A safari’s high point is seeing an African wild dog. However, this threatened carnivore was historically categorized as a pest, despised for its alleged “cruelty,” and immediately killed by both game wardens and farmers.

We now understand the value of its complex social systems and ability to hunt. This is fortunate since it needs all the buddies it can get, as there are just 5,000 left in Africa.

Of all canids, the African wild dog has the greatest litter size, with an average of 10; extraordinary litter sizes of up to nineteen have been documented.

The “copulatory tie,” in which a male and female are linked together after mating to maximize the odds of fertilization, is something that only African wild dogs do not experience.
Of all the major predators in Africa, African wild dogs have the highest hunting success rate, up to 80%, more than twice that of lions.

In the past, there were over 500,000 African wild dogs, and bands of up to 100 were not unusual.
The “dewclaw,” an elevated fifth digit present in other species, is absent from the African wild dog, making it the only dog with only four toes on the front paws.