04/04/2026
On our last day in Botswana’s Okavango Delta last summer, we had the pleasure of sitting in our vehicle and viewing a pack of African Wild Dogs for over an hour. I learned a lot about them, and found that they have many admirable qualities:
1. They vote before hunts
Before setting off, the pack does a “rally.” Members sneeze repeatedly — and the number of sneezes helps decide whether the group moves out. Higher-ranking dogs have more influence, but even those lower in rank can sway the decision if enough of them “vote.”
2. They have strong family bonds
Their social structure is tight and cooperative. Usually one dominant breeding pair leads, but everyone helps raise the pups — babysitting, guarding, and bringing food.
3. The are built for endurance hunting
Instead of ambush, they use long-distance chases. Packs can run prey to exhaustion over several kilometers using coordinated relays — in a rare use of strategy, some dogs push from behind while others flank to steer. Think relay race meets tactical squad.
4. Wildly high hunting success rate
They’re among the most efficient large predators on Earth, with success rates around 80%, far higher than lions or hyenas. Once they’ve zeroed in on their prey, that prey has only a 20% chance of survival.
5. Food sharing is non-negotiable
After a kill, adults regurgitate meat for pups and for pack members that stayed behind. Even non-hunters get fed such as the elderly and injured — a rare level of generosity in the predator world that keeps the whole group strong.
We first found this pack, which probably contained about 17 individuals, after our trackers spotted them chasing a Hyena who had taken off with a portion of their impala kill. When we joined the pack, they were skirmishing over what remained of the impala. There are several photos of them in a circle facing one another in a tug-of-war over part of the carcass. In a subsequent photo they can be seen wheeling around 180 degrees after catching the scent of an approaching hyena. Those four dogs immediately disappeard at full speed into the bush to confront the threat.
I took several hundred photos of them. Here are just a few.
