African painted dogs are classified in the Canidae, or true dog, family along with jackals, foxes, coyotes, wolves, dingoes, and domestic dogs. They also are known as African wild dogs or Cape hunting dogs. They are frequently mistaken as hyenas. However, hyenas are different enough to be in a separate taxonomic family, Hyaenidae. African painted dogs are part of the Canidae family, along with wolves and coyotes.
Physical Characteristics and Habitat
African painted dogs have long slim legs and a slender frame, allowing them to have great speed and endurance. Long legs and a lanky body give the dogs both speed and endurance. Their large, rounded ears give them exceptional hearing and help keep the dogs cool in a hot climate. Their large, rounded ears give them exceptional hearing and help them control their temperature. They are the only canids to have four toes on their front paws instead of five. African painted dogs differ from their canid relatives in that they have four toes on their front feet instead of five.
Their coats of brown, black, white, red and yellow provide camouflage and make the pack of dogs appear larger to prey when they are hunting. The hair coloration varies and is unique to each individual, but the tip of the tail is always white, and the muzzle is always black. Found in the open plains and savannas of Africa, painted dogs can also live and thrive in thicker bush and forest areas. They live in grasslands, plains and savannas in Africa, but can survive in a range of habitats. They are the largest African canid.
Social Structure and Behavior
African painted dogs live in a social family pack with usually five to 20 dogs. The average pack size is between 5 and 20 dogs. We are family: African painted dogs are most like wolves in their social structure but seem to be gentler within their pack. There is one dominant male and female, called the alpha pair, in a pack. Still, everyone in the pack gets along very well most of the time.
For painted dogs, each day begins with a greeting ceremony. Pack members run shoulder to shoulder and then pause to leap over and dive under each other. The dogs appear to "kiss" one another, licking and poking at the corners of each other's mouth. But this is really a food-begging behavior that plays an important role in social bonding within the pack. From there, excitement begins to overcome the entire pack until all the dogs are jumping and play fighting with each other, increasing their energy as they prepare to go on the hunt!
Read also: African Wild Dog Behavior
Painted dogs have a unique social structure - caring for their young, the aged and the injured - that sets them apart from every other predator in Africa. They also have high respect for territory lines and will not cross into another pack’s area. Unlike most social animals, the males stay with the pack while the females leave to join a new pack when they are about 3-years-old. Not so with African painted dogs-they do just the opposite! The females are the ones to leave the pack, sometimes as a group of sisters, to join a new pack when they are about three years old. Males generally remain in the pack they were born into.
Food sharing is a critical part of pack life. The adult dogs eat and then regurgitate the meat for injured or ill pack members and youngsters.
Master Hunters: The Secret Life of African Wild Dogs
Hunting Techniques and Diet
African painted dogs hunt twice a day, usually at dawn and dusk. Their disruptive coloration makes the pack look much larger than it really is. This confuses prey and helps the dogs hunt with more success than other African predators. In fact, African painted dogs are one of the most successful hunters in all of Africa, catching prey 70 to 90 percent of the time. (In contrast, lions are only successful 30 to 40 percent of the time.) Thomson's gazelles, impalas, and puku antelope are the main items on the dogs' menu.
The dogs have to eat their kill quickly, before the competition-lions, hyenas, and vultures-get to it. A painted dog pack can finish a full-grown gazelle in as little as eight minutes! Painted dogs owe part of their success to the way they hunt: they work as a group to catch their prey. They communicate within the pack by making high-pitched vocalizations or squeaks, which sound like a tennis shoe rubbing on a gymnasium floor! If a dog gets lost or separated from the group, it makes a sound, like a bell, called a "hoo" call. They can also signal pack mates by moving their very large ears to show what direction to go or what to do. Unlike wolves and domestic dogs, African painted dogs do not howl.
The dogs do not hunt in the same manner as lions do. Instead, they hunt in a relay form, taking turns running after the prey. Painted dogs depend on their ability to run for a long time without getting tired so they can outlast their prey.
Read also: Facts About African Wild Asses
Reproduction and Pup Rearing
The alpha female usually gives birth to 10 to 12 pups per litter in a den. The mother may use the underground burrow of an aardvark, warthog, or hyena for her den, or the pack may dig one under a termite mound. The hunters bring food for the mother while she is confined in the den caring for her newborns. Thankfully for the mother, some of the pack members stay to help babysit or guard the den and defend it against predators such as lions and spotted hyenas while the rest of the pack hunts.
