Big Game and Rare Painted Dogs

Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe, October 26, 2012

African elephant with giraffe

Our little group was returning to Ivory Lodge after a game drive. Hwange National Park, the largest national park in Zimbabwe, is home to huge numbers of wildlife. We had seen giraffes, elephants, cape buffalos, impalas, and a herd of zebras, apparently unconcerned about a black-backed jackal lurking nearby.



Burchell's zebra with jackal

Cape buffalo

Male impala

 

Female lion and cup feeding on young elephant

In Hwange we also had the amazing luck of seeing a pride of lions with the young elephant it had killed a few hours before. Our guide said that lions normally didn't hunt elephants, but Hwange is so overpopulated with elephants, it is just as well this pride has developed the skill necessary to bring down a huge pachyderm. Even a youngster is much larger than the largest lion.

         "I wish we could see a painted dog," I said, on our way back to lodge after a 5:30-8:30 a.m. game drive in Hwange. I had noticed a small sign that said "Painted Dog Conservation Area." 

        "Very unlikely," our guide Peter replied.

          We had heard about this rare, elusive, endangered carnivore, one of the best hunters in Africa, unrelated to domesticated dogs.

            Two minutes later, Peter suddenly braked the land rover. Twenty yards away were five painted dogs. They were larger than I had expected, beautifully multi-colored, with big round ears. Some were asleep, some were lolling on the ground. Each one had distinctive black, tan, and white markings. Four of the dogs wore a collar with a tracking antenna, part of the effort to save them from extinction.

Painted dogs near Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe

            Peter said they must have just made a kill and eaten their fill. Their bellies were bulging, and they stood to change positions occasionally and then flopped down again.  They didn't seem bothered by our presence or Peter's soft voice.



Painted dog

            He said that painted dogs hunt collaboratively and efficiently, and they share the meat. If some dogs don't get enough to eat, the others will feed the still-hungry pack mates by regurgitating food. If a dog is too old or sick to hunt or is caught in a trap, they will return from a kill to feed it.

            Painted dogs don't fight for dominance. One pair breeds, and the rest of the pack helps raise the pups. If dogs reach sexual maturity and want to breed, they leave the pack, often with siblings, and look for other singles. Of those, just one pair will mate, and the aunts and uncles help take care of the puppies.




Male kudu

            Painted dogs are intelligent. In fact they may be capable of expressing gratitude. Peter told us about a man walking in the bush who came across a painted dog with its paw caught in a trap. Instead of snapping and snarling, the dog put its head on the ground and closed its eyes, allowing the man to release its foot.

            Freed, the dog sprang away but then circled back and trailed the man home. A few days later, a pack of dogs chased a kudu, a large antelope with spiraling horns, to this man's home, killed it in the yard, and then left...apparently, a thank-you gift!