scholarly journals An Infectious Disease and Mortality Survey in a Population of Free-Ranging African Wild Dogs and Sympatric Domestic Dogs

2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Flacke ◽  
P. Becker ◽  
D. Cooper ◽  
M. Szykman Gunther ◽  
I. Robertson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Rabies Virus ◽  
Domestic Animal ◽  
Domestic Dogs ◽  
Domestic Dog ◽  
Animal Populations ◽  
African Wild Dogs ◽  
Wild Dog ◽  
Mortality Survey ◽  
Wild Dogs ◽  
Free Ranging

Disease can cause declines in wildlife populations and significantly threaten their survival. Recent expansion of human and domestic animal populations has made wildlife more susceptible to transmission of pathogens from domestic animal hosts. We conducted a pathogen surveillance and mortality survey for the population of African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), South Africa, from January 2006–February 2007. Samples were obtained from 24 wild dogs for canine distemper virus (CDV) and canine parvovirus (CPV) serological testing. Data were collected on the presence of CDV, CPV, and rabies virus in the KZN domestic dog (Canis familiaris) population from 2004–06. The presence of these pathogens was confirmed in domestic dogs throughout KZN. Wild dogs exhibited 0% and 4.2% prevalence for CDV and CPV antibodies, respectively. In 2006 the largest wild dog pack in KZN was reduced from 26 individuals to a single animal; disease due to rabies virus was considered the most probable cause. This study provides evidence that CDV, CPV and rabies are potential threats to African wild dog conservation in KZN. The most economical and practical way to protect wild dogs from canine pathogens may be via vaccination of sympatric domestic dogs; however, such programmes are currently limited.

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

Oryx ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 234-244 ◽  
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.

Managing the ranging behaviour of African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) using translocated scent marks

2012 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Craig R. Jackson ◽  
J. Weldon McNutt ◽  
Peter J. Apps
Keyword(s):  
Protected Area ◽  
Scent Mark ◽  
Scent Marks ◽  
Lycaon Pictus ◽  
Ranging Behaviour ◽  
African Wild Dogs ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Wild Dog ◽  
Wild Dogs ◽  
Free Ranging

Context Conflict between large carnivores and livestock outside the boundaries of wildlife areas frequently results in losses to both livestock and predator populations. The endangered African wild dog (Lycaon pictus Temminck, 1820) is wide ranging and unrestricted by conventional fences, thereby posing a major challenge to conservation managers. Wild dogs are territorial and communicate residence using scent marks. Simulating the presence of other wild dogs using translocated foreign scent marks may therefore represent a means to manage wild dog ranging behaviour. Aims To investigate the effectiveness of using targeted scent-mark deployments to signal a wild dog pack to return to their frequented range within the safety of a protected area. Methods We report on the ranging behaviour of a wild dog pack reintroduced into a wildlife area in Botswana with no recent history of resident wild dogs. We describe daily movements by the free-ranging introduced pack and compare these to moves following targeted deployment of scent marks when the wild dog pack had ranged close to or outside the boundaries of the protected area. Key results Targeted foreign scent-mark exposure resulted in the pack moving closer to the geometric centre of its range. The mean distance travelled the day after exposure was significantly greater than the distance travelled the previous day and the mean daily distance moved during the study period. Conclusions Targeted exposure to foreign scent marks proved to be a viable alternative to recapturing dogs that had ranged beyond the boundaries of the wildlife area. Implications This novel approach to managing free-ranging carnivores utilises biologically relevant signals and holds potential not only for the conservation of African wild dogs, but also for other territorial species.

Hybridisation between dingoes and domestic dogs: a comment on Jones (2009)

2010 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 76 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. S. Glen
Keyword(s):  
Canis Lupus ◽  
Public Attitudes ◽  
Domestic Dogs ◽  
Domestic Dog ◽  
Conservation Value ◽  
Strong Argument ◽  
Feral Dogs ◽  
Relative Conservation ◽  
Wild Dog ◽  
Wild Dogs

The recent review by Jones (2009) presents a strong argument that Victoria’s wild dog population cannot reliably be categorised into dingoes (Canis lupus dingo), feral dogs (C. l. familiaris) and hybrids. This presents a problem in the light of the dingo’s recent listing as a threatened species in that state. Wildlife managers must come to grips with questions regarding the relative conservation value of ‘dingoes’ with varying degrees of domestic dog ancestry. This will require improved knowledge of the ecological function of wild dogs, as well as extensive research into public attitudes towards the animals.

