![]() Lions kill a large number of dogs in the bush, so adults are always wary of this threat. While the pups fed, the adults wandered off, scanning the nearby area for potential prey and for any other predators which might try to steal their prize. One adult, which stole a large piece of meat from the carcass while the pups were still feeding, was rapidly disciplined by another adult. Dogs are extraordinarily social and the pups are at the top of the social ladder, feeding first and being cared for by the adults. This, of course, was the adults, who had fed a little and were now leaving the pups to fill their stomachs on the remains. ![]() The dogs fed hungrily for a few seconds, and then half of the dogs removed themselves from the mayhem. Brutal as it might be, the impala would have survived mere seconds after being caught. In reality, I don't think anything enjoys being killed (!) and dogs are without doubt one of the fastest when the moment comes. Wild dogs have a reputation for being cruel creatures. 3 or 4 dogs pursued her, closing from all sides, and she didn't even reach the edge of the water before she had been caught. ![]() Perhaps the dogs sensed that they could trap her against the crocodile-filled water, and they quickly identified her as the target. However this packs seems to thrive by scattering herds of antelope in all directions and then spotting weak or lame individuals in the resulting melee.Īs is often the case with dogs hunts, it began suddenly, and ended almost as quickly! The dogs were scattering the antelope far and wide when, suddenly, all attentions turned to a female impala which was running towards the edge of the large lagoon nearby. The pack is now 21 in number (half of which are pups and half are adults and the previous litter from 2016) and their hunts are often quite chaotic and uncoordinated. We followed the pack as they started to eye up the antelopes feeding in the surrounding flooded grassland. This is how we first found them, soon after waking up. While the grass is long, and visibility poor, dogs tend to move down the dirt roads in search of prey. Our second sighting of them over the weekend started when the pack was beginning to rise from its afternoon slumbers. (I had some outstanding sightings with them in the dry season of 2016.) They have chosen a den-site in the central-southern area in both 20 and we've had almost daily sightings of them! Luangwa's wild dogs are really making an impressive comeback! Over the weekend, we took two trips into the National Park, and both times we found the well-known Manzi pack which have been living in the central area of the park for the last few seasons. This will have its problems later in the year but, for now, it allows us to drive much more widely in the park that we normally can at this time of the year. We have had an unusually dry couple of months in the Luangwa, with not much serious rainfall since December.
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