African Wild Dog Facts and Information

You guys must have heard about African Wild Dog, Cape Hunting Dog, Painted Wolf, Painted Dog, Spotted Dog or Ornate Wolf, these are not the names of different animal rather all these names refer to a single animal whose actual name is Lycaon pictus. This animal belongs to Canidae family and is the habitats of Africa. The name Lycaon pictus is derived from two languages i.e. Latin and Greek. In Greek it means Wolf and in Latin it means Printed.

African Wild Dog

If grey wolf is the largest extant wild canid then, African wild dog is the second name in the list. When you go for the weight of this animal you will find that it weighs around 18 – 36 kg. What kind of food these wild dogs consume? Well, like other dogs of the world these dogs are unbeatable chasers and they make other small animals their food.  These dogs can chase with a speed of 66 km/hr.

This dog belongs to Mammalia class and Carnivora order which similar to the common dog you see in your society. If you go for the reproduction time of this wild dog you will find that it doesn’t follow any reproduction time, it reproduce at any time in a year. But usually their mating goes into peak between the months of March to July of every year.  When the female African wild dog’s reaches an age of 14-30 they disperse from their birth packs and get into another pack.

Basic Information about African Wild Dog:

Name	African Wild Dog
Length	3 ft to 5 ft
Weight	20 kg to 40 kg
Area	Savanna and light Wooded Area in Africa.
Life Span	14 to 30 years
Kingdom	Animalia
Class	Mammalia
Family	Canidae
Genus	Lycaon
Species	L.pictus
Status	Endangered

In South Africa also these wild dogs are found in some specific areas and those are Savanas and some lightly wooded areas. This is all about the African wild dog which is otherwise known as

Ornate Wolf, African Hunting Dog, Spotted Dog, Cape Hunting Dog, Painted Hunted Dog, Painted Dog and Painted Wolf all over the world, In short this African Wild Dog looks like a wolf as well as a dog but have all the characteristics of dogs so it is most commonly known as Wild Dogs. However it is quite difficult to differentiate between a wolf and this wild dog from a distance that’s why it is also called as painted wolf.

 

Wild Dog Puppies

Though this animal is not common in between every one of us but there are some wild life lovers or you can say wild animal lovers amongst us who know about this animal. Animal lovers out there must have got benefitted with the information provided in this post. Many of you have got to know about this animal for the first time for those keep following this type of posts and various journals on animals or wild life to know more about unknown animals.

Wild Dog Group

Many journals and websites have started writing on this wild dog and I have put all those important information on this wild dog into a single post. So, to know more about wild life keep following us and we will keep you informing about various animals like this African wild dog.