Endurance

29 Replies

The African Wild Dog (Lycaon pictus, also known as the Cape Hunting Dog or Painted Wolf) must be the African mammal with the most stamina – they’ll easily cover distances of over 40km in a day, trotting along at speeds of around 10km/h, and when hunting can maintain speeds of 48km/h for distances of up to 5km (though they seldom need to chase prey that far before taking down their quarry). At full speed, they’ll easily reach 64km/h!

We witnessed these wild dogs chasing after a herd of impala in the Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park during a visit in 2008.

On the hunt
On the hunt
On the hunt

“Endurance” is the theme for this week’s WordPress Photo Challenge. Information from “The Behavior Guide to African Mammals”, by Richard Despard Estes.

29 thoughts on “Endurance”

  1. Pingback: Weekly Photo Challenge – Endurance | Endless Skys

  2. perdebytjie

    Wildehonde is van my gunstelinge.Ons het eenkeer gesit en kyk hoe speel ‘n hele trop in die water…ook gesien hoe volwassenes terugkom van ‘n jagtog af en voedsel opbring vir die kleintjies wat agter gebly het.Dit was ‘n hele gedoente..wonderlik om te sien!

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    1. de Wets Wild Post author

      Dis nou regtig wonderlike “sightings” daai, Dina! Ons het jare terug, ek was maar 9 jaar oud of so, n trop van oor die 40 naby Tshokwane in die Krugerwildtuin gesien, en ek onthou dit vandag nog. Wildehonde is spesiale diere.

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    1. de Wets Wild Post author

      Thanks Tina! All the more reason to come back for another visit!

      The wild dogs have suffered many years of terrible persecution, but happily there’s been several recent conservation successes and they seem to be expanding their ranges and numbers in South Africa slowly but steadily, with the help of our conservation agencies and NGO’s. Good news on World Rhino Day, where we consider the slaughter of a different African icon…

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    1. de Wets Wild Post author

      Hi guys!

      No, despite superficially resembling canines, both in appearance and some behaviour traits, hyenas are actually a mammal-family of their own, and more closely related to the mongooses and cats than to dogs 😉

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  9. Pingback: WordPress Photo Challenge: Endurance | The (Urban-Wildlife) Interface

    1. de Wets Wild Post author

      Thanks for letting us know that you liked our contribution to this week’s challenge, Barbara. 😀

      They’re likely Africa’s most efficient predators, very few animals escape once a pack of wild dogs have targeted them.

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  14. oururbanwilderness

    Well done for highlighting their stamina – they’re not well appreciated as a species and yet highly specialised hunters. Amazing that they can attain those kind of speeds.

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