dog. So far, it's unclear if Canis lupus dingo was ever fully domesticated. Because its history is not clearly understood, the taxonomy of the dingo has not been consistent. It has been given various species names over the last several hundred years.

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Corbett notes that in 1982, the designation Canis lupus was recommended over Canis familiaris as species name due to universal usage, though Canis familiaris dingo continues to persist as the subspecies classification in some scientific literature. As of Corbett's writing in 1995, the current scientific name of dingos was Canis lupus dingo.


Geographic Range
Canus lupus dingo is common throughout Australia and in scattered groups across Southeast Asia. The primary wild populations are found in Australia and Thailand, though groups have been located in Myanmar, Southeast China, Laos, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Borneo, the Philippines and New Guinea. Biogeographic Regions: Oriental native, Australian introduced.


Habitat
Canis lupus dingo is found throughout Western and Central Australia in forests, plains and mountainous rural areas. They may also be found in the desert regions of Central Australia where cattle waterholes are available. Natal dens are made in caves, rabbit holes or hollow logs, all in close proximity to water. Most Asian populations are found near villages, where humans provide food and shelter in exchange for protection of their homes. Habitat Regions tropical terrestrial. Terrestrial Biomes forest & Other Habitat Features suburban.


Physical Description
Australian adult males of C. l. dingo are generally larger than females, weigh between 11.8 and 19.4 kg, and have an average body length of 920 mm. Females weigh between 9.6 and 16.0 kg and average 885 mm in body length. Shoulder heights range from 470 to 670 mm. Southeast Asian dingos of both sexes are smaller than dingos found in Australia, likely due to an essentially carbohydrate diet as compared to the high protein diet of Australian dingos. Dingos are typically ginger-colored with white points in Australia, but black and tan, or black and white pelage patterns of purebred individuals may be found. Southeast Asian dingos are also commonly ginger-colored, though higher numbers of pure black individuals are found in Southeast Asia than in Australian. Other Physical Features endothermic bilateral symmetry. These long-legged canines have only four toes per foot, unlike other dogs, which have five toes on their forefeet.

Range mass
9.6 to 19.4 kg
21.15 to 42.73 lb

Average length
885-924 mm


Reproduction
A single, dominant pair breeds in a dingo group. Dominant females will kill the young of other females in the pack. Dominant pairs tend to mate for life. Other pack members help in caring for the young of the dominant pair. Mating System: Monogamous, Cooperative Breeder. Dingos produce one litter of pups per year. Mating seasons in dingos varies depending on latitude and seasonal conditions. In Australia dingos mate from March to April, in southeast Asia they mate from August to September. The gestation period is 63 days, with common litter size of 1 to 10 individuals, averaging 5.4 young per litter. Males and females pair during their third year and often mate for life. Dingos and domestic dogs interbreed freely and wild populations are largely hybridized throughout their range, except in Austalian national parks and other protected areas. Key Reproductive Features: Iteroparous, Seasonal breeding, Gonochoric
gonochoristic
dioecious (sexes separate), Sexual fertilization, Viviparous.

Breeding season
Breeding season varies with region. Range number of offspring - 1 to 10. Average number of offspring - 5.4, Average gestation period - 63 days, Average weaning age - 56 days, Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female) - 22 months, Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male) - 22 months. Pups of C. l. dingo first venture from the natal den at three weeks of age. By eight weeks, the natal den is abandoned, and pups occupy various rendezvous dens until fully weaned at 8 weeks. Pups usually roam by themselves within 3 km of these dens, but are accompanied by adults on longer treks. Both male and female pack members help the mother introduce the pups to whole food - 9 to 12 weeks, usually by gorging on a kill then returning to the den to regurgitate food to the pups. The mother waters the pups by regurgitation, as well. Pups become independent at 3-4 months, but often assist in the rearing of younger pups until they reach sexual maturity around 22 months. Parental Investment: Altricial, Female parental care & post-independence association with parents, extended period of juvenile learning.

Lifespan/Longevity
Dingos live up to ten years in the wild and up to 13 years in captivity. Range lifespan Status: wild, 10 (high) years. Range lifespan captivity - 13 (high) years. Average lifespan wild: 14.8 years, Average lifespan captivity: 14.0 years.

Behavior
Dingo behavioral traits are like those of most primitive dogs. Young adults often have a solitary existence during non-mating seasons, though they may form close associations to hunt large prey. Stable packs of 3 to 12 individuals form with various levels of social interaction. There is little interaction between rival packs. Packs typically remain in the territory of their birth, travelling 10-20 km from that area per day. They defend their territory against other packs. There is typically an alpha male and female pair to which other pack members submit. Males are dominant over females. Lower ranking individuals express aggression toward each other as they fight for the various lower ranking positions. Breeding is restricted to one litter annually per pack, born to the alpha female. When lower ranking females become pregnant, her pups are killed by the dominant female. Key Behaviors: Nocturnal, Motile, Sedentary, Solitary, Territorial, Social, Dominance hierarchies. Perception Channels: Tactile & Chemical.

Food Habits & Diet
The diet of Australian dingos is comprised of 60% mammalian prey, with birds and reptiles comprising the remainder. On occasion dingos may eat kangaroos, wallabies, sheep, and calves, but the majority of their diet is composed of small animals, especially the introduced European rabbit Oryctolagus. Asian populations all live in close association with humans, so much of their diet is composed of household refuse including cooked rice, raw fruits, and minor amounts chicken, fish, or crab meat. Some individuals in Thailand have been observed hunting lizards and rats, but also lived in close proximity to villages.



Dingos are opportunistic predators and hunt small prey alone. They will hunt in pairs or family groups when pursuing large prey (kangaroos, sheep, and cattle) where they hassle the prey from several directions until they can knock it off balance and attack it. Foods commonly eaten include: rabbits, rats, possums, wallabies, kangaroos, sheep, calves - cows, birds, reptiles, carrion and human refuse. Primary Diet carnivore, eats terrestrial vertebrates. Animal Foods: birds mammals reptiles carrion. Plant Foods: seeds, grains, and nuts fruits.

Predation
Dingos are primarily killed by humans, crocodiles, and sometimes by other canid species, such as jackals and domestic dogs. Dingos are also killed by dingos from other packs. Pups may be taken by large birds of prey. They are secretive and will aggressively defend themselves as a group.

Known Predators
Humans (Homo sapiens)
Crocodiles (Crocodylus)
Dingos (Canis lupus dingo)
Domestic dogs (Canis lupus familiaris)
Golden jackals (Canis aureus)
Eagles (Accipitridae)


Ecosystem & Humanity Roles
Dingos are the primary mammalian carnivore in Australia. They compete with foxes and feral cats for small animal food sources, but have greater success with catching large prey during times of drought than do foxes and cats. For this reason, dingo populations remain high, and are thought be responsible for the loss of numerous medium-sized Australian mammals, including species of bandicoots, macropodids, and rat-kangaroos. However, some researchers suggest that dingos actually help to maintain populations of small Australian mammals. Dingos are also appreciated for their help in controlling European rabbit populations, which are pests throughout Australia. Economic Importance for Humans: Positive. Economic Importance for Humans: Negative.

Conservation Status
The Australian government protects dingos in national parks and reserves only. In many public areas, dingos are considered pests and are subject to control measures. Although the dingo is not considered threatened or endangered, pure populations in Australia and Asia are at risk of complete hybridization due to interbreeding with domestic dogs. Interbreeding often results in offspring that pose a greater threat to the sheep industry, since they breed twice as often as pure dingos and are more dangerous as pets because of innate aggressive behavior. Australian preservation societies have formed to protect, educate and breed purebred dingo lines. The general public is banned from owning dingos as pets. Fossil and archeological evidence dates dingos arriving in Australia about 3500 years ago. It is hypothesized that they were brought over with Asian seafarers as the dingo is thought to have originated in Southeast Asia.


