Additive opportunistic capture explains group hunting benefits in African wild dogs.

Tatjana Y Hubel,Julia P Myatt,Oliver P Dewhirst,Alan M Wilson,Neil R Jordan,J Weldon Mcnutt

doi:10.1038/ncomms11033

Abstract

African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) are described as highly collaborative endurance pursuit hunters based on observations derived primarily from the grass plains of East Africa. However, the remaining population of this endangered species mainly occupies mixed woodland savannah where hunting strategies appear to differ from those previously described. We used high-resolution GPS and inertial technology to record fine-scale movement of all members of a single pack of six adult African wild dogs in northern Botswana. The dogs used multiple short-distance hunting attempts with a low individual kill rate (15.5%), but high group feeding rate due to the sharing of prey. Use of high-level cooperative chase strategies (coordination and collaboration) was not recorded. In the mixed woodland habitats typical of their current range, simultaneous, opportunistic, short-distance chasing by dogs pursuing multiple prey (rather than long collaborative pursuits of single prey by multiple individuals) could be the key to their relative success in these habitats.

Highlights

African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) are described as highly collaborative endurance pursuit hunters based on observations derived primarily from the grass plains of East Africa
African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) have been described as the ultimate cooperative persistence predator[1,2,3] with packs reported to pursue prey over many kilometres[1,4,5]. This description is based on early observations of hunting in open, grass plains habitats such as those found in parts of East Africa
We hypothesized that African wild dogs in mixed woodland savannah with comparatively low visibility, dense vegetation and ground cover would use hunting techniques that differ from the long-distance endurance pursuit of individual prey by multiple African wild dogs previously described for open grassland habitats

Summary

Introduction

African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) are described as highly collaborative endurance pursuit hunters based on observations derived primarily from the grass plains of East Africa. African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) have been described as the ultimate cooperative persistence predator[1,2,3] with packs reported to pursue prey over many kilometres[1,4,5] This description is based on early observations of hunting in open, grass plains habitats such as those found in parts of East Africa. In the African wild dog, group hunting has been reported to include higher-level cooperative strategies such as coordination (multiple individuals focus their attention on a single prey and relate to one another in space and time) and collaboration (multiple individuals chase a single prey, taking on different roles) as defined by ref. We hypothesized that African wild dogs in mixed woodland savannah with comparatively low visibility, dense vegetation and ground cover would use hunting techniques that differ from the long-distance endurance pursuit of individual prey by multiple African wild dogs previously described for open grassland habitats

Methods

Results

Conclusion