Painted Wolves (aka African Wild Dogs aka Cape Hunting Dogs) are the most desired large predator sighting in Kruger Park by regular visitors. We’ve been fantastically lucky to see them on most visits in the last decade. Packs are frequently wiped out by diseases of domestic dogs. Only the slow process of evolution or a genetic vaccine will restore them to the numbers they enjoyed in the late 19th Century.
Dogs are always dogs. They love to play. They love to support and socialise. The painted wolf second from right has clearly been released from a poacher’s snare by the brilliant South African National Parks Board Staff. Despite the ugly gash, closeups reveal that it’s scarring over and healing nicely.
Our painted wolf is the most dramatic dog in the world. Like their distant cousins in the frigid North, they’re superb pack hunters. Even at this early age, they learn to work together as the most lethal mammalian hunting team there is. Unfortunately, they have no resistance against canine distemper that inevitably spreads among them from domestic dogs - wiping out entire packs at a stroke and reducing the numbers of this apex predator to a handful. Perhaps one day they’ll figure out a genetic vaccine that can be passed down from mother to pup. This is an old one from December 2012.
In case y’all are sick of birds, here are some of the painted wolves we saw a half hour ago. Always worth getting through the huge clusters of cars to see them behave just like dogs do. They’re so vulnerable to diseases from domestic dogs that it’s a special privilege to see these rare hunters.