Pack members start to feed the pups at about four weeks of age by regurgitating solid food for the youngsters. They are usually weaned when about eight weeks old but continue to use the den as a safe haven until they are up to 16 weeks old. For about three months after the pups are born, the pack hunts closer to home so food (the kill) can be brought to the den to feed both pups and the den helpers, usually adult males. When the pups are old enough to follow the adults to a kill, the hungry hunters step back and watch for other predators while the young eat first.
Conservation Status and Threats
Once found in most parts of Africa south of the Sahara Desert, African painted dogs are now gone from 25 of the 39 countries in which they were found a mere 50 years ago. Packs of 100 or more dogs used to be fairly common, but now these African predators are considered the second-most endangered carnivore (after the Ethiopian wolf) in Africa. Many factors have contributed to the catastrophic decline in painted dog numbers over the last century. Europeans often regarded painted dogs as pests, and most colonial governments established long-term extermination programs that offered bounties in exchange for painted dog tails. Between 1945 and 1949, as many as 5,000 painted dogs were killed in such a program in Zambia, a number equal to the total populations left in Africa today.
Another problem for painted dogs is habitat loss and fragmentation, as people are moving into more and more of the dogs' territory. Unfortunately, most national parks in Africa are not large enough for even one painted dog pack, and family groups living outside protected areas are still killed by farmers and ranchers. The dogs are also susceptible to diseases carried by domesticated dogs (such as rabies, canine distemper, and parvovirus) and can suffer devastating epidemics if exposed to one of these diseases.
Conservation Efforts
To help conserve this endangered species, San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance supports the Northern Rangelands Trust. This community-led conservation program in Kenya promotes the collective management of ecosystems to improve human livelihoods, biodiversity conservation, and rangelands management.
Read also: Learn About African Milk Trees
Since 2015, the Saint Louis Zoo has participated in the Association of Zoos and Aquariums' Species Survival Program for painted dogs by supporting a pack at the Zoo. With this group, scientists at our Zoo have conducted behavior observation studies, an extensive echocardiogram study and a hormone assessment to further knowledge about this species to assist conservation efforts.
Care in Captivity
Social management of African wild dogs under human care is challenging and can have significant health impacts. It involves working across institutions to create and maintain packs that thrive socially, support a healthy population, and sustain genetic diversity. The most stable social groups include a well-established dominant pair with male offspring of any age and young female offspring. The inability to disperse may result in conflict between female offspring above 18 months of age and the dominant female.
Behavior is a key indicator of social and physical well-being in African wild dogs. “Normal” behavior varies by an individual's status within the pack, and establishing pack hierarchy is essential for avoiding excessive aggression. Permanent or even brief temporary removal of an established pack member may have profound social impacts, including changes in social hierarchy with aggression so substantial that reintroduction may not be possible.
Detailed plans to reduce stress and promote normal behaviors should be implemented if a dog must be isolated, including maintaining olfactory and visual contact. If separation is required, it may be helpful to subdivide the pack and then reintroduce them all simultaneously.
Successful implementation of enrichment has included environmental devices, sensory stimulants, and food, behavioral, and habitat variance. Piles of leaves, dirt, and mulch allow natural digging and rolling behaviors. Rotating exhibits with other predators provides habitat diversity and promotes scent-marking behavior.
Enclosures should be large and contain ample space for exercise to meet the animals' physical, social, behavioral, and psychological needs. Specific size and perimeter recommendations may be found in the Association of Zoos & Aquariums (AZA) Large Canid Care Manual. Facilities that allow the public to observe the animals should prevent close contact or inadvertent access to the enclosure.
Dogs should have access to multiple heated areas if the temperature regularly drops below 4.4°C-7.2°C (40°F-45°F) and should have shelter from the elements. Additionally, a heated den should be provided if breeding is planned. Facilities should have sufficient holding space to accommodate separating animals for long periods. African wild dogs should be moved only in sturdy metal or wood crates with good ventilation that meet US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and International Air Transport Association (IATA) requirements for live animal transport.
Feeding in Captivity
African wild dogs are generalist predators, occupying a range of habitats where they hunt medium-sized antelope. In natural settings, reduced prey populations and competition from other predators inhibit population growth. African wild dogs in zoos are fed a nutritionally complete raw meat-based diet (1-1.36 kg/adult/day) and are supplemented with small whole prey, knuckle/rib/shank bones (one to two times week), and carcasses (pig, deer, calf, horse). Lactating bitches require up to three times maintenance caloric intake. Specific recommendations for kilocalorie requirements may be found in the AZA Large Canid Care Manual.
