Four-week old African wild dog pups, Gowrie, Mpumalanga province

Found only in Africa, especially in savannas and other lightly wooded areas, the African wild dog is also called the Painted Hunting Dog, African Hunting Dog, the Cape Hunting Dog, the Spotted Dog, or the Painted Wolf in English, Wildehond in Afrikaans, and Mbwa mwitu in Swahili.

While there were once approximately 500,000 African Wild Dogs in 39 countries, and packs of 100 or more were not uncommon, now there are only about 3,000-5,500 in fewer than 25 countries.



PHOTO SOURCE: Lex Hes, courtesy of, and copyright, South Africa Tourism, a department of the government of South Africa, used with permission.

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