Endangered wild dogs are quietly stitching Southern Africa's populations back together

Three male African wild dogs have set a record for any African mammal, walking 4,126km across Zambia in search of mates. GPS collars fitted by conservation scientists tracked the trio and other dispersing dogs as they crossed rivers, highways and cities to find unrelated packs, naturally linking isolated populations that might otherwise die out. More than half the tracked dogs did not survive, mostly killed by wire snares set for bushmeat. Still, the study offers real hope for a species down to roughly 6,000 animals. South Africa runs its own small, closely managed wild dog population, so the same challenges apply at home..By Scott Creel*.In 2021, a three-year-old female African wild dog spent a year travelling more than 2,300 kilometres across southern Africa. She climbed in and out of the Rift Valley in Zambia, swimming rivers, crossing major highways, and slipping past towns before crossing the Zambian border into Mozambique, then on to the border of Zimbabwe. It was one of the longest journeys recorded for the species..Known as EWD-1355, she began her journey from her pack’s home range in eastern Zambia’s South Luangwa National Park, becoming one of thousands of wild dogs we’ve studied and tracked in Zambia over a period of nearly 20 years.Since EWD-1355’s journey, we have recorded other extraordinary journeys. One group of three male wild dogs covered even further – they walked 4,126km to connect with female dogs, a record for any African mammal.I’m a conservation scientist, and have studied African carnivores for 36 years. Together with Matt Becker and the Zambian Carnivore Programme, I’ve spent more than 16 years studying over 500 African wild dogs from over 50 packs every year, fitting them with GPS tracking collars.African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) are one of the world’s most endangered large carnivores. Only around 6,000 remain. Despite the name, they are not closely related to domestic dogs, having split off from the rest of the 34 species of canids more than 3 million years ago.Small, isolated groups of any endangered species are highly vulnerable to local extinction because there are fewer individuals to withstand inevitable changes and threats to a population. In the case of wild dogs, most do not breed – only an alpha male and alpha female typically breed in each pack.Over recent decades, we have seen several small wild dog populations in the Serengeti, the Lower Zambezi, and most recently, western Zambia’s Liuwa Plain blink out..In a recent paper we set out our findings based on tracking individual dogs across their entire lives, recording their position by satellite every few hours to build up a picture of where packs live, when young dogs leave home, where they go, where they thrive, and where they die.These journeys are vital because wild dogs need large, connected areas to find mates and breed with dogs from other populations. When their habitat is broken up, conservationists may have to capture and move them between reserves to prevent isolated populations from dying out.To find out whether these were the longest journeys any African mammal had made, our study documented dispersal (one-way movements to find mates). Most record long-distance movements are migrations (seasonal return journeys). For example, the UN Convention on Migratory Species identifies Africa’s longest round-trip migrations as blue wildebeest (650km), Burchell’s zebra (588km) and white-eared kob (400km).Our study recorded a 4,126km travel distance, far longer than documented African migrations, but representing a different behaviour.Our finding that African wild dogs are still travelling vast distances to find mates means there is still hope of maintaining natural processes. The dogs’ natural movement keeps populations going that might otherwise have gone extinct.However, we also found that the journeys of African wild dogs are fraught with danger. One of the biggest dangers is wire snares set for bushmeat. The dogs are also at risk because they are young, inexperienced, and travelling through areas full of threats such as lions, other packs, and river crossings full of crocodiles. We found that more than half we tracked did not survive..What the journeys revealedOur data shows that wild dogs move very differently depending on where they are. Inside protected areas, they move, hunt and rest at moderate speeds. But when they disperse out of protected areas, they shift into a faster and straighter “travel mode” that lets them cover ground quickly, and rest in thickets or rocky areas where they are less likely to be disturbed.The same instincts that let wild dogs slip past a pride of lions also let them slip past a village or a highway and move on quickly to safer ground.In 2025 and 2026 our research found that seven young dogs – four females and three males – left the Mayukuyuku Pack in Kafue National Park within two weeks of each other. They were all related so weren’t likely to mate with each other, and each group set off on their own dispersal path.Both groups eventually approached three of Zambia’s largest cities, amazingly skirting the Copperbelt industrial areas of Zambia, before turning back the way they’d come.Remarkably, our tracking shows that the two groups met up again after several weeks. By this time, each group had moved more than 1,000km in an unprotected area about 75km from Kitwe and Ndola, both major cities.One of the female dogs was wearing a radio collar and we were able to find out that she later died in a snare. We then lost track of her sisters as they weren’t collared.The collared Mayukuyuku brothers group kept travelling (by themselves) and made it to eastern Zambia’s Luangwa Valley, a record journey of 4,126km.They’ve been there ever since and seem to have met up with females, as they are no longer dispersing (moving around)..Information like this is one of the strengths of intensive field studies - we begin to understand where animals are likely to die, and why.Overall, the movements we observed show that dispersing wild dogs have connected every major population in Zambia. Wild dogs from Zambia have also walked into Mozambique and Malawi and to within a few kilometres of Zimbabwe, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola. They also continue to move long distances in Tanzania, Kenya, Botswana and Zimbabwe.Our genetic studies had already suggested that populations across the region were linked; our GPS data now show, in real time, exactly how that linking happens.However, moving isn’t the same as connecting. Wild dogs usually fight, sometimes fatally, when they meet unfamiliar dogs. Migrating to a new group remains difficult, and often fails.For example, EWD-1355’s story ended badly. Although she found another pack in the Lower Zambezi National Park, she failed to entice a mate to leave. Because she could not join the group, she kept moving. In June 2022 she died in a wire snare. Wild dogs cannot recognise or avoid snares. As they travel in packs and are reluctant to leave an injured packmate behind, this often means several animals are injured or killed in a single event..Read more:.How hunting actually saved South Africa’s wildlife: Ivo Vegter.An opportunity and a challengeAbout 40% of Zambia has some form of legal protection for wildlife, and corridors such as the Luangwa Valley remain highly effective. Identifying ways to allow wildlife to continue to disperse through other areas that are also important to humans is a priority.Ending wire-snare poaching for bushmeat needs sustained, well-resourced anti-snaring patrols in national parks and buffer zones, and support for communities living alongside wildlife so bushmeat hunting becomes less necessary.Fortunately, the Zambia Department of National Parks and Wildlife is working with partners like African Parks, The Nature Conservancy, Musekese Conservation, Conservation South Luangwa, the Frankfurt Zoological Society, and the Zambian Carnivore Programme to address snaring and the needs of people who live adjacent to parks.As protected wildlife populations recover, more young animals will undoubtedly disperse in search of new territory. This is good news for the species, but only if the routes they travel are safer than the one that EWD-1355 took..*Scott Creel Professor of Conservation Biology & Ecology, Montana State University.This article was first published by The Conversation and is republished with permission..Sign up for your early morning brew of the BizNews Insider to keep you up to speed with the content that matters. The newsletter will land in your inbox every morning on weekdays. Register here.Support South Africa's bastion of independent journalism, offering balanced insights on investments, business, and the political economy, by joining BizNews Premium. Register here.If you prefer WhatsApp for updates, sign up to the BizNews channel here.

Endangered wild dogs are quietly stitching Southern Africa's populations back together

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