scholarly journals Phylogenetic and Geospatial Evidence of Canine Parvovirus Transmission between Wild Dogs and Domestic Dogs at the Urban Fringe in Australia

Viruses ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 663 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Kelman ◽  
Lana Harriott ◽  
Maura Carrai ◽  
Emily Kwan ◽  
Michael P. Ward ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Disease Surveillance ◽  
Canine Parvovirus ◽  
Domestic Dogs ◽  
Domestic Dog ◽  
High Morbidity ◽  
Disease Surveillance System ◽  
Sporadic Cases ◽  
Wild Dog ◽  
Wild Dogs

Canine parvovirus (CPV) is an important cause of disease in domestic dogs. Sporadic cases and outbreaks occur across Australia and worldwide and are associated with high morbidity and mortality. Whether transmission of CPV occurs between owned dogs and populations of wild dogs, including Canis familiaris, Canis lupus dingo and hybrids, is not known. To investigate the role of wild dogs in CPV epidemiology in Australia, PCR was used to detect CPV DNA in tissue from wild dogs culled in the peri-urban regions of two Australian states, between August 2012 and May 2015. CPV DNA was detected in 4.7% (8/170). There was a strong geospatial association between wild-dog CPV infections and domestic-dog CPV cases reported to a national disease surveillance system between 2009 and 2015. Postcodes in which wild dogs tested positive for CPV were 8.63 times more likely to also have domestic-dog cases reported than postcodes in which wild dogs tested negative (p = 0.0332). Phylogenetic analysis of CPV VP2 sequences from wild dogs showed they were all CPV-2a variants characterized by a novel amino acid mutation (21-Ala) recently identified in CPV isolates from owned dogs in Australia with parvoviral enteritis. Wild-dog CPV VP2 sequences were compared to those from owned domestic dogs in Australia. For one domestic-dog case located approximately 10 km from a wild-dog capture location, and reported 3.5 years after the nearest wild dog was sampled, the virus was demonstrated to have a closely related common ancestor. This study provides phylogenetic and geospatial evidence of CPV transmission between wild and domestic dogs in Australia.

scholarly journals Updated ranges of the Vulnerable cheetah and Endangered African wild dog in Angola

Oryx ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 54 (6) ◽  
pp. 851-853
Author(s):  
Pedro Monterroso ◽  
Filipe Rocha ◽  
Stefan van Wyk ◽  
Telmo António ◽  
Milcíades Chicomo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Lycaon Pictus ◽  
Species Status ◽  
Acinonyx Jubatus ◽  
Civil Unrest ◽  
Distribution Ranges ◽  
African Wild Dog ◽  
African Wild Dogs ◽  
The Status ◽  
Wild Dog ◽  
Wild Dogs

AbstractThe civil unrest that ravaged Angola for nearly 30 years took a heavy toll on the country's wildlife, and led to a lengthy absence of reliable information for many threatened species, including the cheetah Acinonyx jubatus and African wild dog Lycaon pictus. Using camera trapping we assessed the status of these two species in two areas of southern Angola, and complemented our findings by reviewing recent survey reports and observations to provide an update on the species' status. We found unequivocal evidence that African wild dogs are resident and reproducing in Bicuar National Park, where cheetahs appear to be absent. Conversely, cheetahs may be resident in western Cuando Cubango province, where African wild dogs may only be transient. Based on these and other recent records in Angola, we recommend a revision of these species' distribution ranges and note the need for monitoring of these remnant populations and for appropriate attention to any threats.

Anti-predator behaviour of kudu and impala in response to mimicked African wild dog presence: do age and sex matter?

Behaviour ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 152 (9) ◽  
pp. 1209-1228 ◽  
Author(s):  
Esther van der Meer ◽  
Hervé Fritz ◽  
Olivier Pays
Keyword(s):  
Predation Risk ◽  
Lycaon Pictus ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Vigilance Behaviour ◽  
African Wild Dog ◽  
African Wild Dogs ◽  
Tragelaphus Strepsiceros ◽  
Wild Dog ◽  
Wild Dogs ◽  
Aepyceros Melampus

