In August, I wrote of my startling encounter with a lone wild dog that was discovered interacting with Hyenas at their den close to camp. He was found chasing the young cubs around, and whining when they wouldn’t chase him.
This enigmatic, solo dog granted me the privilege again, just a few days ago. We came across him quite by chance while tracking a male cheetah. A most unfamiliar, high-pitched sound disturbed the quiet bush, and at first I thought it might be a distressed bird. But Richard Dlamini, the tracker I work with, knew exactly what it was. Wild Dog!! Aaaah, I had heard this strange sound before, but its rarity is more famous than the sound itself! We raced to the area where we thought the noise was coming from: when mobile, Wild Dogs are known to be able to cover the entire length of Londolozi in minutes, so a little speed was necessary.
When we found the lone dog, he was walking with great purpose and calling into the ground as he walked, which was intriguing enough in itself. After about 5 minutes, he lifted his head and we spotted an approaching Hyena, running to see what all the noise was about. This excited the dog strikingly and he ran towards the hyena. The greeting was almost playful and the hyena became very submissive. At one stage the pair touched noses together. It was only when another hyena came onto the scene that the dynamic changed: spurred on by the companionship, the wild dog gave chase to the two hyenas, and we could only follow, struggling to keep up. Eventually, the hyenas paused, exhausted from the chase.
Out of the woodwork crept another 5 hyenas, and the wild dog decided that his playful game was deteriorating into a rather dangerous scenario. Abruptly, he turned tail and ran north with 7 hyenas in hot pursuit. Each time he stopped and the hyenas caught up, he would whine and yelp, in an apparently desperate and lonely cry for friends.
I have not seen this wild dog since, but await the next encounter excitedly…who knows, perhaps it will be with another clan of hyenas as mates.
Written and Filmed by Sean Carter
Wow that truly is incredible….:)
Thanks Sean
What an awesome sighting Seano!! Great writing too.
Do you think the wild dog was exiled from his pack for some reason? Do you think he tries to befriend other wild dogs as well? Since wild dogs are so social, he must feel very lonely.
Hi Leslie,
I have definately seen this male with the pack before, but it seems as if he has been exiled of late. Wild Dogs do often leave their natal pack to form new packs, but they usually do it in groups of males or females. If there were other Dogs who wanted to meet up with him, they would then call back.
Thanks
Sean
So interesting. I saw another interesting inter-species interaction between a Wild Dog and two Black-backed Jackals in Botswana. The lonely female had formed a relationship with two jackals. She even regurgitated for their pups. Link to story below. Part of that story not mentioned in the blog post was that there were also two hyenas that the dog-jackal family remained close to in some sort of symbiotic relationship.
http://www.roarafrica.com/blog.aspx?ctl00%24HeadContent%24q=wild+dog+jackal
rob thanks for posting the link, I have heard of this interaction before, specifically because it is recurring event. rich
Poor baby–so confused. He should be happy he’s in Londolozli among friends.
HELLO
WHY IS THIS WILD DOG MAKING THAT NOISE?…. IS HE CALLING TO HIS PACK LIKE LIONS DO?…
UHM…
Hi Thelma,
He is calling for his pack mates. Wild Dogs often get separated during a hunt and this is one of the ways they relocate one another. In this instance, instead of other his own kind responding, the Hyenas did.
Sean
Companionship: everyone needs it… Awesome video.
We don’t believe that happened the day we left you……not fair! Truly awesome.
We saw lone male dog at Chitwa ( after leaving you – an amazing 3 days with Richie and Oxide!) around the lodge area and also following scent of pack of 12 dogs we had followed the night before. He was happily chasing giraffe ! Wonder if it was the same one? p.s please pass to Richie Ferrier the news that Alex’s 2nd wobbly tooth finally came out yesterday- definitely not so impressive as in front of the male lions!!Boys counting days until we can return although definitely not self-drive next time- navigating north east of Thulamahashe using a childs compass as no gps loading was not ideal!!! Luckily no more punctures though!
Looks like he’s attempting to do some lip-licking with the hyena !
such a sad cry when they are lost or separated :
(.
Interesting story. Thanks for sharing, pal.