African Wild Dog

African Wild Dog Skull Replica measures 7.4 inches. African Wild Dog Skull Replica is museum quality polyurethane cast. 2-part skull (separate cranium and jaw). Made in USA. Known as African Hunting Dog.

The African wild dog (Lycaon pictus), also known as the painted dog or 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 specialized for a hyper carnivorous diet, and by a lack of dewclaws.

It’s estimated that there are around 6,600 adults (including 1,400 mature individuals) living in 39 subpopulations that are all threatened by habitat fragmentation, human persecution, and outbreaks of disease.

As the largest subpopulation probably comprises fewer than 250 individuals, the African wild dog has been listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List since 1990.

The species is a specialized diurnal hunter of ungulates, which it captures by using its stamina and cooperative hunting to exhaust them. The skull is relatively shorter and broader than those of other canids.

Its natural competitors are lions and spotted hyenas: the former will kill the dogs where possible, whilst the latter are frequent kleptoparasites.

Like other canids, they regurgitate food for its young, but also extends this action to adults, as a central part of the pack’s social unit. The young have the privilege to feed first on carcasses.

The African wild dog possesses the most specialized adaptations among the canids for coat color and diet and for pursuing its prey through its cursorial (running) ability.

It has a graceful skeleton, and the loss of the first digit on its forefeet increases its stride and speed. This adaptation allows it to pursue prey across open terrain for long distances.

The teeth are generally carnassial-shaped and its premolars are the largest relative to body size of any living carnivoran with the exception of the spotted hyena.