African Wild Dog | African Hunting Dog
by TerriRexson
The African Wild Dog or African Hunting dog is a beautiful animal. Sadly now endangered, there are only a few thousand of these animals left. Learn all about the African Wild Dog.
Lycaon Pictus the Painted Dog
The Dog with Many Names
The African Wild Dog is a creature of many names. He's also known as an African Hunting Dog. My older son loves these dogs and has a toy one that had to be called African Wild Hunting Dog in full for a long time, now he's just African, which is much shorter!
The Latin name Lycaon Pictus means painted wolf and Painted Dog is another common name - just take a look at one of the pictures on this page to see why. The mix of black, white and tan on these dogs is very pretty. He's also known as the Cape Hunting Dog.
Wow that's a lot of names for one dog!
African Wild Dogs Eating Meat
My own photo
 African Wild Dogs Eating Meat |
African Wild Hunting Dogs are Endangered
Unfortunately, African Wild Hunting Dogs are endangered. Theses animals live only in Africa and there are only a few thousand of them left.
Conservationists are working to save them. And many zoos around the world keep African Wild Dogs as part of the effort to save the species. The African Wild Dog is one of my son's favorite animals. He chose a toy one at a zoo gift shop (they didn't have wild dogs at that zoo) and it became one of his favorite toys. He wanted to see real Painted Dogs.
We found a zoo not too far away where we could visit a pack. We stayed overnight and visited two days in a row. Each day we went to watch the dogs being fed - he loves carnivores. My son was fascinated as they searched for and then devoured their meat. He asked the keeper what the meat was, it was horse. (See photo above.)
We donated money to the conservation effort. There may only be 3500 of these creatures left and they are spread out in various locations across Africa. I do hope these animals don't become extinct in my son's lifetime.
African Wild Dog Poster
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African Wild Dog Book
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| In Search of the African Wild Dog Jonathan Ball Publishing |
How Can You Help the African Wild Dogs?
African Wild Dog Conservation Charities
African Wild Dog Video
Learn more about African Hunting Dogs
More Photos of African Hunting Dogs
These dogs are very distinctive with their colored patches and big rounded ears. When we were watching them at the zoo, two girls came along next to my younger son, then 2.5 and said look at those Hyenas. He turned to them and said, "they aren't Hynenas (not a typo!), they are African Wild Hunting Dogs."
Let's take a look at some gorgeous pictures of Painted Dogs. Definitely not hyenas!
African Wild Dog Pictures
Some gorgeous Painted Dogs to look at
 A Lion in the Mara ! |  African Wild Hunting Dog |
 Cat |  Africa |
 Lollipop delle CaseRosse |  Lollipop delle CaseRosse |
I want to color an African Hunting Dog
My son asked for an African Hunting Dog to color in. He wanted one where he could color the patches himself. Here are our favorites.
African Wild Dog Coloring Pages
African Wild Dog Coloring Page
My son liked this painted dog coloring page because he could color in the patches himself.
African Wild Dog with Facts Coloring Page
An excellent educational African Wild Dog coloring page by Nick Upton.
African Wild Dog Toys
African Wild Dog Toys
African Wild Dog Toy figures and cuddly plush wild dogs.
Lycaon Pictus
On wikipedia
More African Animals
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I Hope you Enjoyed the African Wild Dogs
Very well put WordCustard!
Such a beautiful animal. This article is so informative, I love that you have included ways to help.
Thanks for introducing me to the African Wild Dog, it's so sad that while people breed ever more exotic dogs and cats (often with resulting health problems) their wild counterparts who have evolved perfectly in tune with their environment are being driven to extinction.