A Novel Technique for Artificial Pack Formation in African Wild Dogs Using Odour Familiarity

2019 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Courtney J. Marneweck ◽  
Antoine F.J. Marchal ◽  
David G. Marneweck ◽  
Grant Beverley ◽  
Harriet T. Davies-Mostert ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Novel Technique ◽  
African Wild Dogs ◽  
Pack Formation ◽  
Wild Dogs

Behavioural Cues Can be Used to Predict the Outcome of Artificial Pack Formation in African Wild Dogs (Lycaon pictus)

2015 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 215-222 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine R. Potgieter ◽  
M. Justin O'Riain ◽  
Harriet T. Davies-Mostert
Keyword(s):  
Lycaon Pictus ◽  
African Wild Dogs ◽  
Pack Formation ◽  
Wild Dogs

scholarly journals The successful reintroduction of African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) to Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. e0249860
Author(s):  
Paola Bouley ◽  
Antonio Paulo ◽  
Mercia Angela ◽  
Cole Du Plessis ◽  
David G. Marneweck
Keyword(s):  
National Park ◽  
Ecological Impact ◽  
Population Expansion ◽  
Large Carnivores ◽  
Lycaon Pictus ◽  
African Wild Dogs ◽  
Pack Formation ◽  
Wild Dog ◽  
Wild Dogs ◽  
Indicators Of Success

Large carnivores have experienced widespread extirpation and species are now threatened globally. The ecological impact of the loss of large carnivores has been prominent in Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique, after most were extirpated during the 1977–92 civil war. To remedy this, reintroductions are now being implemented in Gorongosa, initiating with endangered African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus), hereafter ‘wild dogs’. We describe the first transboundary translocation and reintroduction of founding packs of wild dogs to Gorongosa over a 28-month study period and evaluate the success of the reintroduction based on five key indicator categories. We also assess how wild dog space use and diet influenced their success. We found that pre-release, artificial pack formation in holding enclosures aided group cohesion and alpha pair establishment. Post-release, we also observed natural pack formations as a result of multiple dispersal events. Founder and naturally formed packs produced pups in two of the three breeding seasons and packs successfully recruited pups. Survival rate for all wild dogs was 73% and all mortality events were from natural causes. Consequently, the population grew significantly over the study period. All indicators of success were fully achieved and this study documents the first successful reintroduction of wild dogs into a large, unfenced landscape in Mozambique and only the second on the continent. Potential mechanisms underlying these early successes were the avoidance of habitats intensively used by lions, dietary partitioning with lion, avoidance of human settlements, and Gorongosa’s management strategy. We predict further population expansion in Gorongosa given that 68% of the park is still unused by wild dogs. This expansion could be stimulated by continued reintroductions over the short- to medium-term. Recovery of wild dogs in Gorongosa could aid in the re-establishment of a larger, connected population across the greater Gorongosa-Marromeu landscape.

scholarly journals Heading for the Hills: Risk Avoidance Drives Den Site Selection in African Wild Dogs

PLoS ONE ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. e99686 ◽  
Author(s):  
Craig R. Jackson ◽  
R. John Power ◽  
Rosemary J. Groom ◽  
Emmanuel H. Masenga ◽  
Ernest E. Mjingo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Site Selection ◽  
Risk Avoidance ◽  
Den Site Selection ◽  
African Wild Dogs ◽  
Wild Dogs

scholarly journals Sneeze to leave: African wild dogs ( Lycaon pictus ) use variable quorum thresholds facilitated by sneezes in collective decisions

2017 ◽  
Vol 284 (1862) ◽  
pp. 20170347 ◽  
Author(s):  
Reena H. Walker ◽  
Andrew J. King ◽  
J. Weldon McNutt ◽  
Neil R. Jordan
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Group Living ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Relative Strength ◽  
Directed Group ◽  
Collective Decisions ◽  
African Wild Dogs ◽  
Minimum Number ◽  
Collective Movements ◽  
Wild Dogs

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.

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

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.

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

Animals ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 16 ◽  
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.

scholarly journals 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 ◽  
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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