They make excellent parents, even going so far as to make way for the pups to eat first when the pack has made a kill. Moreover, it is not a dog as we know it. The father, Mr. Big, is 14 years old and weighs 560 pounds, and the mother, Mfisha, is six years old and weighs 335 pounds. An area the size of Greater London, which is home to 7.5 million people, could therefore only support one or two African wild dog packs. African wild dog, also known as Cape hunting dog or painted dog, is a member of canine family. For the first time in 18 years, the public can visit baby lions at the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha. Approx 1.5 to … Dholes may have 16 teats to feed the young. After this a group of 5 to 12 pups is born. African Wild Dog Social Behavior. African Wild Dogs primarily prey on large mammals such as Warthogs and numerous antelope species (especially Nyala), supplementing their diet with rodents, lizard s, birds and insects. This species is believed to be the ancestor of the domestic donkey, which is usually placed within the same species. These animals inhabit open plains and woodlands of Sub-Saharan Africa. They live in the deserts and other arid areas of the Horn of Africa, in Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia. They prefer arid zones and savannas. Unlike other dogs, African Wild Dogs have four toes instead of five. Pack sizes usually range from 6-20 animals but have been observed with numbers as high as 27 and as low as 2. Once found throughout sub-Saharan Africa in the hundreds of thousands, the wild dog’s range and population have vastly diminished. Cute Puppies. African wild dog litters average about ten in size but as many as nineteen have been recorded in baby animal pictures. The dhole pups begin to join the hunt at a few months of age. Painted wolf is the meaning behind the African wild dog’s scientific name. This lasts until 1 years of age when they are fully grown. If you’re visiting the park and want to know when the best time to spot baby mammals is, we’ve organised the information so you can see it at a glance. At 3 years of age they are sexually mature. Zoo director Dennis Pate says a total of five lion cubs, three females and 2 males, were born there on December 29. Learn more about African Wild Dog Behaviour, Monitoring & Conservation. In the Serengeti the estimated size of each pack’s territory is 1,500 km 2. The wild dog pups are born in a den, usually one dug by an aardvark and all the members of the pack are involved in caring for the babies. These days, however, the African Wild Dog is its own genus and species, and it cannot breed outside of this genus / species. Answer. While they are young they are allowed to eat first after a kill. The African Wild Dog species is an intriguing one which long ago mated with another species to help create the many hundreds of domesticated dog species we know and love today.