Rabies and African wild dogs in Kenya

In despotically driven animal societies, one or a few individuals tend to have a disproportionate influence on group decision-making and actions. However, global communication allows each group member to assess the relative strength of preferences for different options among their group-mates. Here, we investigate collective decisions by free-ranging African wild dog packs in Botswana. African wild dogs exhibit dominant-directed group living and take part in stereotyped social rallies: high energy greeting ceremonies that occur before collective movements. Not all rallies result in collective movements, for reasons that are not well understood. We show that the probability of rally success (i.e. group departure) is predicted by a minimum number of audible rapid nasal exhalations (sneezes), within the rally. Moreover, the number of sneezes needed for the group to depart (i.e. the quorum) was reduced whenever dominant individuals initiated rallies, suggesting that dominant participation increases the likelihood of a rally's success, but is not a prerequisite. As such, the ‘will of the group’ may override dominant preferences when the consensus of subordinates is sufficiently great. Our findings illustrate how specific behavioural mechanisms (here, sneezing) allow for negotiation (in effect, voting) that shapes decision-making in a wild, socially complex animal society.

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A Case Study Exploring the Use of Virtual Reality in the Zoo Context

Animal Behavior and Cognition ◽

10.26451/abc.08.04.09.2021 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 8 (4) ◽

pp. 576-588

Author(s):

Zsuzsa Lugosi ◽

Phyllis C. Lee

Keyword(s):

Virtual Reality ◽

Natural Habitat ◽

Descriptive Analysis ◽

Natural World ◽

Structured Interviews ◽

Zoological Society ◽

African Wild Dogs ◽

Video Condition ◽

Entertainment Value ◽

Wild Dogs

Virtual Reality (VR) is now a popular tool in education and for engagement with the natural world, but to date little research has investigated its potential in a zoo setting. We aimed to gauge the interest of the visiting public in using VR technology at Royal Zoological Society of Scotland’s (RZSS) Edinburgh Zoo. A VR (n = 12) and a video condition (n = 12), both introducing the lives and conservation concerns of African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus), were used to gain greater insight of the thoughts and perceptions of how individuals evaluated a purpose-built VR experience and to enable comparisons of learning outcomes for both technologies. We used semi-structured interviews; responses were evaluated through thematic analysis and descriptive analysis. Younger participants (aged 13-18 years) emphasized that VR allowed them close and personal access to the animals. Adult participants (aged 19 and above) pointed out the entertainment value of the VR experience while highlighting the potential of its educational aspect; that of enabling visitors to see animals in their natural habitat. While our results require further confirmation due to the limited sample size and restricted circumstances of data collection, we suggest that VR could be usefully introduced as a public education and visitor engagement tool that would benefit the visitors’ learning and overall experience at the zoo.

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Risk of contact between endangered African wild dogs Lycaon pictus and domestic dogs: opportunities for pathogen transmission

Journal of Applied Ecology ◽

10.1111/j.1365-2664.2011.02059.x ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 48 (6) ◽

pp. 1345-1354 ◽

Cited By ~ 37

Author(s):

Rosie Woodroffe ◽

Christl A. Donnelly

Keyword(s):

Pathogen Transmission ◽

Domestic Dogs ◽

Lycaon Pictus ◽

African Wild Dogs ◽

Wild Dogs

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Compassionate Conservation: Exploring the Lives of African Wild Dogs (Lycaon pictus) in Botswana

Animals ◽

10.3390/ani9010016 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 9 (1) ◽

pp. 16 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Valli-Laurente Fraser-Celin ◽

Alice J. Hovorka

Keyword(s):

Participant Observation ◽

Biological Research ◽

Observation Data ◽

Lycaon Pictus ◽

Starting Point ◽

Animal Geography ◽

African Wild Dogs ◽

Animal Welfare Science ◽

Wild Dogs ◽

Animal Subjectivity

This paper argues for a more compassionate conservation by positioning animals as subjects in research and scholarship. Compassionate conservation is a multidisciplinary field of study that broadly attends to the ethical dimensions of conservation by merging conservation biology and animal welfare science. However, animal geography is rarely discussed in the compassionate conservation scholarship despite sharing similar tenets. This paper argues that responsible anthropomorphism and animal geography concepts of animal subjectivity (lived experiences) and agency (capacity to act) positions African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) as subjects in conservation research and scholarship. It merges biological research, public communication, and interview and participant observation data to present wild dogs as thinking, feeling, self-conscious animals with agency, and whose welfare is negatively affected in human-dominated landscapes in Botswana. This paper argues for more attention to be paid to animal subjectivity and agency to foster more compassionate relations with wildlife. It argues that positioning animals as subjects in research and scholarship is an ethical starting point for moving compassionate conservation forward. This ‘enriched’ scholarly approach moves us closer to appreciating the lives of wildlife and the complexity of their circumstances and experiences.

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Dog appeasing pheromone prevents the androgen surge and may reduce contact dominance and active submission after stressful interventions in African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus)

PLoS ONE ◽

10.1371/journal.pone.0212551 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 14 (3) ◽

pp. e0212551

Author(s):

Femke Van den Berghe ◽

Monique C. J. Paris ◽

Zoltan Sarnyai ◽

Bart Vlamings ◽

Robert P. Millar ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Lycaon Pictus ◽

African Wild Dogs ◽

Wild Dogs

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Assessing the risks of intervention: immobilization, radio-collaring and vaccination of African wild dogs

Oryx ◽

10.1046/j.1365-3008.2001.00186.x ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 35 (3) ◽

pp. 234-244 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Rosie Woodroffe

Keyword(s):

Rabies Virus ◽

Lycaon Pictus ◽

Full Data ◽

Serengeti Ecosystem ◽

African Wild Dogs ◽

Wild Dog ◽

Wild Dogs ◽

Rabies Vaccination ◽

Future Management

AbstractControversy has surrounded the role of intervention in studies of African wild dogs Lycaon pictus. Following the death or disappearance of all wild dogs under study in the Serengeti ecosystem, it was suggested that immobilization, radio-collaring or administration of rabies vaccines might have caused high mortality by compromising wild dogs′ immune response to rabies virus. Planning future management and research on wild dogs and other species demands an assessment of the risks associated with such intervention. This paper critically reviews the available evidence and concludes that it is extremely unlikely that intervention contributed to the extinction of wild dogs in the Serengeti ecosystem. A more likely scenario is that vaccination failed to protect wild dogs exposed to rabies virus. Radio-collaring is an important component of wild dog research; hence, the benefits of immobilization appear to outweigh the risks, as long as (i) research is orientated towards wild dog conservation, (ii) radiocollaring is followed up by efficient monitoring, (iii) the number of animals immobilized is kept to the minimum necessary to maintain scientific rigour, and (iv) full data on disease and genetics are collected from all immobilized animals. By contrast, rabies vaccination currently seems to confer few benefits, at least when a single dose of vaccine is given. Further research, on captive animals, is in progress to establish more effective protocols, and to assess the role that vaccination might play in future management of wild dog populations.

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