Predators not only prey upon certain prey species, but also on certain age–sex classes within species. Predation risk and an individual’s response to this risk might therefore vary with an individual’s characteristics. We examined the proportion of time different age–sex classes of kudu (Tragelaphus strepsiceros) and impala (Aepyceros melampus) spent high quality vigilant (costly vigilance that detracts from all other activities) in response to mimicked predation risk by African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus). For both species predation risk was the main factor determining the investment in high quality vigilance behaviour. Age–sex class-specific responses were not related to age–sex class specific lethality risk presented by African wild dogs. For impala, regardless of predation risk, age seemed to have some effect on the investment in high quality vigilance with sub-adult impala spending more time high quality vigilant than adult impala, which is possibly why African wild dogs predominantly preyed upon adult impala.

scholarly journals A Survey of Internal Parasites in Free-Ranging African Wild Dogs (Lycaon pictus) from KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

2010 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 176-180 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriella Flacke ◽  
Penny Spiering ◽  
Dave Cooper ◽  
Micaela Szykman Gunther ◽  
Ian Robertson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Lycaon Pictus ◽  
Kwazulu Natal ◽  
Internal Parasites ◽  
African Wild Dogs ◽  
Wild Dogs ◽  
Free Ranging

The Plio-Pleistocene ancestor of wild dogs, Lycaon sekowei n. sp.

2010 ◽  
Vol 84 (2) ◽  
pp. 299-308 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam Hartstone-Rose ◽  
Lars Werdelin ◽  
Darryl J. De Ruiter ◽  
Lee R. Berger ◽  
Steven E. Churchill
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Fossil Record ◽  
Ecological Niche ◽  
New Taxon ◽  
Lycaon Pictus ◽  
Dietary Specialization ◽  
African Wild Dogs ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Wild Dog ◽  
Wild Dogs

African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) occupy an ecological niche characterized by hypercarnivory and cursorial hunting. Previous interpretations drawn from a limited, mostly Eurasian fossil record suggest that the evolutionary shift to cursorial hunting preceded the emergence of hypercarnivory in the Lycaon lineage. Here we describe 1.9—1.0 ma fossils from two South African sites representing a putative ancestor of the wild dog. the holotype is a nearly complete maxilla from Coopers Cave, and another specimen tentatively assigned to the new taxon, from Gladysvale, is the most nearly complete mammalian skeleton ever described from the Sterkfontein Valley, Gauteng, South Africa. the canid represented by these fossils is larger and more robust than are any of the other fossil or extant sub-Saharan canids. Unlike other purported L. pictus ancestors, it has distinct accessory cusps on its premolars and anterior accessory cuspids on its lower premolars—a trait unique to Lycaon among living canids. However, another hallmark autapomorphy of L. pictus, the tetradactyl manus, is not found in the new species; the Gladysvale skeleton includes a large first metacarpal. Thus, the anatomy of this new early member of the Lycaon branch suggests that, contrary to previous hypotheses, dietary specialization appears to have preceded cursorial hunting in the evolution of the Lycaon lineage. We assign these specimens to the taxon Lycaon sekowei n. sp.

What to call a dog? A review of the common names for Australian free-ranging dogs

2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 124 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. L. Kreplins ◽  
A. Gaynor ◽  
M. S. Kennedy ◽  
C. M. Baudains ◽  
P. Adams ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Livestock Production ◽  
Scaling Analysis ◽  
Mesopredator Release ◽  
Control Programs ◽  
Scientific Papers ◽  
The Common ◽  
Potential Factors ◽  
Wild Dog ◽  
Wild Dogs ◽  
Free Ranging

Wildlife research is informed by human values and interests, and these are reflected in, and reinforced by, the language used to describe particular species and animals. Examining factors that influence the use of common names of contentious taxa such free-ranging dogs is important, as naming can influence the design and reception of scientific studies. There are a range of common names for free-ranging dogs in Australian scientific literature but the most common names are ‘dingoes’ and ‘wild dogs’. This review investigated influences on the terminology used to describe Australian free-ranging dogs in scientific studies from October 1952 to January 2018. Using a multidimensional scaling analysis, we tested the effects of several potential factors on terminology around Australian free-ranging dogs. We found a significant correlation between studies that reported on ‘wild dog’ control within livestock production–focussed papers and the use of the term ‘dingo’ and discussion of mesopredator release in conservation-related papers. There was a bias associated with author employment, with studies funded by a livestock production organisation more likely to employ ‘wild dog’ terminology. Year of publication and dingo purity within the locale of the study made a lesser contribution to differences in terminology. Our study explores the contextual factors that influence the choice of common names in scientific papers. Although referring to the same species, this review highlights that common terminology within scientific papers is reliant on the discussion of mesopredators release, control programs and the paper’s context.

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