This information may have been supplanted but newer studies, but one study determined that African Wild Dogs were the most successful pack hunters on the planet with a ~92% success rate. (success being defined as 'eating' after a hunt.
Edit: Opening line from the article - Wild dogs are the most successful hunters in Africa, with a kill rate of 80 percent.
For those who didn't know, to save you the search I just performed: the African Wild Dog is not literally a wild dog. It's not even a Canid, it's a separate genus (Lycaon) from dogs, wolves & coyotes.
Scarblac
That genus is part of the Canidae family though. Dogs and wolves are in the Canis genus in the Canidae group.
Jackals and foxes are also each their own genus, and there are a number more genuses.
jjtheblunt
i think the wolves/dogs/coyotes and african wild dogs all have 78 chromosomes, but it's unclear if the african painted dogs have been diverged so long as to have incompatible chromosome gene layouts despite matching chromosome counts.
i tried looking for any examples of hybrids but did not find any. they'd be pretty ridiculously cute though for sure.
supposedly hybrids of african painted dogs and domestic dogs happens, albeit rarely, in South Africa
I've spent the last 2 years in East Africa and the last thing this place needs is another predator gaining back ground. This sounds like a great idea until you find yourself after sunset in an area where electric is scare - which means basically everywhere. I got hunted by street dogs in Bulgaria, multiple times, that shit will make you go to a gun shop and I'd rather get assaulted by another boda robber than facing those things.
InexSquirrel
So by that logic, for you to feel safe and not take any responsibility at all, we should just get rid of all the large predators, then correct?
Also shows a lack of understanding of the dogs themselves, as they're diurnal and practically never hunt at night. You're at much bigger risk via leopards and lions than wild dogs.
throw48484858
Yes please! Kill all large predators that attack people! Or give a lifetime sentense to people responsible, for killing innocent victims!
Why is that even something controversial? Children should not be a chew toy for wild dogs and their irresponsible owners! If you like killing people, find some suicidal volunteers for that!!!
Or feed your own children to your own dogs!!!
Just because you are horible antisocial pedo psychopat that hates everyone, does not mean most people agree!
> as they're diurnal and practically never hunt at night.
You obviously do not understand dogs!
Dogs are oportunistic predators and scavengers. At daylight it is too hot in Bulgaria, and too many people.
At dailight their victims actually have a fighting chance!
Of course they come out at night!
ceejayoz
While we're sharing anecdotes, people regularly total their cars hitting deer breeding out of control in my area, as they have no natural predators left.
RetroTechie
And along the same lines: predators moving into urban areas more & more as poachers decimated their traditional preys.
Don't destroy the space they live in & most animals will happily stay away from humans.
stuaxo
Having seen these in the Zoo, they very much like to stalk the visitors along the fence - these are much more than just dogs.
throw48484858
Psychos will tell you bears are totally safe. I guess they justnhate nstive people in africa!
everyday7732
They look so similar to hyenas. Maybe they fit the same evolutionary niche.
There are several technical and nontechnical definitions of "successful" making it a pretty meaningless statement
nozzlegear
There's a group of these dogs at the zoo in Sioux Falls, SD. Like all dogs, I think my wife and I were predispositioned to like them. It didn't help that they all started howling when a police car drove by with its sirens on, which was cute.
seunosewa
They are cute but nasty. They eat their prey alive in the most painful way.
chasd00
i don't have a source but there's something about their mouth or teeth that make it very hard for them to suffocate prey the way a lion or hyena would. They kill their prey through shock and blood loss from disembowelment which means basically eating it alive like you said.
nozzlegear
Oof, I'm glad I didn't witness that (not that the zoo would feed live animals to them). It certainly would've changed my opinion on them, even though it's just their nature.
ptsneves
It is amazing the failure rate and how people working in these endeavours keep on working and do not step in to intervene deeper. The statistics are what matters even if whole days are wasted because some leopard or lion ate the work done. These are not cute animal lovers, they are the real deal. Much luck!
therealdrag0
Ya I’m so impressed by people who just go and work on problems like this and get their hands dirty.
lolpython
Casualty of HN title mangling again. Original title: Africa’s Wild Dogs Are the Most Hated Carnivores on the Continent. Here’s Why Some Conservationists Are Saving Them Anyway
WalterGR
It’s not mangling. The article’s subtitle doesn’t fit within the character limit.
lightedman
We're in the era of 4k and 8k monitors. That character limit only occupies a tiny fraction of any modern screen.
So odd a site dedicated to future technology companies isn't even caught up with modern display techniques, let alone ones that existed some 2 decades ago.
lolpython
To be fair, on mobile the title lengths staying reasonable really helps HN homepage readability.
kakacik
Also even though new such hardware is cheap for our western standards, its a mistake to think this is valid for entire world for various reasons
micromacrofoot
the site is intentionally anachronistic precisely because the people here understand technology
upupupandaway
I wish we could get rid of the "Here's why" and similar clickbait fragments in titles.
blitzar
"This one simple trick to restore Africa’s wild dog populations ... You Won’t Believe What Happened Next"
InexSquirrel
I dislike the title really - I'm not sure where they pull the 'most hated' aspect from. A lot of what I've seen is that leopards generally fall into that category, mainly because they'll also happily kill people, dogs and livestock.
opinion-is-bad
I find the ethics of these kind of predator reintroduction programs to be extremely dubious. I feel this story could be reframed easily as ‘American activists unleash genetically modified hunters upon the world’s poorest.’ Does anyone know of any material benefit that is expected to be gained by those who live with the dogs?
InexSquirrel
For the animal to not go extinct. That's literally the stated purpose in the article.
It's practically the same reason for all of Southern African conservation - to stop species going extinct from the continual human expansion.
titanomachy
Are the activists American? I'd assumed this was a local effort, but I didn't see this mentioned in the article.
ceejayoz
> Does anyone know of any material benefit that is expected to be gained by those who live with the dogs?
Killing rats, rabbits, and other vermin prone to overpopulation?
Edit: Opening line from the article - Wild dogs are the most successful hunters in Africa, with a kill rate of 80 percent.
And my favorite story about these animals is that they vote! https://www.science.org/content/article/wild-dogs-vote-initi...
Jackals and foxes are also each their own genus, and there are a number more genuses.
i tried looking for any examples of hybrids but did not find any. they'd be pretty ridiculously cute though for sure.
supposedly hybrids of african painted dogs and domestic dogs happens, albeit rarely, in South Africa
https://mykingsgate.co.za/info/african-wild-dog-hybrid-12023...
Also shows a lack of understanding of the dogs themselves, as they're diurnal and practically never hunt at night. You're at much bigger risk via leopards and lions than wild dogs.
Why is that even something controversial? Children should not be a chew toy for wild dogs and their irresponsible owners! If you like killing people, find some suicidal volunteers for that!!!
Or feed your own children to your own dogs!!!
Just because you are horible antisocial pedo psychopat that hates everyone, does not mean most people agree!
> as they're diurnal and practically never hunt at night.
You obviously do not understand dogs!
Dogs are oportunistic predators and scavengers. At daylight it is too hot in Bulgaria, and too many people. At dailight their victims actually have a fighting chance! Of course they come out at night!
Don't destroy the space they live in & most animals will happily stay away from humans.
While the article claims that wild dogs are the most successful predator in Africa, I found a national geographic article which claims the same for hyenas: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/hyenas-my...
So odd a site dedicated to future technology companies isn't even caught up with modern display techniques, let alone ones that existed some 2 decades ago.
It's practically the same reason for all of Southern African conservation - to stop species going extinct from the continual human expansion.
Killing rats, rabbits, and other vermin prone to overpopulation?