Traditionally viewed as dangerous pests, Africa's wild dogs have nearly been wiped out. But thanks to new conservation efforts, the smart, sociable canines appear ready to make a comeback
Sboniso Blessing Zwane, a wildlife biology research assistant, drives me along bumpy dirt trails through the rugged hills of Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park in South Africa. Rhino mothers and their calves graze alongside zebras; wildebeests, elephants and giraffes mingle on the grasslands; and grizzled Cape buffaloes block the trail, glaring at us before ambling off in their own sweet time. The park, in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa, was once the heartland of the Zulu kingdom and has some of the greatest concentrations of wildlife in Africa. But we pass the animals here with barely a glance. We're on the trail of one of the continent's most endangered carnivores—the wild dog.
Members of the canid family, which includes jackals, wolves and domestic dogs, the wild dog is a distinct species, Lycaon pictus, or "painted wolf." Wild
dogs once roamed most of sub-Saharan Africa by the hundreds of thousands, but today there are fewer than 5,000. They're victims of habitat loss, which has both reduced their food supply and put them increasingly at odds with lions and hyenas, their natural enemies. Moreover, people have long slaughtered wild dogs, partly because the animals have been known to attack livestock but also, apparently, because of their fearsome reputation; they kill prey with such bloody ruthlessness that some farmers, I'm told, still refer to the animal as "the Devil's dog." Today wild dogs inhabit less than 50 protected national parks and private game reserves in southern and eastern Africa, where the roughly three million-year-old species is making what amounts to a last stand.
"Wild dogs are much better hunters than even lions and leopards," says Zwane, a Zulu who assists on a wild dog research project run by the Smithsonian Institution's National Zoo, as we bounce along in Hluhluwe-iMfolozi's late afternoon sun. "Once they target prey, it rarely escapes." The claim is arguable—cheetahs, lions, leopards and hyenas are also superb hunters—but, as if to prove Zwane right, a herd of about 30 impala, led by a big buck, dashes past us heading for thick bush, their eyes wide. He beams. Moments later, two of the most extraordinary creatures I have ever seen run by in pursuit of the impalas. They resemble wiry, muscular dogs, but have long, slender, supermodel legs; broad heads and massive jaws; bushy white-tipped tails; and comical Mickey Mouse-shaped ears. Their sinuous bodies are splashed with dark brown, gold, white and black splotches, like camouflage suits.
