🐺African wild dog
The African wild dog, also called painted dog and Cape hunting dog, is a wild canine native to sub-Saharan Africa. It is the largest wild canine in Africa and the only extant member of the genus Lycaon, which is distinguished from Canis by dentition highly specialised for a hypercarnivorous diet and by a lack of dewclaws.
Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
IUCN Red List assessment, 2025.
- Body mass
- 24 kg
- Body length
- 1.02 m
- Shoulder height
- 0.69 m
- Top speed
- not recorded
- Bite force
- not recorded
- Maximum lifespan
- 17 years
Everything we know about the African wild dog
Typical adult figures. Where a value is an estimate rather than a measurement, it says so.
Body mass24 kgCOMBINEOther figures ↓Hide ↑
Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0
Figures vary
- 27 kgAnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: high
Body length1.02 mCOMBINEDetails ↓Hide ↑
Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0
Shoulder height0.69 m0.61–0.78 m · typical rangenot statedDetails ↓Hide ↑
"It has a head-body length of 76-112 cm, tail length of 30-41 cm, shoulder height of 61-78 cm, and body weight of 17-36 kg." Range-only; value is the midpoint. Open-access ASM species account.
Source: Bucci, Nicholson & Krausman 2022, Mammalian Species 54(1017):seac002, https://academic.oup.com/mspecies/article/54/1017/seac002/6565923 · see citation
Brain mass134 gCOMBINEDetails ↓Hide ↑
Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0
Maximum lifespan17 yearsCOMBINEOther figures ↓Hide ↑
Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0
Figures vary
- 17 yearsAnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: high
Generation length5.57 yearsCOMBINEDetails ↓Hide ↑
Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0
Age at maturity2.2 yearsCOMBINEDetails ↓Hide ↑
Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0
Gestation72 daysCOMBINEOther figures ↓Hide ↑
Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0
Figures vary
- 72 daysAnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: high
Litter sizeabout 7COMBINEOther figures ↓Hide ↑
Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0
Figures vary
- 8AnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: high
Trophic levelCarnivoreCOMBINEDetails ↓Hide ↑
Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0
Activity cycleCrepuscular / mixedCOMBINEDetails ↓Hide ↑
Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0
Home range396 km²COMBINEDetails ↓Hide ↑
Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0
Population density0.02 per km²COMBINEDetails ↓Hide ↑
Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0
Volume l24 LaverageDetails ↓Hide ↑
Body mass at ~1.0 kg/L, the density of vertebrate tissue.
average = a mean across sexes or species in a group.
Not recorded for African wild dog yet: top speed, bite force.
Family tree
- kingdomAnimalia
- ›phylumChordata
- ›classMammalia
- ›orderCarnivora
- ›familyCanidae
- ›genusLycaon
- ›speciesLycaon pictus
- classMammals · Mammalia
- orderCarnivorans · Carnivora
- familyCanidae
- genusLycaon
All 14 branches ↓Fewer branches ↑
- kingdomMetazoa
- phylumChordata
- subphylumCraniata
- subphylumVertebrata
- superclassGnathostomata
- superclassSarcopterygii
- superclassTetrapoda
- classMammals · Mammalia
- subclassTheria
- superorderLaurasiatheria
- orderCarnivorans · Carnivora
- suborderCaniformia
- familyCanidae
- genusLycaon
More about the African wild dog
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