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NEW GUINEA SINGING DOG
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History & Origins
In 1897, Charles Walter De Vis collected the first specimen from Mount Scratchley at about 2,400m elevation and described it. In 1956, Albert Speer and J.P. Sinclair obtained a pair of singing dogs in the Lavani Valley and situated in Southern Highlands Province, Papua New Guinea. The dogs were sent to Sir Edward Hallstrom who had set up a native animal study center in Nondugi, and then on to the Taronga Zoo in Sydney, Australia. In 1958, Ellis Troughton examined the two singer specimens from the Taronga Zoo in Sydney. Subsequently, the New Guinea singing dog was classified as a distinct species and was named Canis hallstromi. New Guinea Singing Dogs are widely believed to have begun developing 6,000 years ago, when land crossings between present-day Australia and New Guinea were still possible.



The New Guinea Singing Dog is a true wild dog. This does not mean that they are feral or particularly dangerous. In 2005 it was classified under Canis lupus dingo in Mammal Species of the World. The New Guinea singing dog or New Guinea Highland dog (Canis lupus dingo), is a type of dog native to the New Guinea Highlands of the island of New Guinea, which lies to the north of Australia. The New Guinea Highlands are divided politically between the nation of Papua New Guinea in the east, and the Papua Province of Indonesia in the west.



The dog is noted for its unique vocalization. Some experts have referred to it as a wild dog but others disagree. Little is known about New Guinea singing dogs in the wild and there are only two photographs of wild sightings: one taken in 1989 and published by Australian mammalogist Tim Flannery and one taken in August 2012 by wilderness adventure guide, Tom Hewett in the Star Mountains region of West Papua. In 2016, the New Guinea Highland Wild Dog Foundation announced to the media that it and the University of Papua had located and photographed a group of fifteen "highland wild dogs".



A close relative of the dingo, the singing dog earns its name from its unique vocalization method that is considered to be distinctive and melodious. It is believed that the singing dogs still in the wild do not form permanent packs and are more comfortable in pairs or on their own. The New Guinea Singing Dog, also known as Hallstrom's dog, is named for its distinctive and melodious howl, which is characterized by a sharp increase in pitch at the start and very high frequencies at the end. NGSDs are active, lively, and alert. These dogs are able to vary the pitch of their howl in combination with various yips and whines which makes it sound like they are singing.



They are constantly exploring everything in their environment, using all five senses, including taste. Their incredible structural flexibility allows them to pass their bodies through any opening wide enough to admit their head. Their hunting drive is very intense and may overwhelm any training when prey is detected. They use their acute sense of hearing in addition to sight and scent to locate prey. Although gentle and affectionate with people they know, they can be aloof with strangers. They can be aggressive toward other dogs, especially of the same sex. Its howl has an eerie yet synchronized quality, which gives the breed its name.



The howl can be spurred when the dog is disturbed or excited. One tone blends with the next, sending goose bumps up a listener's back. Opera singers have expressed a particular interest in this vocally skillful canine. This is a hardy and well-balanced dog. The Singing Dog is similar to the Dingo, although smaller than its near relative.


General
Characteristics
Male holotype, female allotype, in possession of Sir Edward Hallstrom at Taronga Zoological Park, Sydney, for eventual lodgment in the collection of the Australian Museum. Muzzle or rostral region short and narrow in contrast with the remarkable facial or bi-zygomatic width, imparting the strikingly vulpine or fox-like appearance. This comparison is sustained in the narrow body and very short bushy tail which measures little more than one third of the combined head and body length, with the width of the brush a fraction under 4 inches (10 cm).



The fleshy, softlyfurred, triangulate ears remain erect, though rounded and curved forward in conch-like fashion. Colour (Ridgway) of the head a clear tawny brown, the back a darker russet-brown owing to the admixture of blackish-brown hairs, the darker hairs enclosing a yellowish "saddlemark" somewhat more conspicuous in the female. Outer shoulders and hips clear ochraceous-tawny, tail about tawny-olive brindled above with blackish-brown, tip white, four paws whitish. Underparts a light buffy, a dark mark across the jaw separating the light chin-spot from the pale undersurface. Dimensions of Holotype: Head and body approximately 650 millimetres (26 in), tail exactly 245 millimetres (9.6 in), less brush; heel to longest toe, less nail, 145 millimetres (5.7 in).



In 2016, a study compared sequences of the entire mDNA genome and 13 DNA loci of the cell nucleus from dingoes and New Guinea singing dogs and found that there are two distinct populations of dingoes in Australia. The northwestern dingoes were estimated to have diverged 8,300 YBP somewhere in Sahul - a landmass which once included Australia, New Guinea and some surrounding islands, followed by a divergence of the New Guinea singing dog from the southeastern dingoes 7,800 YBP. The New Guinea singing dog then became a distinct but closely related lineage. New Guinea could be explained by their tropical climate and acidic soil, as there are generally few fossils found in these regions. These dates suggest that dingoes spread from Papua New Guinea to Australia over the land bridge at least twice.



There is no convincing evidence that New Guinea wild-living dogs and some, or all, pre-colonization New Guinea village dogs were distinct forms. Further, there is no definitive evidence that either high altitude wild-living dogs were formerly isolated from other New Guinea canids or that the animals that were the founding members of captive populations of New Guinea Singing Dogs were wild-living animals or the progeny of wild-living animals rather than being born and raised as members of village populations of domestic dogs.



Compared with other species in its genus, the New Guinea singing dog is described as relatively short-legged and broad-headed. These dogs have an average shoulder height of 31-46 centimetres (12-18 in) and weigh 9-14 kilograms (20-31 lb). They do not have rear dewclaws. The limbs and spine of singers are very flexible, and they can spread their legs sideways to 90(c), comparable to the Norwegian Lundehund. They can also rotate their front and hind paws more than domestic dogs, which enables them to climb trees with thick bark or branches that can be reached from the ground, however their climbing skills do not reach the same level as those of the gray fox. The eyes, which are highly reflective, are almond-shaped and are angled upwards from the inner to outer corners with dark eye rims. Eye color ranges from dark amber to dark-brown. Their eyes exhibit a bright green glow when lights are shone in at them in low light conditions.



Researchers believe there are two reasons for the bright reflective glow - not only do the pupils open wider and allow in more light than in other dog varieties, there is also a higher concentration of cells in the tapetum. These two features would allow singing dogs to see more clearly in low light. New Guinea singing dogs have erect, pointed, fur-lined ears. As with other wild dogs, the ears "perk", or lay forward, which is suspected to be an important survival features for the species. The ears can be rotated like a directional receiver to pick up faint sounds. Singer tails should be bushy, long enough to reach the hock, free of kinks, and have a white tip. Pups are born with a dark chocolate brown pelt with gold flecks and reddish tinges, which changes to light brown by the age of six weeks. Adult coloration occurs around four months of age. For adult dogs, the colors brown, black and tan have been reported, all with white points. The sides of the neck and zonal stripes behind the scapula are golden.


Behavior
All sightings in the wild were of single dogs or pairs. Some dogs are more comfortable in pairs and others in small groups, but based on singing dogs in captivity it has been inferred that wild singing dogs do not form permanent packs. Flannery's short 1988 report on dogs in the mountains of Papua New Guinea is regarded as the only available report on direct observation of wild specimens. He described them as "extraordinarily shy" and "almost preternaturally canny". During estrus, when potential partners are present, same sex singers often fight to the point of severe injury. Like other dingo types, female singers come into heat once a year rather than twice a year normally associated with domestic breeds. Males in captivity often participate in raising the pups, including the regurgitation of food.


