General Description:

The African Painted Dog is a slender, long-legged carnivore with large round ears.  They have a body length of 120 cm (3.9 feet).  Their coats are blotched with orange-yellow, brown, and black with white throats.  They are highly social animal, living in packs with separate dominance hierarchies for males and females.  

The species is a specialized diurnal hunter of antelope, which it catches by chasing them to exhaustion. They regurgitate food for its young, but this action is also extended to adults. It has few natural predators, though lions are a major source of mortality, and spotted hyenas are frequent kleptoparasites.

Their population is currently estimated at approximately 6,600 adults in 39 subpopulations, of which only 1,400 are mature individuals. Population size is continuing to decline because of ongoing habitat fragmentation, conflict with human activities, and infectious disease.

Diet:

They hunt by approaching prey silently then chasing it in a pursuit at 66 km/h (41 mph) for 10 to 60 minutes. The average chase typically only goes as far as 2 km (1.2 mile), during which time the prey animal is repeatedly bitten until it stops running, smaller prey is simply pulled down and torn apart. Small prey is eaten entirely, while large animals are stripped of their meat and organs, with the skin, head and skeleton left intact. The African wild dog is a fast eater with a consumption rate of 1.2–5.9 kg (2.6-13 lbs.) per African wild dog a day. 

Behavior:

Wild dogs live in packs of six to 20. The dogs have a rather playful ceremony that bonds them for a common purpose and initiates each hunt. They start the hunt in an organised, cooperative manner. When prey is targeted, some of the dogs run close to the animal, while others follow behind, taking over when the leader is tired. They are the most efficient hunters.   They have elaborated greeting rituals, accompanied by twittering and whining. Their large range of vocalisations includes a short bark of alarm, a rallying howl and a bell-like contact call that can be heard over long distances.

Reproduction:

Mating Season: Throughout the year peaking between March-June.
Gestation: Around 70 days.
Litter size: 2-19 pups.

Pups are usually born in an abandoned den.  Only the alpha female breeds.  Weaning starts at 2 weeks and is completed at 10 weeks.

Fast facts:

• Height:  75 cm (2.4 feet)
  Weight: 20-36 kg (44-79 lbs.) 
• Speed: 66 km/h (41 mph) 
• Lifespan: 10-12 years

Did you know?

• The African Wild Dog is listed as Endangered.
• The African Wild Dog is also known as Painted Hunting Dog or Cape Hunting Dog. 
• No two wild dpgs are marked the same.  
• No two wild dogs are marked exactly the same, making it easy to identify different individuals. 
• Wild dogs are usually on the move in their range except when there is a litter born, then they will limit their travelling. 

We are delighted to share this information about the African Civet with you. Because of their rarity and generally very little known by the general public we have decided to help improve their number by adding them to our Ambassador Species at the Education Center. We have had successful breeding and releases on the reserve.

The African civet is a mammal that is closely related to weasels and mongooses. This animal is widely distributed in Sub-Saharan Africa (from Senegal in the west to Somalia on the eastern coast and Botswana and Namibia on the south). African civet inhabits all areas that provide enough water, food, and shelter. It usually lives in mountain and lowland forests, swamps and savannas. The African civet is threatened by habitat loss and deforestation.

They are mostly nocturnal mammals. Historically the African Civet has been the main species from which a musky scent used in perfumery was obtained.

General Description:

Civets have a broadly cat-like general appearance, though the muzzle is extended and often pointed, rather like that of an otter. They range in length from about 43 to 71 cm (17 to 28 in) (excluding their long tails) and in weight from about 1.4 to 4.5 kg (3 to 10 lbs.).

Both male and female civets produce the strong-smelling musk secretion, which is produced by the civet’s perineal glands.

Diet:

Civets are omnivores or even herbivores. Depending on the availability of food they will forage on different fruits, berries and around carrion for grubs.  Many species primarily eat fruit. Some also use flower nectar as a major source of energy.

Reproduction:

In captivity, the female is reproductively mature at around the age of one. It’s unknown whether this age is the same in the wild. Facts about reproduction have been discovered by observing captive animals.

Females are polyestrous, which means they can have more than one litter in a year. A female may give birth to two to three litters in the same year. Their gestation is between sixty to seventy days where after a litter of one to four cubs is born. The cubs are completely furred and are mostly black. The cubs can crawl immediately after being born. The mother has 6 nipples on which the cubs nurse for four to six weeks. They are completely weaned around fourteen to sixteen weeks. African civets can live for fifteen to twenty years in captivity.