Wild Dogs of Botswana

Wild Dogs

Early one morning, we saw African Wild Dogs for the first time, in the Kwara Preserve of Botswana's Okavango Delta.  I have always found them a bit horrifying since they start to eat their prey before it actually dies, inflicting excruciating pain on the poor animal as it slowly bleeds to death.  They do this because of the constant competition from other predators for food and the need to eat very fast before some other, larger predator, such as a lion, drives them away from their meal.

But, the wild dogs have some remarkable characteristics that make them both fascinating animals and fun to watch.  They are beautiful animals, the size of a small Border Collie, each with a different mix of black, white and brown markings.  The pack this morning numbered 15, a large family of dogs.  Originally, there were 18 in the pack, but 3 had moved off somewhere else in the last month, probably to start a new pack and relieve the hunting pressure on their parents and siblings.

Each pack will have a dominant pair of an alpha male and a breeding female.  These dogs are in charge of the rest of the animals.  Only these dogs will breed, having a litter each year.  

Alpha female--pregnant

They hunt as a pack, which gives them a huge competitive advantage, and share the kill among themselves.  If one of the pack dogs happens to be somewhere else, those who eat will regurgitate some of their food for the absent pack member when she rejoins the group.  Given the large number of dogs, this pack has to hunt every day to survive.  Other packs in the Kwara area are smaller, one with 5 dogs and another with 7.

The entire pack will help raise each year's litter, teaching the pups how to hunt and survive.  While the mother is taking care of the puppies, the pack dogs will bring her food, regurgitating what they've eaten so she can provide the puppies with milk until they are old enough to go out with the pack.

We watched the dogs for about an hour as they shared some of their kill (an impala), ran off to a pond to drink, ran around and flopped in the grass to rest. They played incessantly, even the pregnant alpha female, jumping on one another, rolling in the grass and leaping into the air.  They are a very social animal and, so, are quite appealing even though some of them were still covered with blood from their impala feast.

Wild Dog family drinking after meal

Wild Dogs playing

They did not mind our presence at all even though we were in an open vehicle. 

Wild Dogs watching hyena

When a hyena interrupted them, they attacked it, chasing it off.  Even the larger and very fierce hyena is no match for a pack of attacking dogs, sporting equally vicious teeth designed for ripping apart an animal quickly and thoroughly.