The Conclusion
At the time of European colonization, wild dogs and most, if not all, village dogs of New Guinea comprised a single though heterogeneous gene pool eventual resolution of the phylogenetic relationships of New Guinea wild dogs will apply equally to all or most of the earliest New Guinea village-based, domesticated, dogs and there remain places in New Guinea, such as Suabi and neighbouring communities, where the local village-based population of domestic dogs continues to be dominated by individuals whose genetic inheritance can be traced to pre-colonization canid forebears.

LISTEN TO NEW GUINEA SINGING DOGS!

The New Guinea Singing Dog is a fairly long-lived breed, having an average life expectancy of 15 to 20 years. Recently, The New Guinea highland wild dog has been caught on camera for the first time in 50 years, confirming its survival after it was feared to be extinct.

CULPEO - WILD DOG
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The Culpeo (Lycalopex culpaeus), sometimes known as the zorro culpeo or Andean fox (wolf), is a South American fox species. It is the second largest native canid on the continent, after the maned wolf. In appearance, it bears many similarities to the widely recognized red fox. It has grey and reddish fur, a white chin, reddish legs, and a stripe on its back that may be barely visible.



The culpeo's diet consists largely of rodents, rabbits, birds and lizards, and to a lesser extent, plant material and carrion. The culpeo does attack sheep on occasion, and is therefore often hunted or poisoned. In some regions it has become rare, but overall the species is not threatened with extinction. The culpeo was domesticated to form the Fuegian dog, but this became extinct some time between 1880 and 1919.



The Culpeo is distributed from the Andes and hilly regions of South America, ranging down to the Pacific shoreline in the desert of northern Chile. Culpeos appear to withstand intense hunting levels and still maintain viable regional populations. When hunting pressure is reduced, populations usually can recover quickly. The species is not considered threatened.



The culpeo is a canid intermediate in size between a red fox and a coyote. The average weight of the male is 11.4 kg (25 lb), while the typically smaller females average 8.4 kg (19 lb). Overall, a weight range of 5 to 13.5 kg (11 to 30 lb) has been reported. Total length can range from 95 to 132 cm (37 to 52 in), including a tail of 32 to 44 cm (13 to 17 in) in length.



The pelt has a grizzled appearance. The neck and shoulders are often tawny to rufous in color, while the upper back is dark. The bushy tail has a black tip. Its distribution extends from Ecuador and Peru to the southern regions of Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego.



Some populations live in southern regions of Colombia. It is most common on the western slopes of the Andes, where it inhabits open country and deciduous forests. Populations of the culpeo are also found in some of the westernmost of the Falkland Islands, where they were introduced by humans.



The culpeo fox is an opportunistic predator that will take any variety of prey. This fox mainly feeds on rodents and lagomorphs, especially the introduced European rabbit and European hare, however, it occasionally feeds on domestic livestock and young guanacos. Culpeos are considered beneficial because they are significant predators of the rabbits introduced in 1915 - such introduced rabbit populations are believed to have allowed culpeos to spread from the Andean foothills across the Patagonian plain. They sometimes take young lambs up to a week old.



In limited studies, the larger culpeo appears to dominate potential competitors, including South American gray foxes, Geoffroy's cats, Pampas cats, grisons and various raptorial birds. Its range also overlaps that of the much larger puma, but the size difference ensures that the two species have limited competition. The culpeo lives in a wide variety of habitats of western South America. They are found in broadleaf Nothofagus temperate rainforest, sclerophyllous matorral, deserts, and high plateaus, like the Altiplano, up to the tree line (4800 m). The typical mating period is between August and October. After a gestation period of 55-60 days, the female gives birth usually to 2-5 pups.



The South American "foxes" are actually derived from the same evolutionary root that gave us the genus Canis and its allies, Cuon and Lycaon. The same goes for all the South American wild dogs.



The culpeo and other South American foxes are in the genus Lycalopex, which is derived from the Greek words Lycaon, which means wolf and Alopex - which means fox. They are literally "wolf foxes." They are more closely related to wolves, but they have evolved into a fox-like form.

ASIATIC INDIAN WILD DOG:
DHOLE
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Searching for its next meal, a dhole, or Asiatic wild dog, prowls India's Bandipur National Park... The dhole (Cuon alpinus) is a canid native to Central, South and Southeast Asia. Other English names for the species include Asiatic wild dog, Indian wild dog, whistling dog, red wolf - not to be confused with Canis rufus, red dog, and mountain wolf. It is genetically close to species within the genus Canis, though its skull is convex rather than concave in profile, it lacks a third lower molar, and the upper molars sport only a single cusp as opposed to 2-4. During the Pleistocene, the dhole ranged throughout Asia, Europe and North America, but became restricted to its historical range 12,000-18,000 years ago.



The dhole is a highly social animal, living in large clans without rigid dominance hierarchies and containing multiple breeding females. Such clans usually consist of 12 individuals, but groups of over 40 are known. It is a diurnal pack hunter which preferentially targets medium and large sized ungulates. In tropical forests, the dhole competes with tigers and leopards, targeting somewhat different prey species, but still with substantial dietary overlap. It is listed as Endangered by the IUCN, as populations are decreasing and estimated at fewer than 2,500 adults. Factors contributing to this decline include habitat loss, loss of prey, competition with other species, persecution due to livestock predation, and disease transfer from domestic dogs.



The etymology of dhole is unclear. The possible earliest written use of the word in English occurred in 1808 by soldier Thomas Williamson, who encountered the animal in Ramghur district. He stated that dhole was a common local name for the species. In 1827, Charles Hamilton Smith claimed that it was derived from a language spoken in "various parts of the East". Two years later, Smith connected this word with Turkish: deli "mad, crazy", and erroneously compared the Turkish word with Old Saxon: dol and Dutch: dol - also English: dull, German: toll, which are in fact from the Proto-Germanic dwalaz "foolish, stupid".Richard Lydekker wrote nearly 80 years later that the word was not used by the natives living within the species range. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary theorises that it may have come from the Kannada: TOLA ("wolf").



The species was first described in literature in 1794 by an explorer named Pesteref, who encountered dholes during his travels in far eastern Russia. He described the animal as being a regular pack hunter of Alpine ibex, and of bearing many similarities with the golden jackal. It was given the binomial name Canis alpinus in 1811 by Peter Pallas, who described its range as encompassing the upper levels of Udskoi Ostrog in Amurland, towards the eastern side and in the region of the upper Lena River, though he wrote that it also occurred around the Yenisei River, and that it occasionally crossed into China. This northern Russian range reported by this "nearly impeccable" author Pallas, during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, is "considerably north" of where this species occurs today. The British naturalist Brian Hodgson gave the dhole the binomial name Canis primaevus and proposed that it was the progenitor of the domestic dog. Hodgson later took note of the dhole's physical distinctiveness from the genus Canis and assigned it to a new genus Cuon.



