About the Author

Kyle Gordon

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Kyle was born and raised in the Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe. His childhood was spent scurrying barefooted along the banks of various rivers and dams, fishing rod ever-in-hand, enjoying the beauty and freedom of outdoors. Kyle obtained a degree in construction from UCT ...

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on The Painted Wolf

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Senior Digital Ranger

How special to see wild dogs! Thank you for sharing this.

Fantastic and beautiful animals. Always a joy to spend time with them.
Will not forget my first Wild Dog encounter which was at Londolozi in 2014. Adults returning to a den and feeding pups just as a herd of elephants moved through with ensuing chaos as elephants tried to chase dogs who just skipped out of the way around the vehicle.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhole
Hi, very well written, here i join a link to their strict relatives, the Asian Dholes. Where I live there are real wolves, European ones https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurasian_wolf they are quite different. In Africa you have the absolutely wonderful Ethiopian wolves, they are maybe the most beautiful on earth and surely the most endangered. I hope human beings will be able to co-exist with the other species some day. There are many problems with European wolves at the moment, they are about to be deleted from the protection and so killed, as they have been killed a lot of farm animals. Unfortunately when wild animals learn not to fear humans this is the logical consequence. They must stay wild and keep far from anything that involves humans this is valid for any species in the world

Senior Digital Ranger

Encompassing Blog post Kyle alerting us again to the good, the bad and the ugly ways of the Bushveld. May the Wild Dogs thrive!!!

Kyle, thank you for updating me on the wild dogs of Africa. Helping the species survive should continue to be a focus for all.

Amazing characteristics of the pack. Kudos to all who protect.

Love the wild dogs…the one canine we didn’t get to see on our safari 🙁 We hope to see their numbers increase so that we can see them next visit!

Thank you for this informative post today Kyle as I had no idea there are only 280 Painted Dogs in greater Kruger Park. Now I’m feeling fortunate to have viewed them on each of my visits to Londolozi. It’s good to know the Boucher Conservation group is actively looking out for this endangered species and hopefully with the help from the other organizations, we can see their numbers increase.

Seeing those 19 puppies at Londolozi last year was an absolute highlight!
Wild dogs’ hunting strategies are admirable though, of course, one pities their victims.
I hope to be able to watch more packs of wild dogs in the future.

Painted dogs are a unique specimen and well loved by all visitors. Hearing their wimps and high pitched sounds of excitement makes the on looker an even better sighting. They are so full of energy en as you say Kyle their strategy for hunting is exceptional. Pups are so cute and each dog has it’s own special markings.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_wolf
Sorry, I forgot to mention your second wolf species, after the Ethiopian Wolf that is phylogenetically closer to Wild Dogs, (actually Wild Dogs are in between Asian Dogs, Dholes, and Jackals). African wolves are very interesting and the conservation moves have been working together with the Eurasian Wolves strategies to try to reduce predation on livestock, compensation to farmers etc. Saying one species is “useful to the ecological balance ” is no help to farmers that base they survival on sheep, goat and so on. The same problem occurs with all predators. By us the Brown Bears by you all big cats and hyenas…

Love the article. Especially love Stoff’s picture of all the pups and Robert’s picture of the adults against the sky! We are anxious to continue our search for more cats & dogs, and cubs & pups … just hope these guys hand around long enough to follow the chase again!

My all time favorites!!!

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