Painted Dog update, Arduous times ahead

The painted dog pack is soldiering on, 1 dog confirmed killed by a lioness and some close calls with a leopard and even rhino while out hunting in the last week! This leaves the 2 females, Alpha male, older short tail male and 2 yearling male helpers, so only 6 left in the pack.

Enjoy the short clip below taken by my guest Rod (with his trusty Blackberry of course)of a wonderful surprise sighting.
[FMP width=”640″ height=”360″]https://www.leopardhills.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/20110428-Leopard-Chasing-Wilddog.flv[/FMP]

We had an amazing experience the other day while listening to the pups down below in the one den. We previously assumed that these pups we could hear down in the first den were the Alpha female’s however the events that unfolded the next day were a big surprise…

Now we couldn‘t see which female was down in each den and when the first rangers arrived at the first den the following morning they discovered 2 dead pups lying on the road and no more pups have been heard at this den since. The Alpha female has emerged from the other den site and the subordinate female is now running and hunting with the pack again.

What seems to have happened is that the Alpha female has killed the subordinate female’s pups (the pups we heard) so that the small pack can focus solely on providing for her pups when they emerge. If the pups were killed by hyaena or lions they would have been eaten. So now we wait expectantly until we can hear any sign of the Alpha female’s pups down in the other den…

Below is not a great image but shows the old male peering down into the Alpha female’s den. The den has been modified in an old termite mound.