Lycaon pictus

Today's #MammalCrushMonday goes to the African wild dog, formerly known as Lycaon pictus, but new genetic information suggests that they actually belong in the genus Canis, and are more closely related to wolves than belonging to their own genera (Lindblad-Toh et. al., p. 816, Figure 10).

Lindblad-Toh et. al., p. 816, Figure 10

 

 

 

 

 

Phylogeny is the classification of living things based on their physical and genetic characteristics. As science becomes more advanced, we are able to target more specific genetic markers, which often lead to the frequent 'editing' of evolutionary trees. It also leads to lots of confusion and debates over 'clumping' species or 'splitting' of genera, which lead to polyphyletic groups and makes a mess. In order to make more accurate hypotheses about evolutionary trees, both genetics and morphology of species should be considered, simple right?

African wild dogs form strong social bonds, with separate male and female dominance hierarchies. Unlike most pack- animals, the females migrate to find other packs while the males are more likely to stay in their groups.




 
  Because of their social behavior, African wild dogs are specialized pack hunters, with the best success rate of any mammal in the order Carnivora. While only 10% of lions hunts end in a kill, while 80% of wild dog hunts end successfully. So, who is the king of the jungle again? They also have a pre-hunt behavior where each dog 'begs' or acts submissive to each other dog in the pack before they move out to hunt.






We were lucky enough to see this pack of wild dogs on our first day out in the field. They are native to Sub-Saharan Africa in savanna and arid zones. They are on the IUCN endangered species list with only 6,600 adults left in 39 sub-populations.








Absolutely amazing animals to observe, but just from the car!

 #MCM #mammalsarefreakingawesome #mammalogy2014 #Africanwilddog

References:

Lindblad-Toh, K., Wade, C. M., Mikkelsen, T. S., Karlsson, E. K., Jaffe, D. B., Kamal, M., ... & Mauceli, E. (2005). Genome sequence, comparative analysis and haplotype structure of the domestic dog. Nature, 438(7069), 803-819.