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madaboutcheetah

I was wondering the same thing about weather and the Coat. In Southern Africa, I assume it's much cooler and they need to stay warm in the winter months?

 

Some packs - notably in the Linyanti have some very dark dogs ....... Will try and post some pictures later in the week. Off to Bangalore this morning.

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madaboutcheetah

Kruger dogs and Savuti dogs will also take on kudu bulls - however, I believe it also has to do with what prey is available - diks diks and impalas are much easier to catch than say a warthog or a buffalo which may defend themselves and predators (not only dogs) usually go for the easy target

 

I think their prey might vary from season to season; time of the year; pack dynamics (size) etc etc., As you say - young buffalo too is possible when they want to!

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Kruger dogs and Savuti dogs will also take on kudu bulls - however, I believe it also has to do with what prey is available - diks diks and impalas are much easier to catch than say a warthog or a buffalo which may defend themselves and predators (not only dogs) usually go for the easy target

 

I think their prey might vary from season to season; time of the year; pack dynamics (size) etc etc., As you say - young buffalo too is possible when they want to!

 

 

oviously these factors play a role as well - what I wanted to say is: irrelevant of the size of a pack or a pride, predators usually go for the easier target, that's why for example Kruger lions primarily feed on relatively small impalas allthough much bigger prey is available

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No- they do look a bit different. Darker, with less white and blonde. Also, I think their hair is shorter- the southern African dogs are fluffier.

 

Someone (safaridude?) posted an interesting selection of wild dog pics on the "show us your wild dog pics" thread where you could really see the difference.

 

@Stokeygirl @@madaboutcheetah

 

Yes, that was me. It seems that there is a morphological gradient (so to speak) from south to north on the continent: "southern" dogs are larger and whiter. As you go more north, dogs become smaller and darker.

 

 

The pics you posted from Natron and Ishaqbini are really very dark- the ones in Laikipia are still quite light in comparison (though dark compared to Botswana).

 

The Kafue dogs still look very fluffy whereas the Selous dogs (someone else's photo) have noticeably shorter hair.

 

The Laikipia dogs were also definitely smaller than the Botswana dogs I've seen. We saw a few warthog and I asked if the dogs ever take a warthog and Steve laughed a bit. Apparently the Laikipia dogs wouldn't even try it on with a warthog- too risky for them. Whereas the Lagoon pack would take down a warthog without a second thought, and go after baby buffs and sable (in someone's trip report), and kudu...........

 

 

It depends on what the pack knows to hunt. In Luangwa I've never seen dogs take warthog, or wildebeest. I've seen them encountering wildebeest, and not knowing what to do. But the same dogs did try buffalo repeatedly, and even a baby elephant.

Dogs in Liuwa take down adult bull wildebeests.

 

About size: It seems to vary. I've seen a very small dog in Luangwa who became alpha. When we first saw here we thought she was an 8 month old pup, but it was August, so that couldn't be. Next year she was still the same size and became alpha.

Dogs in Luangwa and Liuwa were about the same size, about 20-23 kg. I know of a dog in Namibia who weighed 37 kg!

 

Color: It varies per pack. In Luangwa there are tan-and-black packs (even seen a dog with a complete black head), black-and-white packs and I've seen pictures of a pack where dogs were predominantly white-and-tan, with one animal being about 75% white! In Liuwa the dogs have very little white and are tan-and-black. However, the coloring seems, at least to some extent, to be inherited from the parents. And here there are only two packs, one being called the mother pack, so not surprising that most dogs look similar. I think, especially in small populations, or populations descended from a small founder population, you will see some common coloring traits. In Zambia there are definitely dark dogs, and tan dogs and white dogs.

 

What strikes me is the lack of fluffy hair around the neck, and indeed they seem to have shorter hair in general. I think in the past they described dogs from several regions as different subspecies, but based on genetics that has been abandoned, but there are some regional differences (hair length) and than you can see some traits expressed at pack, or sometimes regional level (but it's more pack related than regional) like coloring patterns.

