Zimbabwe Wild Dogs

Exciting news!!

We have confirmed the formation of a new pack of wild dogs!!

Admittedly it’s a very small pack – only two dogs at the moment – but every pack has to start somewhere, and we are thrilled by the discovery.

We became aware of the new pack last week, after Rueben managed to get photos of the dogs.  On looking at the photos, I knew immediately that I recognized both dogs but it took me a few minutes to confirm which ones they were.

These are the pictures Rueben took:

Even though the only photos of the female were sitting down in water, I was able to identify her as Mushroom, a female that was born in 2008 and has since been a member of three different packs, the last being the Pita Pack which she founded with two of her sisters.  She’s clearly decided it’s now her turn to breed!!

The male is from the Nyarushanga Pack, where he was the beta male in 2011.

We’ve called the pack Nzungu, which means ‘nut’ in Shona (don’t ask!) and look forward to following their progress as the denning season approaches.

Here’s the pack’s new (blissfully simple!) identikit:

We hope to see many more new packs forming over the next month or two.  I’ll keep you posted,

Rosemary