African Hunting Dog (Lycaon pictus)

Watching hunting dogs on their hunt is not difficult because they do not mind being watched. In the Serengeti and the Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania, where game is plentiful, the dogs hunt only from 6:30 to 8:00 a.m., and from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. They usually spend their day in their caverns, which were probably dug by aardvarks or wart hogs, or in the shade of trees in small groups (Grzimek, 1990, p. 133). If a single animal has an urge to hunt, it joins a group and engages them in play. The dog will then trot off to the quarry, but if the other dogs do not follow, then the dog who wanted to hunt will return to the group. Individual dogs do not hunt alone.

Hunting dogs attack their quarry only by sight and not be smell. They do not pay attention to the wind direction, and unlike lions or leopards, they do not try to take advantage of cover. The pack trots inconspicuously through an area, staying as close to the quarry as possible. If the quarry is running at a distance over 960 feet, the dogs will generally not follow. Otherwise, the lead dog will chase after the gazelles, who can run as fast

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Fuller & Kat, 1993, p. 466). Variation in hunting abilities or preferences of individual dogs may influence success, as well. Capture success of zebras was relatively high in the Serengeti, where one pack seemed to specialize in killing zebras (Malcolm & van Lawick, 1975). Most likely as a result of the variation in prey and selection, pack size and composition, and individual hunting abilities, overall hunting success (all prey species combined) has varied widely among other studies, with the Aitong pack correlating those results. For example, similar to the Aitong pack, Schaller (1972) reported that 95 percent of 65 morning hunts and 81 percent of 47 evening hunts, or 89 percent of hunts overall, were successful. Intuitively, opportunities for successful capture are increased with increased prey density, and in the Aitong pack's range prey densities were high. Also, the relatively high capture success by the Aitong pack, both by species and overall, likely reflected the large size of the pack. Large size of the pack increased the chances of capture per pack hunt, and indeed, five of 37 pack hunts of Thomson's gazelle in the Aitong study resulted in two to three simultaneous kills. However, abrupt changes in pack size
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