Some conservationists are helping to restore Africa’s wild dog populations

Some conservationists are helping to restore Africa’s wild dog populations(smithsonianmag.com)

76 points by speckx 2 days ago | 32 comments

This information may have been supplanted but newer studies, but one study determined that African Wild Dogs were the most successful pack hunters on the planet with a ~92% success rate. (success being defined as 'eating' after a hunt.

Edit: Opening line from the article - Wild dogs are the most successful hunters in Africa, with a kill rate of 80 percent.

And my favorite story about these animals is that they vote! https://www.science.org/content/article/wild-dogs-vote-initi...

bryanlarsen 1 day ago |

For those who didn't know, to save you the search I just performed: the African Wild Dog is not literally a wild dog. It's not even a Canid, it's a separate genus (Lycaon) from dogs, wolves & coyotes.

Scarblac 1 day ago | |

That genus is part of the Canidae family though. Dogs and wolves are in the Canis genus in the Canidae group.

Jackals and foxes are also each their own genus, and there are a number more genuses.

jjtheblunt 1 day ago | |

i think the wolves/dogs/coyotes and african wild dogs all have 78 chromosomes, but it's unclear if the african painted dogs have been diverged so long as to have incompatible chromosome gene layouts despite matching chromosome counts.

i tried looking for any examples of hybrids but did not find any. they'd be pretty ridiculously cute though for sure.

supposedly hybrids of african painted dogs and domestic dogs happens, albeit rarely, in South Africa

https://mykingsgate.co.za/info/african-wild-dog-hybrid-12023...

Nykon 1 day ago |

I've spent the last 2 years in East Africa and the last thing this place needs is another predator gaining back ground. This sounds like a great idea until you find yourself after sunset in an area where electric is scare - which means basically everywhere. I got hunted by street dogs in Bulgaria, multiple times, that shit will make you go to a gun shop and I'd rather get assaulted by another boda robber than facing those things.

InexSquirrel 1 day ago | |

So by that logic, for you to feel safe and not take any responsibility at all, we should just get rid of all the large predators, then correct?

Also shows a lack of understanding of the dogs themselves, as they're diurnal and practically never hunt at night. You're at much bigger risk via leopards and lions than wild dogs.

throw48484858 22 hours ago | | |

Yes please! Kill all large predators that attack people! Or give a lifetime sentense to people responsible, for killing innocent victims!

Why is that even something controversial? Children should not be a chew toy for wild dogs and their irresponsible owners! If you like killing people, find some suicidal volunteers for that!!!

Or feed your own children to your own dogs!!!

Just because you are horible antisocial pedo psychopat that hates everyone, does not mean most people agree!

> as they're diurnal and practically never hunt at night.

You obviously do not understand dogs!

Dogs are oportunistic predators and scavengers. At daylight it is too hot in Bulgaria, and too many people. At dailight their victims actually have a fighting chance! Of course they come out at night!

ceejayoz 1 day ago | |

While we're sharing anecdotes, people regularly total their cars hitting deer breeding out of control in my area, as they have no natural predators left.

RetroTechie 23 hours ago | | |

And along the same lines: predators moving into urban areas more & more as poachers decimated their traditional preys.

Don't destroy the space they live in & most animals will happily stay away from humans.

stuaxo 1 day ago | |

Having seen these in the Zoo, they very much like to stalk the visitors along the fence - these are much more than just dogs.

throw48484858 22 hours ago | | |

Psychos will tell you bears are totally safe. I guess they justnhate nstive people in africa!

everyday7732 1 day ago |

They look so similar to hyenas. Maybe they fit the same evolutionary niche.

While the article claims that wild dogs are the most successful predator in Africa, I found a national geographic article which claims the same for hyenas: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/hyenas-my...

colechristensen 1 day ago | |

There are several technical and nontechnical definitions of "successful" making it a pretty meaningless statement

nozzlegear 1 day ago |

There's a group of these dogs at the zoo in Sioux Falls, SD. Like all dogs, I think my wife and I were predispositioned to like them. It didn't help that they all started howling when a police car drove by with its sirens on, which was cute.

seunosewa 1 day ago | |

They are cute but nasty. They eat their prey alive in the most painful way.

chasd00 1 day ago | | |

i don't have a source but there's something about their mouth or teeth that make it very hard for them to suffocate prey the way a lion or hyena would. They kill their prey through shock and blood loss from disembowelment which means basically eating it alive like you said.

nozzlegear 1 day ago | | |

Oof, I'm glad I didn't witness that (not that the zoo would feed live animals to them). It certainly would've changed my opinion on them, even though it's just their nature.

ptsneves 1 day ago |

It is amazing the failure rate and how people working in these endeavours keep on working and do not step in to intervene deeper. The statistics are what matters even if whole days are wasted because some leopard or lion ate the work done. These are not cute animal lovers, they are the real deal. Much luck!

therealdrag0 1 day ago | |

Ya I’m so impressed by people who just go and work on problems like this and get their hands dirty.

lolpython 1 day ago |

Casualty of HN title mangling again. Original title: Africa’s Wild Dogs Are the Most Hated Carnivores on the Continent. Here’s Why Some Conservationists Are Saving Them Anyway

WalterGR 1 day ago | |

It’s not mangling. The article’s subtitle doesn’t fit within the character limit.

lightedman 1 day ago | | |

We're in the era of 4k and 8k monitors. That character limit only occupies a tiny fraction of any modern screen.

So odd a site dedicated to future technology companies isn't even caught up with modern display techniques, let alone ones that existed some 2 decades ago.

upupupandaway 1 day ago | |

I wish we could get rid of the "Here's why" and similar clickbait fragments in titles.

blitzar 1 day ago | | |

"This one simple trick to restore Africa’s wild dog populations ... You Won’t Believe What Happened Next"

InexSquirrel 1 day ago | |

I dislike the title really - I'm not sure where they pull the 'most hated' aspect from. A lot of what I've seen is that leopards generally fall into that category, mainly because they'll also happily kill people, dogs and livestock.

opinion-is-bad 1 day ago |

I find the ethics of these kind of predator reintroduction programs to be extremely dubious. I feel this story could be reframed easily as ‘American activists unleash genetically modified hunters upon the world’s poorest.’ Does anyone know of any material benefit that is expected to be gained by those who live with the dogs?

InexSquirrel 1 day ago | |

For the animal to not go extinct. That's literally the stated purpose in the article.

It's practically the same reason for all of Southern African conservation - to stop species going extinct from the continual human expansion.

titanomachy 1 day ago | |

Are the activists American? I'd assumed this was a local effort, but I didn't see this mentioned in the article.

ceejayoz 1 day ago | |

> Does anyone know of any material benefit that is expected to be gained by those who live with the dogs?

Killing rats, rabbits, and other vermin prone to overpopulation?