The first study on the origins of the species was conducted by paleontologist Erich Thenius, who concluded that the dhole was a post-Pleistocene descendant of a golden jackal-like ancestor. The earliest known member of the genus Cuon is the Chinese Cuon majori of the Villafranchian period. It resembled Canis in its physical form more than the modern species, which has greatly reduced molars, whose cusps have developed into sharply trenchant points. By the Middle Pleistocene, C. majori had lost the last lower molar altogether. C. alpinus itself arose during the late Middle Pleistocene, by which point the transformation of the lower molar into a single cusped, slicing tooth had been completed. Late Middle Pleistocene dholes were virtually indistinguishable from their modern descendants, save for their greater size, which closely approached that of the grey wolf. The dhole became extinct in much of Europe during the late Würm period, though it may have survived up until the early Holocene in the Iberian Peninsula. and at Riparo Fredian in northern Italy. The vast Pleistocene range of this species also included numerous islands in Asia that this species no longer inhabits, such as Sri Lanka, Borneo, and possibly Palawan in the Philippines. The fossil record indicates that the species also occurred in North America, with remains being found in Beringia and Mexico.



The dhole's distinctive morphology has been a source of much confusion in determining the species' systematic position among the canidae. George Simpson placed the dhole in the subfamily Simocyoninae alongside the African wild dog and the bush dog, on account of all three species' similar dentition. Subsequent authors, including Juliet Clutton-Brock, noted greater morphological similarities to canids of the genera Canis, Dusicyon and Alopex than to either Speothos or Lycaon, with any resemblance to the latter two being due to convergent evolution. Subsequent studies on the canid genome revealed that the dhole and African wild dog are closely related to members of the genus Canis, and that both are more closely related to grey wolves, coyotes, golden wolves, golden jackals, and Ethiopian wolves than the more basal black-backed and side-striped jackals are.This closeness to Canis may have been confirmed in a menagerie in Madras where, according to zoologist Reginald Pocock, a dhole interbred with a golden jackal.



However, studies on dhole mtDNA and microsatellite genotype showed that there are no clear subspecific distinctions. Nevertheless, two major phylogeographic groupings were discovered in dholes of the Asian mainland, which likely diverged during a glaciation event. One population extends from South, Central, and North India - south of the Ganges, into Burma, and the other extends from India north of the Ganges into northeastern India, Burma, Thailand and the Malaysian Peninsula. The origin of dholes in Sumatra and Java is, as of 2005, unclear, as they show greater relatedness to dholes in India, Burma and China rather than with those in nearby Malaysia. In the absence of further data, the researchers involved in the study speculated that Javan and Sumatran dholes could have been introduced to the islands by humans.



In appearance, the dhole has been variously described as combining the physical characteristics of the grey wolf and red fox, and as being "cat-like" on account of its long backbone and slender limbs. It has a wide and massive skull with a well-developed sagittal crest, and its masseter muscles are highly developed compared to other canid species, giving the face an almost hyena-like appearance. The rostrum is shorter than that of domestic dogs and most other canids. The species has six rather than seven lower molars. The upper molars are weak, being one-third to one-half the size of those of wolves, and have only one cusp as opposed to 2-4, as is usual in canids, an adaptation thought to improve shearing ability, thus allowing it to compete more successfully with kleptoparasites. Adults may weigh over 18 kg (40 lb), with females usually weighing 4.5 kg (9.9 lb) less than males. It stands 17-22 inches (43-56 cm) at the shoulder and measures three feet (0.91 m) in body length. Like the African wild dog, its ears are rounded rather than pointed. It has 6-7 pairs of teats, sometimes eight.



The general tone of the fur is reddish, with the brightest hues occurring in winter. In the winter coat, the back is clothed in a saturated rusty-red to reddish colour with brownish highlights along the top of the head, neck and shoulders. The throat, chest, flanks, belly and the upper parts of the limbs are less brightly coloured, and are more yellowish in tone. The lower parts of the limbs are whitish, with dark brownish bands on the anterior sides of the forelimbs. The muzzle and forehead are greyish-reddish. The tail is very luxuriant and fluffy, and is mainly of a reddish-ocherous colour, with a dark brown tip. The summer coat is shorter, coarser and darker. The dorsal and lateral guard hairs in adults measure 20-30 mm in length. Dholes in the Moscow Zoo moult once a year from March to May.



In Central Asia, dholes primarily inhabit mountainous areas - in the western half of its range, they live mostly in alpine meadows and high-montane steppes high above sea level, while in the east, they mainly ranges in montane taigas, though may appear along coastlines. In India, Myanmar, Indochina, Indonesia and China, they prefer forested areas in alpine zones, and occasionally also in plains regions. The dhole might still be present in the Tunkinsky National Park in extreme southern Siberia near Lake Baikal. It possibly still exists in the Primorsky Krai province in far-eastern Russia, where it was considered a rare and endangered species in 2004, with unconfirmed reports in the Pikthsa-Tigrovy Dom protected forest area - no sighting was reported in other areas such as the Mataisky Zakaznik forest since the late 1970s.


Habitat & Appearance
Dholes have been also recently reported from the Altyn-Tagh (Altun) Mountains in the southern portion of the Xinjiang Autonomous Region close to Tibet as well. It is unknown if dholes continue to inhabit Tien Shan, though they occur in small numbers in Gansu Province, with one pack being sighted in the Qilian Mountains within that province in 2006. Camera-trap surveys in the Yanchiwan National Nature Reserve in the northern edge of this Gansu Province in 2013-2014 confirmed the continued presence of several packs and a female adult with pups in this area at altitudes of approximately 2,500 to 4,000 meters. Dhole still occurs in Tibet, and possibly also in North Korea. It once occurred in the alpine steppes extending into Kashmir to the Ladakh area, but has not been recorded in Pakistan. It occurs in most of India south of the Ganges, particularly in the Central Indian Highlands and the Western and Eastern Ghats. In north-east India, it is present in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, and West Bengal and in the Indo-Gangetic Plain's Terai region. Dhole populations in the Himalaya and north-west India are fragmented. In 2011, dhole packs were recorded by camera traps in the Chitwan National Park. Its presence was confirmed in the Kanchenjunga Conservation Area in 2011 by camera-traps. In Bhutan, dholes have recovered from a poisoning campaign during the 1970s, and became re-established in the 1990s. Today they occur in the Jigme Dorji National Park.


Occurance & Territories
Dhole still occurs in northeastern Bangladesh's forest reserves in the Sylhet area, as well the Chittagong Hill Tracts in the southeast. It is unlikely that these zones contain viable populations, considering most sightings involve small groups or solitary specimens, and they are likely decreasing in number due to the lack of prey. The presence of dholes in Myanmar was confirmed by camera trapping in 11 areas and, alongside leopards, have apparently replaced tigers as the country's top predators. Their range is highly fragmented in the Malaysian Peninsula, Sumatra, Java, Vietnam and Thailand. In 2014, camera trap videos in the montane tropical forests at 2,000 meters in the Kerinci Seblat National Park in Sumatra revealed the continued presence of this species. A camera trapping survey in the Khao Ang Rue Nai Wildlife Sanctuary in Thailand during January 2008 to February 2010 revealed at least one healthy dhole pack. In northern Laos, dholes have been studied recently (2012) in protected areas.


Social & Territorial Behaviour
Dholes are more social than grey wolves and have less of a dominance hierarchy, as seasonal scarcity of food is not a serious concern for them. In this manner, they closely resemble African wild dogs in social structure. They live in clans rather than packs, as the latter term refers to a group of animals that always hunt together. In contrast, dhole clans frequently break into small packs of 3-5 animals, particularly during the spring season, as this is the optimal number for catching fawns. Dominant dholes are hard to identify, as they do not engage in dominance displays as wolves do, though other clan members will show submissive behaviour toward them. Intragroup fighting is rarely observed. Dholes are far less territorial than wolves, with pups from one clan often joining another without trouble once they mature sexually. Clans typically number 5-12 individuals in India, though clans of 40 have been reported. In Thailand, clans rarely exceed three individuals. Unlike other canids, there is no evidence of dholes using urine to mark their territories or travel routes. When urinating, dholes, especially males, may raise one hind leg or both to result in a handstand. Handstand urination is also seen in bush dogs (Speothos venaticus). They may defecate in conspicuous places, though a territorial function is unlikely, as faeces are mostly deposited within the clan's territory rather than the periphery. Faeces are often deposited in what appear to be communal latrines. They do not scrape the earth with their feet as other canids do to mark their territories.


