Current event 2 " African Wild Dog"

29/09/10

African Wild Dog

Association team of Science Daily

(More info was on Honoluluzoo.org)

Once you travel the Sahara desert with a joy, you see oasis and other natural organisms adapting its habitats and needs. As you pass the sand hill, you just see 5-20 wild dogs trying to roar at you. When the whole trip is disaster, you get to study about these wild dogs. According to informations, the African wild dog is very sensitive about its surrounding, food, and predators against them.

Dogs are medium sized such as domestic dogs, they are part of the canidae (biotic family, consists of wolves, foxes, dogs etc). Its rounded cute ears you see are very pretty but when you see its first appearance its mistakable, they have black forehead and a thin and slender legs. The forehead reminds me of hyena, the winner of the biggest forehead in the canidae family. With its 40 inch tail, they can do whatever they want. They weigh max 66, males are a bit bigger and stout than the females however you can determine as the same size.

They are savanna inhabitants which has a range from Sahrara desert except the forests, they are very sensitive so they are extremely carnivorous, consume no plant food, sometimes consume carrion or return to kill. (Lives in a biome name is Lycaon pictus), the animals hunch up or as in a pack they move, it can go up to 60 animals. They are wolves in Africa, efficient predators, can run up to 35 m.p.h, they usually live beyond in the wild for 9-10 years. 3500-5000 are the estimation of the dog animals in Africa. Only dominant males and females reproduce, babies grow for approximately for 70 days before the mother gives birth in an underground den. As many as 12 pups may be born , majorities of those being male, but only a few usually survive. Pups at birth are all black and white. The tan patches develop from the black areas beginning in the second month. The pups eyes open at 3 weeks, but they will not emerge from the den until they start to eat solid food fed by the adults.

According to my opinion, I don't think there is an another initial or name for this kind of creature/animal, although being African Wild Dog is a bit strange, the African Wild Dog is one of the strongest predators in the region Africa. It is a shame that bits of Wild dogs are gone due to difficult conservation, but it is good to know that about 5000 dogs remain and need vast home ranges.

Bibilography:

http://www.honoluluzoo.org/african_hunting_dog.htm

http://www.sciencedaily.com/articles/a/african_wild_dog.htm