Lion Guardian finds wild dogs!

One of our new Eselenkei Lion Guardians Melita called us with some very exciting news a few days ago. He reported seeing tracks of wild dogs in his area during his daily monitoring duties! Unfortunately we haven’t got any photos of these dogs yet, but the ones below were photographed in Laikipia.

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I went out to verify that these really were the tracks of wild dogs and discovered that indeed they were! It was with excitement and surprise that very early the next morning back at camp I heard a cry of a kudu near my tent. I woke up to find out what was happening, only to be confronted and barked at by 2 white tailed African wild dogs!

I immediately summoned Lenkai, one of our research assistants and together we followed the tracks of the 2 wild dogs. We discovered that the 2 were part of a pack of 16 that were roaming within Selenkay Conservancy. Filled with the excitement of coming into close proximity with one of the most endangered species in the country, we decided to follow their tracks. Their tracks, comparable only to that of a large domestic dog, have roughly triangular main pads, blunt claws and four toe imprints, but are longer and thinner than the domestic dog.

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From looking at the tracks we were able to work out the story of what had happened the previous night. The dogs had come across the dry river bed, and targeted a big male kudu, chasing it until it was exhausted and eventually tearing it apart. We couldn’t believe it had happened so close to our camp!

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The population of African wild dog [Lycaon pictus] is declining rapidly. In fact, the species is categorized as endangered on the IUCN Red list on the basis of small population size and continuous decline. We are so excited that these endangered carnivores are now on our ranch, and we can’t wait to hear and see more from them. We really hope they stay in the area!

8 Comments

  • Brernon H says:

    Fantastic news. Look after these wonderful animals. Such an important part of the ecosystem. We have then breeding here at Adelaide and Monarto Zoos in South Australia.

  • Hashi-Hanta says:

    How wonderful! They are so cute! I love their ears!!!
    Hopefully, with the Guardians taking such good care of things, not only lions, but other creatures will start making a come back also.
    Here in the USA a huge fight is going on about the removal of wolves from the endangered list and some idiots are actually shooting them from airplanes. Obviously, very brave men!! Too bad they don’t fall out of the planes. We need some wolf guardians here. Thank you Guardians for the great work you are doing. You are an inspiration to all!

  • They are indeed wonderful animals. We hope we get to see more of them and that no harm comes to them.

    So sad to hear about your problem with wolves Hashi. I wish you could have Wolf Guardians there too!

  • Wonderful, wonderful …
    Thank you Guardians for the great work

    Graet for germany

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