Reproduction & Development
In India, the mating season occurs between mid-October and January, while captive dholes in the Moscow Zoo breed mostly in February. Unlike wolf packs, dhole clans may contain more than one breeding female. More than one female dhole may den and rear their litters together in the same den. During mating, the female assumes a crouched, cat-like position. There is no copulatory tie characteristic of other canids when the male dismounts. Instead, the pair lie on their sides facing each other in a semicircular formation. The gestation period lasts 60-63 days, with litter sizes averaging 4-6 pups. Their growth rate is much faster than that of wolves, being similar in rate to that of coyotes. Pups are suckled at least 58 days. During this time, the pack feeds the mother at the den site. Dholes do not use rendezvous sites to meet their pups as wolves do, though one or more adults will stay with the pups at the den while the rest of the pack hunts. Once weaning begins, the adults of the clan will regurgitate food for the pups until they are old enough to join in hunting. They remain at the den site 70-80 days. By the age of six months, pups accompany the adults on hunts, and will assist in killing large prey such as sambar by the age of eight months. Maximum longevity in captivity is 15-16 years.


Hunting Behaviour
Before embarking on a hunt, clans go through elaborate prehunt social rituals involving nuzzling, body rubbing and homo- and heterosexual mounting. Dholes are primarily diurnal hunters, hunting in the early hours of the morning. They rarely hunt nocturnally, except on moonlit nights, indicating they greatly rely on sight when hunting. Though not as fast as jackals and foxes, they can chase their prey for many hours. During a pursuit, one or more dholes may take over chasing their prey, while the rest of the pack keeps up at a steadier pace behind, taking over once the other group tires. Most chases are short, lasting only 500 m. When chasing fleet-footed prey, they run at a pace of 30 mph. Dholes frequently drive their prey into water bodies, where the targeted animal's movements are hindered. Once large prey is caught, one dhole will grab the prey's nose, while the rest of the pack pulls the animal down by the flanks and hindquarters. They do not use a killing bite to the throat. They occasionally blind their prey by attacking the eyes. Serows are among the only ungulate species capable of effectively defending themselves against dhole attacks, due to their thick, protective coats and short, sharp horns capable of easily impaling dholes. They will tear open their prey's flanks and disembowel it, eating the heart, liver, lungs and some sections of the intestines. The stomach and rumen are usually left untouched. Prey weighing less than 50 kg is usually killed within two minutes, while large stags may take 15 minutes to die. Once prey is secured, dholes will tear off pieces of the carcass and eat in seclusion. Unlike wolf packs, in which the breeding pair monopolises food, dholes give priority to the pups when feeding at a kill, allowing them to eat first. They are generally tolerant of scavengers at their kills. Both mother and young are provided with regurgitated food by other pack members.


Enemies and Competitors
In some areas, dholes are sympatric to tigers and leopards. Competition between these species is mostly avoided through differences in prey selection, although there is still substantial dietary overlap. Along with leopards, dholes typically target animals in the 30-175 kg range - mean weights of 35.3 kg for dhole and 23.4 kg for leopard, while tigers selected for prey animals heavier than 176 kg, but their mean prey weight was 65.5 kg. Also, other characteristics of the prey, such as sex, arboreality, and aggressiveness, may play a role in prey selection. For example, dholes preferentially select male chital, whereas leopards kill both sexes more evenly and tigers prefer larger prey altogether, dholes and tigers kill langurs rarely compared to leopards due to the leopards' greater arboreality, while leopards kill wild boar infrequently due to the inability of this relatively light predator to tackle aggressive prey of comparable weight.



On some occasions, dholes may attack tigers. When confronted by dholes, tigers will seek refuge in trees or stand with their backs to a tree or bush, where they may be mobbed for lengthy periods before finally attempting escape. Escaping tigers are usually killed, while tigers which stand their ground have a greater chance of survival. Tigers are dangerous opponents for dholes, as they have sufficient strength to kill a single dhole with a paw strike. Dhole packs may steal leopard kills, while leopards may kill dholes if they encounter them singly or in pairs. Since leopards are smaller than tigers and more likely hunt dholes, dhole packs tend to react more aggressively toward them than they do towards tigers. There are numerous records of leopards being treed by dholes. Dholes sometimes drive tiger, leopards, and bears from their kills.



Dholes were once thought to be a major factor in reducing Asiatic cheetah populations, though this is doubtful, as cheetahs live in open areas as opposed to forested areas favoured by dholes. Dhole packs occasionally attack Asiatic black bears and sloth bears. When attacking bears, dholes will attempt to prevent them from seeking refuge in caves, and lacerate their hindquarters. Though usually antagonistic toward wolves, they may hunt and feed alongside one another. There is at least one record of a lone wolf associating with a pair of dholes in Debrigarh Wildlife Sanctuary. They infrequently associate in mixed groups with golden jackals. Domestic dogs may kill dholes, though they will feed alongside them on occasion.

HYENA WILD SPECIES
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No dogs here! Hyenas are not members of the dog or cat families. Instead, they are so unique that they have a family all their own, Hyaenidae. There are four members of the Hyaenidae family: the striped hyena, the "giggly" spotted hyena, the brown hyena, and the aardwolf - it's a hyena, not a wolf. These magnificent animals are sometimes called the scourge of the Serengeti, but they play an important role: cleanup crew!



Hyenas originated in the jungles of Miocene Eurasia 22 million years ago, when most early feliform species were still largely arboreal. The first ancestral hyenas were likely similar to the modern banded palm civet - one of the earliest hyena species described, Plioviverrops, was a lithe, civet-like animal that inhabited Eurasia 20-22 million years ago, and is identifiable as a hyaenid by the structure of the middle ear and dentition.



The lineage of Plioviverrops prospered, and gave rise to descendants with longer legs and more pointed jaws, a direction similar to that taken by canids in North America. Here are all extant species of hyenas in descending order of size:

Spotted hyena
Brown hyena
Striped hyena
Aardwolf



Hyenas or hyaenas from Greek, are any feliform carnivoran mammals of the family Hyaenidae. With only four extant species, it is the fifth-smallest biological family in the Carnivora, and one of the smallest in the class Mammalia. Despite their low diversity, hyenas are unique and vital components of most African ecosystems. Although phylogenetically they are closer to felines and viverrids, hyenas are behaviourally and morphologically similar to canines in several aspects - both hyenas and canines are non-arboreal, cursorial hunters that catch prey with their teeth rather than claws. Both eat food quickly and may store it, and their calloused feet with large, blunt, nonretractable nails are adapted for running and making sharp turns. However, the hyenas' grooming, scent marking, defecating habits, mating, and parental behaviour are consistent with the behaviour of other feliforms.



