SURVIVAL OF A NOMAD
THE AFRICAN WILD DOG
This article is courtesy and printed with permission of:
The Frankfurt Zoological Society - Help for Threatened Wildlife.
There are probably less adult African wild dogs living in protected areas
than there are black rhinos. It’s most unlikely that there are more than 3000
to 4000 individuals south of the Sahara. Most of them belong to small packs
which are widely dispersed in unprotected areas. As these areas do not provide
enough prey, the dogs are condemned to extinction. 90% of their young die before
they reach maturity. So the number of mature animals able to rear young is
estimated not to exceed 2000.
Once, African wild dogs used to be distributed in 34 African countries.
Nowadays, they have vanished (almost) completely in 19 of them. The species is
severely endangered. Probably only 6 African countries hold populations of the
African wild dog amounting to more than a hundred animals - the amount
considered to be necessary for the survival of the species in the area. These
countries are Botswana, Kenya, Zambia, Tanzania, South Africa (only in Kruger
National Park), and Zimbabwe. Yet the stocks in these countries too are
relatively small and decreasing in numbers as the dogs often live in relatively
small groups which do not contact one another. The reasons for this enormous
decline has to do mainly with conflicts with the human population: loss of
living space, diseases, having to compete with other predators and loss caused
by “four wheeled predators” on the tracks.
The African wild dog’s way of life makes it difficult to observe and to
protect them. They are true nomads who cover an area of between 500 km² to 1500
km². When they do not have any young pups they go on walkabouts & hardly
stay in the same place for two nights. The vast spaces covered by the packs,
their small groups & their extreme mobility make any kind of protection
extremely difficult. Only a few protected areas are big enough for populations
of 200 to 300 animals. That is why we have been looking after the stocks of the
wild dogs in Botswana and the Serengeti for many years.
Editors Pawnote:
The Frankfurt Zoological Society is well established as a nature conservation
organization & proudly has a good reputation. The Society has been in
existence for 137 years. In 1858, the Society founded the Frankfurt Zoological
Garden and managed it until after WWI. Then the Zoo was taken over by the city
of Frankfurt. The Zoological Society remained a principal sponsor for the Zoo.
For the last forty years however, the Society has been increasing its
international engagement in the conservation of nature and the environment. This
is now the Society’s main goal.
If you wish to help the Society help the African wild dog, Magellan Penguins
in Chile, or the rehabilitation of Orang-utans in Sumatra, and do much more
please send your donations to:
The Frankfurt Zoological Society
6 Alfred-Brehm Platz
Frankfurt am Main 1, Germany
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