Endangered wild dogs wolf down biscuits at preserve in South Africa
A pack of endangered African Wild Dogs were filmed gorging on some biscuits at a reserve in South Africa in a veritable feeding frenzy.
This pack of five is kept on the privately-owned De Wildt Cheetah Research Centre in a large, naturally-vegetated enclosure, where they are fed dog biscuits.
Botha, the dogs’ keeper feeds them dog biscuits in a large steel tray. The dogs gulp the biscuits down in seconds, without chewing them, then return to the feeding tray a few times to lick up scraps. When the feeding frenzy is over, the dogs cooled off in a shallow pool.
The African Wild Dog or African Painted Dog (Lycaon pictus) is sub-Saharan Africa’s most endangered large predator, surviving only in large reserves.
African Wild Dogs are about the size of German Shepherds, and each animal has a unique pattern of tan, black and white markings on its fur.
Wild Dogs unusually live in open country and are specialised hunters, living in packs usually numbering 10-15 individuals although this pack was about 40.