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Thanks, that book is a good read indeed!

Another interesting thing I've heard is is that Wild Dogs in captivity, after 2-3 generations have relatively shorter legs than wild Wild Dogs.

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madaboutcheetah

Here's a darkish dog (Kwando Lebala, 2006) _

post-308-0-35808100-1372474526_thumb.jpg

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  • 3 weeks later...

@@stokeygirl... Loved the pictures - missed those when you posted as I wasn't expecting album links (works fine though). The third album is my favorite with thoser low angle shots and the river crossing. Fantastic to see so many of them - exciting too.

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Love the photos - though that one of the dog with the dik dik head in its mouth and the eyes staring at the camera is rather creepy!

 

 

That's because it's a Scrub Hare!!

 

Thanks for sharing those lovely photographs and the whole story SG. Being an "Elephant" person I liked the "hard man!"

And who knows? We may make a birder out of you in the end. It is quite contagious!

 

Whilst on, as a rank amateur, the pelage does vary depending on climate in most animals. You only have to look at the difference between Rwandan and Ugandan 'Mountain' Gorillas. My own Labradors had 'winter' and 'summer' coats. I would think the varying colours are simple genetics.

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SafariChick

@@Galana oh my, so it is - how did that look like a dik dik to me before? I guess I had dik diks on the brain as @@stokeygirl had mentioned that they eat a lot of them. No matter what creature it is, that photo is still creepy!

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  • 3 weeks later...
armchair bushman

More photos please.

(follow that rickshaw) CHOP CHOP!

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@@armchair bushman see post #107. It will take you a few extra clicks, hope you won't find that too strenuous, but it was easier for me than posting them one by one.

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armchair bushman

oh. somehow missed those links! Thanks!!

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armchair bushman

If you're interested in that Caterpillar (days 4-7 "waiting for the dogs to do something - 45 min in the dirt), I can look it up for you. No guarantees on an answer though. I had seen another post on facebook by someone who had seen a very similar one (if not the same one - was it you?) and there were calls for Lymantriidae (tussock moths). At first I was inclined to agree, but I'm not so sure now.

Love the dog pictures, by the way.

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Thanks

 

Yes, I'd be interested about the caterpillar. I think I saw one the same in camp, but also some slightly different ones- a bit smaller and pretty much all black. That one was probably 4 to 5 inches long and half an inch thick. Must have been caterpillar season!

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armchair bushman

nuts I forgot to look it up yesterday. will try today.

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  • 1 month later...

As a footnote to this report, it is now looking like I won't be re-visiting LWC next year.

 

I had an email from Annabelle on Friday informing me that the British Army are going to be training in the area over the dates of my planned stay. This will obviously be very noisy and disruptive and will restrict access to the dogs.

 

I've looked about switching my trip around, but due to availability issues at Kicheche it would mean staying one night at Kicheche Mara then moving to Bush camp for 4 nights. There's also an issue with flights from Mara-Laikipia in that there's a 2 PAX minimum (not in the other direction which was why I'd originally opted to do Laikipia first) and there's no one else booked yet. I could book and hope others book on, and as a back up could do a 5 hour road transfer.

 

I could cancel and move the trip completely but changing my flight will incur charges and finding availability at Kicheche Bush isn't easy.

 

So it looks like I will be switching LWC for another camp- looking at Saruni Samburu.

 

Obviously I'm very disappointed.

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My dates were 25-30 Jan.

How far away is Mugie? I was flying from Loisaba for LWC so I am guessing it must be relatively close, in which case probably affected by the same training which is 23-30 Jan.

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  • 3 months later...

@@stokeygirl

I have been enjoying your Laikipia report - excellent and very informative (We are really keen to go somewhere to see dogs)

Twaffle spoke glowingly about your photos (which is a very strong recommendation!), but I can't get the links to work.

Have you moved them?

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