Feeding African wild dogs a portion of their diet while separated from the pack aids in monitoring individual animals' food consumption.
Reproduction in Captivity
African wild dogs are seasonally monoestrous obligate cooperative breeders with a brief copulatory tie. Within a pack the alpha male and female produce the majority of surviving pups annually. Most successful reproduction occurs after 2 years of age, with senescence around 8-9 years. Subordinate females may reproduce, but offspring typically do not survive. More often, subordinate females develop pseudopregnancy and may lactate in order to help care for the pups of the dominant pair.
Females produce an average of six to eight pups and up to 21 pups in a den after a gestation of 69-71 days. Primiparous females have higher estrogen, which is reported to result in more male offspring. Hand-rearing is not recommended due to the extremely aggressive and social nature of these animals. In zoos, the breeding pair is separated from the pack to prevent trauma to the pups. The group is gradually introduced when the pups begin to emerge from the nest box.
Newborn pups weigh about 300 g, open their eyes around 2 weeks of age, and emerge from the den to start taking solid food at 3 weeks. Sex determination is similar to that for other canids. Pups are weaned and start to follow the pack at 11-12 weeks of age. Reproductive anatomy is similar to that of other canid species. Owing to social dynamics, most reproduction has been natural; however, semen has been preserved and used for artificial inseminations.
Captive Lycaon pictus generally reproduce in the fall in the northern hemisphere. Estrus lasts 6-9 days and includes vulvar swelling and sanguineous discharge with interest from the male. Current estimates show 23% of females have some degree of reproductive pathology, the most frequently reported of which is cystic endometrial hyperplasia (CEH) with or without pyometra and adenomyosis.
Anesthesia and Veterinary Care
Healthy adult African wild dogs are not physically restrained due to safety concerns. Restraint cages are useful and provide a safe, controlled environment to facilitate intramuscular injections of anesthetics. A quiet area away from the pack promotes quick inductions and smooth recoveries. Remote injection systems are recommended for immobilizing free-ranging African wild dogs or in situations when a chute is not available.
Anesthetic regimens selected should take into account health status, age, and environmental conditions. In cases where cardiovascular disease has been confirmed or cardiac status is unknown, alpha-2 agonists should be avoided and alternatives such as ketamine-midazolam-butorphanol with propofol or gas anesthesia (isoflurane, sevoflurane) should be considered.
Vascular access, intubation, and monitoring equipment are applied as in other canids. As in other canids, the jugular, cephalic, and saphenous veins are commonly used sites for venipuncture. Standard anthelmintics at canine dosages have been successfully used to treat internal parasites.
Over the last decade, valvular dysplasia of varying severity has been increasingly recognized as a significant concern in African wild dogs in North America. Sibling groups and offspring have been affected over multiple generations, suggesting that the condition has a genetic, inheritable basis, as is well documented in domestic dogs. Cases range from minor to severe valvular insufficiency with congestive heart failure. Mildly affected animals exhibit no clinical signs, making the condition difficult to detect. The extent of this disease is uncertain, but it is highly probable that cardiac disease is underdiagnosed.
Incorporating echocardiographic examination with preventative health evaluations for captive wild dogs is recommended by the SSP in order to identify and medically manage affected individuals. Treatment recommendations are based on those for domestic dogs and have included angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors, diuretics, and inodilators (pimobendan).
Other notable conditions diagnosed in African wild dogs include dental disease-particularly fractured teeth-pancreatitis, diabetes, spina bifida, syringomyelia, keratitis, snake bites, and trauma from conspecifics.
Preventative health, preshipment, and quarantine examinations should be conducted to determine an animal's health. A complete physical exam-including a dental examination, complete blood count, chemistry panel, heartworm testing, urinalysis, radiographs of the thorax and abdomen, and evaluation for endo- and ectoparasites-should be completed on a routine schedule as part of a preventive medicine plan.
External and internal parasites should be treated according to domestic dog guidelines. Fleas, ticks, and ear tip trauma from biting flies have responded well to products containing carbaryl or pyrethrins. Newly acquired animals should be quarantined away from the collection for a predetermined period based on a thorough risk assessment by the supervising veterinarian and have at least two negative fecal examinations.
Currently there are no universal recommendations for vaccination protocols. The safety and efficacy of vaccines in African wild dogs have historically been unsatisfactory. Vaccine recommendations for domestic dogs have been reduced from yearly to triennially; however, it is unknown whether nondomestic canids maintain titers in a similar manner. Protocols should be developed that take into consideration local environmental disease prevalence, animal health, and risk factors.
