As mentioned briefly in a previous post, yesterday was a very exciting day for us, because we found a wild dog den site! This is the den for the Bedford pack; although the original Bedford pack has split into many groups, this pack is the one with the original alpha female and therefore remains the Bedford pack (all the other packs will get new names).
Wild dog den site
We managed to access the den by vehicle, which allowed us to approach much more closely than if we had to go in by foot, as the dogs are not afraid of the vehicle. We saw all the dogs nicely. There are 13 in total; a mixture of adults, yearlings and last years pups.
Some of the Bedford Pack at their den
The alpha female, Pointer, has clearly had her litter already – she has lost her huge stomach and is clearly lactating. The tiny pups will remain in the den for about the first three weeks of their life, so we should hopefully see them around mid-May. We will be putting camera traps at the den to record the exact date of first emergence of the pups, and I will post photos of them just as soon as they emerge. They really are utterly adorable, and I can’t wait to see them. I just hope they manage to steer clear of lions – they’ve denned in an area with quite a large lion population and lions frequently kill entire litters of wild dog pups. But this is a very experienced alpha female and a reasonable sized pack, so hopefully they should be able to defend the pups should it be necessary. I’ll keep you posted on their progress.
Sadly we noticed one the yearling females – a beautiful dog named Mushroom – has an injury on her back. It doesn’t look too bad though, and I suspect she will recover naturally, although we will keep a close eye on her.
Injured wild dog yearling, Mushroom
Back soon,
Rosemary
One Comment
Well done on the find.