Hi folks,
Sadly one of our adult female wild dogs was killed by lions a couple of days ago. Rueben was following the spoor of an un-collared pack (Teddy Pack) to try and locate the dogs when he came across the fresh carcass.
African wild dog killed by lions
It is the female named Koala that left the other dogs of the Teddy Pack a month ago and formed a new pack with one other male. It seems like the dogs had killed an impala and were resting by a water pan when the lions showed up. The puncture wounds on her body were clearly visible.
Koala - adult female wild dog killed by lions
Lions are the greatest cause of natural mortality in wild dog populations – most often killing pups at the den sites, although they will kill adult dogs if they come across them. As you can see from the photos, they do not usually eat the dogs – it’s simply a means of eliminating a competitor.
Shame, poor old dogs. They are severely threatened by human causes – snaring, habitat loss, active persecution, road kills etc, and then nature adds its burden on top. I think we are going to see a lot of this in the next few years, as the lion population in the conservancy is increasing dramatically. Always an interesting conservation problem when you have one valuable species killing another.
Back soon,
Rosemary
Just a reminder: Anyone wanting to donate to this project to assist our efforts to conserve the wild dogs can do so by clicking on the link to the African Wildlife Conservation Fund on the left hand side of this page (scroll down), and using the donate button on that page.
9 Comments
Rosemary, did you ever attend to such a behaviour? I am surprised that so many Wil Dogs are killed by lions : they seem so fast and agile. I mean specially in such a situation of a pair without a den and pups that would slow them down. Is it an accidental encounter or are they stalked like a prey ? If it is the former : Lions are not specially silent when they move on(except when they are stalking a prey), how it comes they are not detected early enough to let WD escape ?
I’m so sorry that the poor dog was killed by lions. Very tough when they are in such difficulties. At the same time, though, it is good to hear the news that the lion population is increasing so much, as there has been so much bad news about lions elsewhere lately. As you say, an interesting problem to have!
Hi Jerome,
I have never witnessed a lion killing wild dogs. But it certainly does happen and is indeed considered to be the highest cause of natural mortality in wild dog populations. It’s not all that unlikely that a lion would be able to kill an adult dog when it was just resting by a pan. Even I manage to creep right up to them when they are sleeping and the wind is right, and I’m sure I make far more noise than a lion! I suspect they were tired from the hunt and feeling fat and lazy from stuffing themselves with impala, and just did not react quickly enough.
The lions would not have been stalking the dogs – it would have been an accidental encounter, with the lions just attacking to eliminate a potentially competitive predator.
But yes, you are right that wild dogs are faster and more agile than lions, and I’m sure they do escape on many occasions. The biggest threat from lions is at the dens, where they will kill entire litters of pups and often several of the adults defending the pups.
Rosemary
Thanks for your informations Rosemary.
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wild dogs kill much smaller stray cats all the time, so who cares if bigger cats kill these same dogs. this is nature.
Hi John,
Yes, indeed it is natural for wild dogs to be killed by lions. It doesn’t mean one should not care, rather than one should probably not intervene even if given the chance. Although when you are dealing with such an endangered species there are some who would argue that you should try and intervene.
I have never known African wild dogs to kill ‘smaller stray cats’, and although it is possible that this does happen on rare occasions, it by no means happens ‘all the time’. Wild dogs are largely confined to protected areas (with few stray cats) and when they do move outside, they largely avoid human settlements except in a few cases where they will kill livestock. But I would be very interested to hear of proven examples where African wild dogs have been recorded to kill stray cats, so let me know where you have heard this.
Thanks,
Rosemary
Rosemary, do wild dogs ever kill lions? I have heard that large packs will sometimes attack and kill very old lions, injured lions, and young lions?
I wouldn’t have thought wild dogs would be bothered expending valuable energy in chasing something as small as a stray cat. I don’t think a stray cat would be a sitting target either. The only time I have seen wild dogs is sadly in Dublin zoo. I was amazed at the size of them, the fantastic colours and the friendliness to humans!
I don’t believe wild dogs would go out of their way to attack ol, injured or young lions. Even in that state a lion would inflict terrible damage.