Spotted hyenas may kill as many as 95% of the animals they eat, while striped hyenas are largely scavengers. Generally, hyenas are known to drive off larger predators, like lions, from their kills, despite having a reputation in popular culture for being cowardly.Hyenas are primarily nocturnal animals, but sometimes venture from their lairs in the early-morning hours. With the exception of the highly social spotted hyena, hyenas are generally not gregarious animals, though they may live in family groups and congregate at kills. The descendants of Plioviverrops reached their peak 15 million years ago, with more than 30 species having been identified. Unlike most modern hyena species, which are specialised bone-crushers, these doglike hyenas were nimble-bodied, wolfish animals - one species among them was Ictitherium viverrinum, which was similar to a jackal. The doglike hyenas were very numerous! By 10-12 million years ago, the hyena family had split into two distinct groups: dog-like hyenas and bone-crushing hyenas. The arrival of the ancestral bone-crushing hyenas coincided with the decline of the similarly built but unrelated family Percrocutidae.



The bone-crushing hyenas survived the changes in climate and the arrival of canids, which wiped out the dog-like hyenas, though they never crossed into North America, as their niche there had already been taken by the dog subfamily Borophaginae. Hyenas first arose in Eurasia during the Miocene period from viverrid-like ancestors, and diversified into two distinct types: lightly built dog-like hyenas and robust bone-crushing hyenas. Although the dog-like hyenas thrived 15 million years ago, they became extinct after a change in climate along with the arrival of canids into Eurasia. Of the dog-like hyena lineage, only the insectivorous aardwolf survived, while the bone-crushing hyenas, including the extant spotted, brown and striped hyenas, became the undisputed top scavengers of Eurasia and Africa.


Rise of Modern Hyenas
Skeletons of a striped hyena and a spotted hyena, two species of the "bone-crushing" hyenas.

The aardwolf (Proteles cristata) can trace its lineage directly back to Plioviverrops 15 million years ago, and is the only survivor of the dog-like hyena lineage. Its success is partly attributed to its insectivorous diet, for which it faced no competition from canids crossing from North America. Its unrivaled ability to digest the terpene excretions from soldier termites is likely a modification of the strong digestive system its ancestors used to digest fetid carrion. The striped hyena (Hyaena hyaena) may have evolved from H. namaquensis of Pliocene Africa. Striped hyena fossils are common in Africa, with records going back as far as the Middle Pleistocene and even to the Villafranchian.



As fossil striped hyenas are absent from the Mediterranean region, it is likely that the species is a relatively late invader to Eurasia, having likely spread outside Africa only after the extinction of spotted hyenas in Asia at the end of the Ice Age. The striped hyena occurred for some time in Europe during the Pleistocene, having been particularly widespread in France and Germany. It also occurred in Montmaurin, Hollabrunn in Austria, the Furninha Cave in Portugal and the Genista Caves in Gibraltar. The European form was similar in appearance to modern populations, but was larger, being comparable in size to the brown hyena (Hyaena brunnea).



The spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta) diverged from the striped and brown hyena 10 million years ago. Its direct ancestor was the Indian Crocuta sivalensis, which lived during the Villafranchian. Ancestral spotted hyenas probably developed social behaviours in response to increased pressure from rivals on carcasses, thus forcing them to operate in teams. Spotted hyenas evolved sharp carnassials behind their crushing premolars, therefore they did not need to wait for their prey to die, as is the case for brown and striped hyenas, and thus became pack hunters as well as scavengers. They began forming increasingly larger territories, necessitated by the fact that their prey was often migratory, and long chases in a small territory would have caused them to encroach into another clan's turf. Spotted hyenas spread from their original homeland during the Middle Pleistocene, and quickly colonised a very wide area from Europe, to southern Africa and China. With the decline of grasslands 12,500 years ago, Europe experienced a massive loss of lowland habitats favoured by spotted hyenas, and a corresponding increase in mixed woodlands.



Spotted hyenas, under these circumstances, would have been outcompeted by wolves and humans, who were as much at home in forests as in open lands and in highlands as in lowlands. Spotted hyena populations began to shrink after roughly 20,000 years ago, completely disappearing from Western Europe between 11 and 14 thousand years ago, and earlier in some areas.

JACKALS
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The English word "jackal" derives from Persian Jackals are medium-sized omnivorous mammals of the genus Canis, which also includes wolves and the domestic dog. The jackal is a medium sized member of the dog family, originally found in Africa, Asia and southeast Europe. There are four main species of jackal with these jackal species being the golden jackal, the side-striped jackal, the black-backed jackal and the Ethiopian wolf jackal. The golden jackal is the most northernly species of jackal and can be found as far east as Burma in Southeast Asia. The jackal is a nocturnal mammal that can easily maintain speeds of 16km an hour for long periods of time. Although the jackal belongs to a jackal pack, jackals often prefer to hunt alone or with only one other jackal.



Jackals are generally found in packs of roughly between 10 and 30 jackal individuals. Jackals use their large group numbers to their advantage and work together in a similar way to a wolf pack to both occasionally hunt for food but more so that the jackals can protect one another. While the word "jackal" has historically been used for many small canids, in modern use it most commonly refers to three species: the closely related black-backed jackal and side-striped jackal of sub-Saharan Africa, and the golden jackal of south-central Eurasia, which is more closely related to other members of the genus Canis.



The three jackal species differ mainly in color and choice of habitat. The sandy-colored golden jackal prefers open, grassy plains, while the side-striped jackal lives along waterways with dense undergrowth. This jackal is drabber in color, has a white tip on the tail, and had indistinct stripes along the sides of the body. The black-backed jackal is recognized by the mantle of black hair on the back that contrasts with the rust-colored body. The tail is black­-tipped, as is that of the golden jackal. The black-blacked jackal is usually the most frequently seen, as it is more diurnal than the other two species.



In Russia, golden jackals are one of the founder breeds of the Sulimov dog, a working dog owned exclusively by Aeroflot and used for bomb detection in airport security.Their most common social unit is a monogamous pair, which defends its territory from other pairs by vigorously chasing intruding rivals and marking landmarks around the territory with their urine and feces. The territory may be large enough to hold some young adults, which stay with their parents until they establish their own territories. Jackals may occasionally assemble in small packs, for example, to scavenge a carcass, but they normally hunt either alone or in pairs.



Jackals and coyotes, sometimes called the "American jackal" - are opportunistic omnivores, predators of small- to medium-sized animals and proficient scavengers. Their long legs and curved canine teeth are adapted for hunting small mammals, birds, and reptiles, and their large feet and fused leg bones give them a physique well-suited for long-distance running, capable of maintaining speeds of 16 km/h (9.9 mph) for extended periods of time. Jackals are crepuscular, most active at dawn and dusk.



Experiments in Germany with breeding poodles and golden jackals have produced hybrids. The results showed that, unlike wolf-dog hybrids, jackal-dog hybrids show a decrease in fertility, significant communication problems, and an increase of genetic disorders after three generations of interbreeding, much like coydogs.



Jackals are anything but picky when it comes to eating, but their habits are definitely gross. These scavengers will scarf decomposing or diseased flesh, even if it's been rotting for days. When lions and tigers are done with their kills, jackals will gladly move in for the sloppy seconds. They pass this practice along to their pups, teaching them to not let anything go to waste by putting food on the dinner table via their gag reflex. Yes, jackal parents actually feed their young with their own throw up every few hours to prevent starvation. If the pups get full, no worries - the jackals will just re-eat their regurgitation.

COYOTE
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The coyote (Canis latrans from Nahuatl Listen) is a canid native to North America. Alternative English names for the coyote include "prairie wolf", "brush wolf", "cased wolf", "little wolf" and "American jackal". Its binomial name Canis latrans translates to "barking dog", a reference to the many vocalizations they produce. It is smaller than its close relative, the gray wolf, and slightly smaller than its other close relatives, the eastern wolf and the red wolf. It fills much of the same ecological niche as the golden jackal does in Eurasia, though it is larger and more predatory.



