African Hunting Dog

African Hunting Dog
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Order: Carnivora Family: Canidae Genus: Lycaon
Binomial name
Lycaon pictus

The African Hunting Dog (Lycaon pictus) is a mammal of the Canidae family, thus related to the domestic dog. They are, as their name indicates, found only in Africa, especially in scrub savanna and other lightly wooded areas. The Latin name of the species means painted wolf and it is characteristic of the species that no two individuals have the same pattern of coat.

African Hunting Dogs hunt in packs. Their main prey are impala and similar medium sized ungulates. Their need for a large territory has led to the situation where today they are threatened with extinction.

Reference

Walker's Mammals of the World
as of 2002-07-07

External links:

• http://www.scz.org/animals/d/dog.html