Tuesday, August 12, 2014

One for All, and All for Hunt,2014

One for All, and All for Hunt 
The new york time 

One for All, and All for Hunt
A young adult African wild dog in Kafue National Park in Zambia. New studies have shown that these dogs are willing to shorten their own lives for the good of the pack.

SOUTH LUANGWA NATIONAL PARK, ZAMBIA — We saw the impala first, a young buck with a proud set of ridged and twisted horns, like helical rebar, bounding across the open plain at full, desperate gallop. But why?

A moment later somebody in our vehicle gasped, and the answer became clear. Rising up behind the antelope, as though conjured on movie cue from the aubergine glow of the late afternoon, were six African wild dogs, running in single file. They moved with military grace and precision, their steps synchronized, their radio-dish ears cocked forward, their long, puppet-stick legs barely skimming the ground.

Still, the impala had such a jump on them that the dogs couldn’t possibly catch up — could they? We gunned the engine and followed.

The pace quickened. The dogs’ discipline held steady. They were closing the gap and oh, no, did I really want to watch the kill?

To my embarrassed relief, the violence was taken off-screen, when prey and predators suddenly dashed up a hill and into obscuring bushes. By the time we reached the site, the dogs were well into their communal feast, their dark muzzles glazed with bright red blood, their white-tipped tails wagging in furious joy. 

One for All, and All for Hunt

Antelope in Zambia. In one attack, six African wild dogs worked together to bring one down. Credit Scott Creel/Montana State University

“They are the most enthusiastic animals,” said Rosie Woodroffe of the Institute of Zoology in London, who has studied wild dogs for the last 20 years. “Other predators may be bigger and fiercer, but I would argue that there is nothing so enthusiastic as a wild dog,” she said. “They live the life domestic dogs wish they could live.”

In 1997, while devising an action plan to help save the wild dog species, Lycaon pictus, Dr. Woodroffe felt anything but exuberant. Wild dogs were considered among the most endangered of Africa’s mammals; Dr. Woodroffe had yet to see one in the wild, and she feared she never would.

“I remember sitting on my kitchen floor thinking, ‘They’re going to go extinct,’ ” she said. “They have such a massive requirement for space in a world where human populations are only increasing.”

Today, although still classified as endangered, African wild dogs are holding their own over all, and in some parts of the continent are doing better than expected. Today, even yellow-bellied safari goers are regularly treated to displays of the canids’ extraordinary hunting prowess.

“Everything I thought 20 years ago was, if not entirely wrong, then certainly inaccurate,” said Joshua R. Ginsberg, the president-elect of the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, N.Y., who was Dr. Woodroffe’s adviser. “Wild dogs turn out to be far more resilient than anyone expected.”



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