It is listed as least concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature due to its wide distribution and abundance throughout North America, southwards through Mexico, and into Central America. The species is versatile and able to adapt to environments modified by humans. As human activity has altered the landscape, the coyote's range has expanded. In 2013, coyotes were sighted in eastern Panama, across the Panama Canal from their home range for the first time. The coyote is more closely related to the common ancestor of wolves and other canids - more "basal" than the gray wolf. As of 2005, 19 coyote subspecies are recognized.



At the time of the European colonization of the Americas, coyotes were largely confined to open plains and arid regions of the western half of the continent. In early post-Columbian historical records, distinguishing between coyotes and wolves is often difficult. One record from 1750 in Kaskaskia, Illinois, written by a local priest, noted that the "wolves" encountered there were smaller and less daring than European wolves. Another account from the early 1800s in Edwards County mentioned wolves howling at night, though these were likely coyotes The average male coyote weighs 8 to 20 kg (18 to 44 lb) and the average female 7 to 18 kg (15 to 40 lb). Their fur color is predominantly light gray and red or fulvous interspersed with black and white, though it varies somewhat with geography. It is highly flexible in social organization, living either in a family unit or in loosely knit packs of unrelated individuals. It has a varied diet consisting primarily of animal meat, including deer, rabbits, hares, rodents, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish, and invertebrates, though it may also eat fruits and vegetables on occasion.



The coyote's characteristic vocalization is a howl made by solitary individuals. Humans aside, cougars and gray wolves are the coyote's only serious enemies. Nevertheless, coyotes do sometimes mate with gray, eastern, or red wolves, producing hybrids colloquially called "coywolves". In northeastern United States and eastern Canada, a larger species of coyote, although still smaller than the three types of wolves, called the eastern coyote is the result on various historical and recent mating of the various types of wolves and coyotes. Most recent studies show that most wolves contain some level of coyote DNA.



The coyote is a prominent character in Native American folklore, mainly in the Southwestern United States and Mexico, usually depicted as a trickster that alternately assumes the form of an actual coyote or a man. As with other trickster figures, the coyote uses deception and humor to rebel against social conventions. The animal was especially respected in Mesoamerican cosmology as a symbol of military might. After the European colonization of the Americas, it was reviled in Anglo-American culture as a cowardly and untrustworthy animal. Unlike wolves - gray, eastern, or red, which have undergone an improvement of their public image, attitudes towards the coyote remain largely negative.



Coyote males average 8 to 20 kg (18 to 44 lb) in weight, while females average 7 to 18 kg (15 to 40 lb), though size varies geographically. Northern subspecies, which average 18 kg (40 lb), tend to grow larger than the southern subspecies of Mexico, which average 11.5 kg (25 lb). Body length ranges on average from 1.0 to 1.35 m (3 ft 3 in to 4 ft 5 in), and tail length 40 cm (16 in), with females being shorter in both body length and height. The largest coyote on record was a male killed near Afton, Wyoming, on November 19, 1937, which measured 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in) from nose to tail, and weighed 34 kg (75 lb). Scent glands are located at the upper side of the base of the tail and are a bluish-black color.



The color and texture of the coyote's fur varies somewhat geographically. The hair's predominant color is light gray and red or fulvous, interspersed around the body with black and white. Coyotes living at high elevations tend to have more black and gray shades than their desert-dwelling counterparts, which are more fulvous or whitish-gray. The coyote's fur consists of short, soft underfur and long, coarse guard hairs. The fur of northern subspecies is longer and denser than in southern forms, with the fur of some Mexican and Central American forms being almost hispid - bristly. Generally, adult coyotes, including coywolf hybrids, have a sable coat color, dark neonatal coat color, bushy tail with an active supracaudal gland, and a white facial mask. Albinism is extremely rare in coyotes, out of a total of 750,000 coyotes harvested by federal and cooperative hunters between March 22, 1938, and June 30, 1945, only two were albinos.



The coyote is typically smaller than the gray wolf, but has longer ears and a relatively larger braincase, as well as a thinner frame, face, and muzzle. The scent glands are smaller than the gray wolf's, but are the same color. Its fur color variation is much less varied than that of a wolf. The coyote also carries its tail downwards when running or walking, rather than horizontally as the wolf does. Coyote tracks can be distinguished from those of dogs by their more elongated, less rounded shape. Unlike dogs, the upper canines of coyotes extends past the mental foramina.



Like the golden jackal, the coyote is gregarious, but not as dependent on conspecifics as more social canid species like wolves are. This is likely because the coyote is not a specialized hunter of large prey as the latter species is. The basic social unit of a coyote pack is a family containing a reproductive female. However, unrelated coyotes may join forces for companionship, or to bring down prey too large to attack singly. Such "nonfamily" packs are only temporary, and may consist of bachelor males, nonreproductive females and subadult young. Families are formed in midwinter, when females enter estrus. Pair bonding can occur 2-3 months before actual copulation takes place.

WILD DOGS CONTROL
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Integrated Wild Dog Management
The primary goal of wild dog control is to reduce livestock losses. Wild dogs may have large home ranges that include a number of land holdings. Therefore it is important for land managers to approach wild dog problems as a group. A general aim of reducing wild dog numbers might not reduce their impact because a few individual dogs may be causing most of the damage. The aim of wild dog control should be to minimise the likelihood of wild dogs interacting with domestic livestock. No single control technique will solve a persistent wild dog predation problem. A combination of methods, such as ground or aerial baiting, trapping, shooting and fencing should be applied if the impacts of those pest animals are to be successfully managed. To aid wild dog management two planning documents have been developed. Together, these two documents outline a 6 step approach to strategic management. The approach aims to help stakeholders develop a wild dog management plan specific to their local area. The first document is the brown book, this is a guide for stakeholders in preparing a working plan to manage wild dogs. The second is the green book, a writable document that when filled in, will be the wild dog management plan for the area.


Poisoning...
Wild dog poisoning with 1080 in NSW is regulated by the Pesticide Act 1999 and can be carried out only under the conditions set down in the current 1080 Pesticide Control Order (PCO). Copies of the 1080 PCO can be obtained on line from the EPA or your Local Land Services. The use of 1080 currently requires a minimum chemical use accreditation at AQF3 or the EPA accredited course delivered by Local Land Services. Fresh meat and manufactured baits containing 1080 are available from Local Land Services. Distance restrictions from habitation, boundaries, roads and water sources, signage which must be displayed, before and for one month after the baiting program; notification of all neighbours within 1 kilometre of the baiting location are all conditions contained in the current 1080 PCO.


Ground Baiting
For ground baiting, where practical, 1080 wild dog baits should be laid in such a way that uneaten baits can be found readily and destroyed. These baits should be placed in a shallow depression and lightly covered with earth. If practical, tether the baits to a fence or equivalent and mark the burial spot. Ground baiting may be used when there is predation problem caused by wild dogs. The use of more than fifty 1080 baits on a large property or number of properties must be organised by an ACO employed by Local Land Services or equivalent organisation. The ACO, who supplies the 1080 baits, must undertake a risk assessment of the program.



A person who lays 1080 baits on a property of less than 100 ha must check the baits within five days of laying the baits and must collect any untaken baits within seven days. All untaken baits are to be disposed of by deep burial as detailed in the current 1080 PCO. Replacement baiting for longer than seven days may occur if baits continue to be taken. A person whose livestock are being injured, killed or harassed can lay up to 16 baits per 100 ha to a maximum of fifty 1080 baits, with the prior approval of an ACO . This is the only occasion where the normal 3 day public notice period is not required. The land manager must, however, notify anyone whose property boundary lies within 1km of a baiting location immediately before laying the baits. Where soil conditions allow, baits must be placed in a shallow hole and covered with earth. If practical, tether baits to a fence or fixed object to reduce the poisoning risk to non-target animals.


