![]() Given the large population of hyenas in Serengeti, they took nine out of 10 kills that the dogs made. But hyenas are also social animals, and researchers found that the dogs generally lost their kills to hyenas when their numbers were equal. A pack of wild dogs making a coordinated attack on one or two hyenas can easily drive them off. Several hyenas often trailed the dogs even as they set out to hunt, and hyenas quickly aggregated when the dogs killed a gazelle or wildebeest – often alerted by the unmistakable sound of vultures plummeting through the air in their own race to the fresh carcass.Īlthough they are half the size, wild dogs do not easily give up a kill to hyenas. Over the next year, I occasionally followed the dogs to watch them hunt on the shortgrass plains, where they were constantly shadowed by spotted hyenas. Understanding how is essential for their conservation. Research that my colleagues with the Zambian Carnivore Programme and I have conducted in Zambia and Tanzania suggests why smaller, subordinate species like wild dogs are better able to move through human-modified landscapes. There may be a silver lining to being the bottom dog in the competitive hierarchy. Weighing in at about 40-62 pounds (18-28 kilograms), wild dogs have been shaped by the necessity to compete with larger species like the lion and spotted hyena. ![]() Cooperation with pack mates allows them to hunt prey much larger than themselves. Wild dogs are lanky, long-distance hunters that always live in groups, usually of eight to 10 adults. For several million years, African wild dogs have evolved within a set of large carnivores that all prey on the same large herbivore species, like wildebeest and warthogs. Within these limited areas, they must compete for the same food sources.Ĭompetition is, of course, nothing new. Increasingly, lions, hyenas and African wild dogs are restricted to protected areas like national parks. ![]() There is no cheap and easy fix to this problem, but by being a responsible dog owner, you can help keep it from becoming worse.Large carnivores in Africa are important from ecological, economic and cultural perspectives, but human activities put them at risk. But first they need to be taken off the streets.įeral dogs are a problem in many cities and rural areas throughout the world. Many feral dogs can be rehabilitated with time, proper care and handling. If you see a feral dog, you should alert the proper authorities. Since human-supplied food sources are scarce out in the country, feral dogs there may hunt as a pack and attack sheep, goats, chickens and other small livestock.įeral dogs can be infected with fleas, mange, rabies, parvovirus and other diseases that can be a threat to domestic dogs. Even if their instinct to hunt does kick in, they don't necessarily know what do with their prey once they've killed it. Because as a species they have been dependent on man for so long, they won't necessarily hunt. Urban feral dogs become scavengers, eating garbage, waste or even carrion: whatever they can find. It's often the most intelligent dog, not the most aggressive, that becomes the pack leader. If there are several feral dogs in close proximity to one another, they will form a pack with a hierarchy similar to that of wolves. They likely have had little contact with humans and what contact they have had may have been unpleasant for them. If a dog is lost or has been separated from his human, he'll often respond cheerfully to a person who approaches him in the hopes that person can help reunite him with his human family.įeral dogs tend to be frightened, or at least very wary, of humans. ![]() And still others were born on the streets.ĭogs that live without human contact are known as feral dogs (sometimes also known as "street dogs" or "free range dogs.") They look like domestic dogs, but over time, their behavior changes. Some come from puppy mills when they are released so the owners of the mills are not found with too many puppies for the conditions. Some dogs used to be fighting dogs and are abandoned on the streets when they are no longer able to serve that purpose. Dogs are abandoned in the city when their human families move to a place that doesn't allow dogs or are no longer able to keep the dogs for other reasons. Maybe people believe the dogs will either be taken in by a farm family, or will be better off on their own than they would be in shelters. Some dogs are let loose in the country, often by well-meaning people who are no longer able to care for them. Many spend time in animal shelters where the luckiest are able to find a forever home with a friendly family.īut not all homeless dogs are that lucky. It's a sad truth that not all dogs have a home with humans.
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