Left: Patrolling near Manungu, Pretoriskop ara, KNP. Tail-end of the Manungu Pack, comprising about a dozen dogs. Like lions, they like to keep to the roads, to avoid rocks and thorns.
Colour sandy brown and dark brown/black blotched. White patches present in some areas, but this is not universal. However, rear half or a little more of the tail is invariably white.
C.T. Astley Maberly, in his comprehensive
The Game Animals of Southern Africa (Nelson, 1963) says: 'Occasionally the tail tip is dark, but always there is fair amount if white in the tail'. I know of no other authority, which has observed this, neither have I seen it myself in my limited experience with these animals. However, Mr. Astley Maberly spent much of his life observing and drawing the wildlife of Southern Africa, in South Africa, Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and Zambia, Mocambique and South West Africa (now Namibia), and there is no doubt about his reliability. I assume, therefore, that dark tail tips were a limited variant, which is no longer common, or which is now absent alltogether. Considering the amount of persecution visited upon the Wild Dog over the last 200 plus years, it is quite possible that the dark tail tip has diappeared.
Black nose and muzzle, with black median stripe over face and forehead. Large, rounded ears with black rim, which is often only partly formed, part of the rim being the usual sandy/brown colour. Top and centre of inner ear usually also black.
Their numbers can fluctuate severely due to diseases such as distemper and rabies. They are no more susceptible to these than other species, but show more serious variations in their numbers due their rarity and low population density.
Range: Africa south of the Sahara, where they have not been exterminated. Mostly restricted to the larger National Parks. Often stray across into Limpopo Province from Zimbabwe.
Habitat: Prefers open Savannah, but hunts even fairly dense bushveld, such as the mopane scrub of northern Limpopo.
Right: Large, male member of the Manungu Pack. A perfect specimen as to size and colouration.
Habits: Usually live in packs from about a dozen animals upwards. Where food is plentiful, packs of up to 40 or so have been observed in the past. Such numbers, however, have not been seen in Southern Africa for many years. Where single or only a few dogs are observed, they are usually members of a larger pack, which has split up to scout around.
Wild dogs are pack hunters, and as such, very efficient. The pack will single out one animal and start driving it. Several dogs will actively harrass the intended prey, while others lope along in the rear. As most animals will try to stay on ground familiar to them, this means that most of the time the hunt will proceed in a rough circle, about one to two km in diametre. Some of the 'reserve' dogs occasionally cut across part of the circle, to take up the direct chase and relieve tiring members of the pack, driving the prey. More often than not, the dogs succeed with this method, unless the hunted animal escapes into water, when the dogs usually give up. Although they are good swimmers, they appear to be wary of crocodiles.
Hyaenas sometimes try to take away their kill, but this usually results in the hyaenas being driven off, sometimes the worse for wear!
A kill is shared by all members of the pack. When young pups are present in a den (such a an old antbear hole) the mother and other members of the pack will feed them by regurgitating chunks of meat for them. After a few months the pups will run with the pack and share the kill with their elders.
When encountered on the northern game ranches of South Africa, they are much persecuted, even though they are a protected species. The problem is that they are voracious killers. In the past, the game could flee from them. That meant that they had to hunt over large areas, which was nature's way of preventing them from exterminting the game in any one locality.
Left: A dog showing no white in its coat. This is not uncommon: many packs have very little or no white in their hides, except for the tip of the tail. The rufus ground colour is, howerver, unusual.
However, on ranches the game is prevented from fleeing very far, and the dogs have now learnt to herd the animals against the nearest game fence, and proceed to slaughter them there. Since the game can no longer vacate an area in which the dogs are hunting, this often causes game ranchers horrendous losses, particularly if there is a litter of pups about (July to October). In addition, the dogs no longer change their area of oparation as often as they used to do. I.e., they only leave when they have cleared out the easy game, or when they get shot at!
There are many old (and not-so-old) horror stories of packs of Wild Dogs attacking, killing and devouring people. This is utter hogwash! There are no confirmed records of this anywhere. People who have had close contact with them all confirm that they are curious of human beings, but never show aggression, unless harrassed themselves. There are several accounts of people who studied the dogs, to the effect that they even allowed a fairly close approach to their kill, before taking exception.
I have myself observed this once in Limpopo Province: the dogs had driven an Impala into a game fence and were just srarting to shred it, when we walked up. We got to about 3 m, before the dogs got restive and started to growl. We stopped, the dogs cleaned up the Impala, and went on their way.
There is no guarantee, of course, that they will always be so tolerant, but I think that an attack would only come after severe provocation.
The dogs' bad reputation is probably due to the fact that they are both fearless and inquisitive - a combination, which sends the wrong message to fearful humans. I have had them approach me in long grass, until they were only two or three meters away. Then they would stand up on their hind legs, or even jump up, to look at me over the long gass. A number of dogs would be doing this, their heads popping up over the grass for several minutes, until their curiosity was satisfied. Then they would simply take off.
Right: Rhino and Lion Park. Note dog on the left of the photo, which has unusual rufus ground colour and tail, without any white tip at all.{footnote}These dogs were observed in the Rhino and Lion Park, west of Johannesburg, where they are kept in a rather restricted environment. They are not free ranging. Most of the dogs had the normal greyish-brown base colour. There were only a few with that rufus tint, which I have never observed in the wild before. I am wondering, therefore, whether the rufus colouration could be the result of inbreeding.{/footnote}
But don't run! Then they will chase you, even when they don't want to catch you. I have had dogs chasing my car, when I drove off, to get some distance between them and the car, so I could photograph them from in front, while they were running. Well, as soon as I accelerated, so did the dogs. I had to put on a sprint (60 kph, or more) to outdistance them sufficiently. Then, the moment I stopped to take pictures, they slowed right down again to just a trot. When I drove away again to get more distance, they immediately took up the chase once more, until I stopped, when they again slowed to a trot! This makes me believe that their giving chase is simply a reflex action, as it is in other predators such as wolves, lion, cheetah, etc.