Bait Stations
Bait stations may be set up using meat or manufactured 1080 baits. The baits are lightly covered by raked sand or soil or placed on the surface and soil mounded on top. The soil around the bait or mound is raked to form a square about 1 m2. This allows for the identification of animals that visit the mound through tracks and scat observation. Soil from the immediate area is preferred because it avoids unusual odours that wild dogs may avoid. Wild dogs will often tear the bait mound apart to get the bait while foxes mostly make a neat hole in one side or above. Wild dogs cover enough ground to encounter bait stations from 500 to 1000 metres apart. Fewer bait stations not only equates to fewer opportunities for non-target animals to take baits, it also means fewer opportunities for baits to be removed by foxes and cached elsewhere. When reducing the number of stations it is preferable to increase the area being baited and extend the length of time for which the baits are available. Free feeding using non-poisonous baits in bait stations may be carried out to identify visitation by non-target species such as quolls. Bait stations visited by non-target species are discontinued. The remaining bait stations may then poisoned with a single 1080 poisoned bait and regularly checked. Baiting should continue until wild dogs stop taking baits. Individual bait stations may then be stopped if non-target animals are taking poison bait.


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WildDogScan is a free resource for landholders, the community and pest controllers to map sightings of wild dogs, their impacts, and control activities in their local area. Use WildDogScan to document wild dog activity, communicate the problem to other people, and identify priority areas for wild dog control.

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RARE WILD DOGS vs CATS
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14 RARE WILD DOG SPECIES
VS
15 RARE
WILD CAT SPECIES

TYPES OF WOLVES
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Wolves are proud beautiful animals, but its still easy to see in them bits of the domestic dogs we have come to love. Habitat Plays A Role - Most of the wolves worldwide are subspecies of the mighty gray wolf.



Although they all have common genes, their location has had an effect on their physical characteristics, feeding practices and basic nature. Some of the gray wolves can and are in some circles, considered a different species due to their extreme isolation from one another.


Gray Wolf (Canis lupus)
The wolf from which most others arise, the gray wolf is the largest of the canid species. They can be found in a wide variety of habitats throughout most of North America. These animals survived the ice age and are thought to be the ancestor of domestic dog. They may not, however, survive mankind.


Arctic Wolf (Canis lupus arctos)
The Arctic Wolf can be found on the islands of the Canadian Arctic and the north coast of Greenland. Because of their extreme isolation and the harsh conditions of their environment, not much is known about this subspecies of gray wolf. We do know that their coat grows almost pure white and thicker than their cousins to maximize wamth in constant cold.


Tundra Wolf (Canis lupus albus)
Also called Eurasian Arctic wolf, this animal is found throughout northern Europe and Asia, often in the arctic and boreal regions of Russia. Among the largest of the grey wolves, these animals have a fine coat of fur and are often hunted for it.


Arabian Wolf (canis lupus arabs)
The Arabian wolf was once found throughout the Arabian Peninsula, but now their territory has become scattered to bits of several different countries. This subspecies is smaller than most and tend to live and hunt in small packs of 2 or 3 animals. They are also one of the few that aren't known to howl.


Mexican Wolf (Canis lupus baileyi)
The Mexican wolf is one of the most endangered canids on the planet. Originally they were found through most of northern Mexico and parts of the Southern US, and they were declared an endangered species in 1976. What remains of the breed lives in zoos and wolf sanctuaries.


Russian Wolf (Canis lupus communis)
Found in north-central Russia and one of the 5 subspecies found within the Russian Federation. One of the largest of the grey wolves, the Russian Wolves are champion predators. Because of this, they thrive in the wild and their numbers grow quickly. These animals are also known to be more aggressive towards humans than other greys. For these two reasons, the Russian wolf is legally hunted to keep their numbers down.


Italian Wolf (Canis lupus italicus)
Also called the Apennine Wolf, the Italian wolf is found in the Apennine Mountains in Italy, some areas of Switzerland and parts of southern France. A medium sized wolf, their bloodlines are thought to be particularly pure and relatively unaffected by domesticated dogs.


Eqyptian Wolf (Canis lupus lupaster)
Once found throughout the Egypt and the Arabian Peninsula, now the Egyptian wolf is only found in northern Egypt and northeastern Libya. This subspecies is relatively small and often mistaken for the Golden Jackal. They are critically endangered due to over hunting.


Eurasian Wolf (Canis lupus lupus)
Also called Common Wolf, European Wolf, Carpathian Wolf, Steppes Wolf, Tibetan Wolf and Chinese Wolf. Originally found throughout Eurasia, now they are only seen in Central Asia. The fur of this subspecies is generally shorter, more dense and richer in color than their cousins in North America.


Eastern Wolf (Canis lupus lycaon or Canis lycaon)
Also called Eastern Timber Wolf, Eastern Canadian Wolf and Eastern Canadian Red Wolf, there has been speculation as to whether they are actually a subspecies of the grey wolf. They are thought to be a hybridization between the grey wolf and red wolves or coyotes and a distinct species in their own right (Canis lycaon). The Eastern Wolf is smaller than their cousins and often have physical characteristics similar to coyotes - who they've have been known to inter-breed with.


Great Plains Wolf (Canis lupus nubilus)
Also called Timber Wolf and Buffalo Wolf, this is the most common subspecies of grey wolf in the continental US. The range of these animals used to cover the whole of the US and southern Canada. However relentless hunting and habitat destruction has resulted in their protection as an endangered species. Luckily the Great Plains Wolf has made a great comeback and their numbers are rising again.


Northwestern Wolf (Canis lupus occidentalis)
Also called Rocky Mountain Wolf, McKenzie Valley Wolf, Canadian Wolf and Alaskan Wolf, the Northwestern Wolf is found in western Canada and in Alaska all the way down the Aleutian Chain. Over the past decade 11-20% of the Alaska's wolf population is harvested every year thanks to people like Sarah Palin. They are predators perfectly suited for their environment, so numbers remained large in spite of the hunting.


Indian Wolf (Canis lupus pallipes) or Canis indica
Also called Desert Wolf, the Indian Wolf is another of the subspecies that can be considered its own species (Canis indica). It has been suggested that their bloodlines have not been crossed with any other subspecies for 400,000 years. They can be found in eastern India and because of their habitat are smaller than their North American cousins.


Iberian Wolf (Canis lupus signatus)
These animals can be found in northern Portugal and northwestern Spain and differ physically from the more common Eurasian Wolf. The Iberian Wolf gets their latin name from the dark marks on their tail and on both front legs. Signatus means "marked".


Ethiopian Wolf (Canis simensis)
The Ethiopian wolf is one of the rarest mammals on the planet & can be found only in the tiny Afro-alpine region of the Ethiopian mountains. These animals were once thought to be jackals and their local name, ky kebero means red jackal. However recent genetic tests show that their bloodlines are more closely related to the big grey of North America. Which of course, makes their existence on the African continent a bit of a mystery.


Red Wolf Species (Canis rufus)
The red wolf is not the same species as the gray wolf, although there is speculation that they are a naturally occurring hybridization of grey wolves and coyotes. These animals used to be found most areas of the southeastern US, however now they are only found in southeastern Texas and Louisiana. The Red Wolf is smaller than the grey with longer ears and shorter fur which is displayed in various reddish colors.

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