After being fortunate enough to view the wildlife of Londolozi and the Sabi Sands for a few years now, one starts to question the status quo of what we thought we once knew. This is specifically true in the case of wild dogs, often referred to as painted wolves, and their general movement within the Sabi Sand and its surrounds. Having seen the same packs of wild dogs regularly got me thinking about whether or not they are territorial.

The wild dogs of a pack of eight began hunting with their heads held low with Varty Camp in the background.

What is Territorial Behaviour?

Territorial behaviour refers to the tendency of animals to defend a specific area against intruders of the same species. This behaviour is common in many species that we find at Londolozi, including leopards, lions, and hyenas. Animals defend their territory for a variety of reasons, such as access to food, water, or mates. Generally speaking, if an animal is not territorial, we will refer to them as occupying a home range. The main difference is that a home range will not be defended, but rather the resources within it will be shared. With this in mind, let’s delve into the behaviour of wild dogs.

Wild dogs will often chase each other playfully when they get to the water.

The Behaviour of Wild Dogs

Wild dogs are highly social animals and live in packs averaging around 15 individuals, but there have been records of packs of up to 40 individuals. Within the pack, there is a clear social hierarchy, with the alpha male and female being the leaders of the pack. Wild dogs are known for their cooperative hunting behaviour, in which all members of the pack work together to bring down their prey. This behaviour results from their social structure and their need to hunt larger prey than themselves.

Wild dogs are crepuscular animals that are predominantly active in the early mornings and late evenings, when temperatures are cooler. The cooler temperatures make it easier for them to regulate their body temperature while covering significant distances while hunting. The range a pack will move between is between 200 and 2000 square kilometres. With such large distances, it begs the question of whether they scent-mark and defend such large territories.

Do Wild Dogs Scent-Mark?

Wild dogs do scent-mark and will do so primarily for communication. Communication both within their pack as well as communicating with other wild dogs from different packs. Individuals within a pack will consistently investigate the scent marks with greater intensity when the scent marks are from the dominant dog, overmarked by its mate. This behaviour is essential in maintaining the social hierarchy within the pack.

When on the move in the early morning and evening wild dogs generally move in single file.

Interestingly, researchers have found significant differences in the chemical composition of scent marks between males and females. Through this, they have been able to establish that males tend to scent mark around the boundaries of their territories, whereas females tend to scent mark within their boundaries. The fact that the males are scent-marking in this manner leads me to believe that, in actual fact, wild dogs are territorial, but perhaps not in the traditional sense of the word.

What would the benefits be of scent marking in this manner?

Having witnessed two wild dog packs interacting before, there is certainly aggression between the individuals of each pack. Altercations between wild animals are more often than not a last resort because these can lead to injuries. Injuries in the wild can jeopardise the longevity of an individual or even have an impact on the livelihood of the pack. So for this reason, it is important for a pack to know if they are entering the territory of another so that they can reduce the likelihood of coming into contact with each other.

Roads are often good places to find wild dogs as they use these as highways to cover vast distances within their territories.

As with all territorial species, there will almost always be an overlap of territories. Even though animals will scent mark along a boundary, these boundaries are not fixed lines marked in the sand, so to speak. Naturally, in areas with higher population densities of wild dogs, there will be either more pressure on each pack to stick to their own territory or there will be further overlap between territories. Through a recent study, a correlation between the relatedness of the alpha dogs in different packs and their potential to overlap their territories was established. Related packs spent a significant amount more time in overlapping territories than unrelated packs.

How do we then define the territoriality of wild dogs?

If the traditional sense of territoriality is that an animal is protecting their territory from another animal of the same species in order to maximise their access to resources within that territory, then how does this differ from what wild dogs are protecting? My opinion is that wild dogs are protecting themselves and the other individuals within their pack as opposed to the actual land and its resources. Sure, the resources of a specific area will play a part in where they establish their territories, but with the distances that they cover, they will naturally pass through areas with variable game densities. The fact that related packs overlap more frequently means that, overall, they are trying to avoid confrontations with totally unknown packs to reduce the chance of injury through confrontation.

This wild dog pup watches the rest of its siblings play in a mud wallow.

In conclusion, the fact that we see the same few packs of wild dogs that tend to traverse their way through the Sabi Sand means that they are sticking to a territory, they just aren’t defending it. Wild dogs, therefore, are territorial, just not in the traditional sense of the word.