Boschje

notes

- AWD throw up food for young, but the habit extends to adults and it's a huge point of their social lifes
- AWD sneeze to vote, I think this extends to when they agree to something they snort. 
- AWD lack dewclaws
- Females leave the pack after maturity
- Lions and hyenas are their natural enemy.
- Hyenas are kleptoparasitic so AWD See them as sneak-thieves
- Boschje comes from the Dutch Boschjesmens, which describes the hunter-gather Saan people of South Africa. One of the rare tribes that respect the AWD
- Spotted hyena are bigger than AWD, but AWD are bigger than other hyenas
- The lack of the extra digit on their forefeet causes their ancestors to run faster, but causes them to be clumsy when manuevering the evolved thumb for tasks above grasping.
- Or maybe they just have four fingers to exaggerate this.
- There are a lot of genetic ties to the Dhole, it's even believed they have similar ancestory
- AWD suffer fur/hair loss as they age. The elders being nearly naked
- AWD have incredibly strong bonds
- PAcks can be huge, up to 2-27 adults and yearlings. typically around 4-10 adults.
- The males/females have different dominance hierarchies. Females are typically lead by the oldest. Males lead by the oldest, but can be supplanted by younger specimen. 
- Packs of African wild dogs have a high ratio of males to females
- the pack is dominated by the matriarch
- When a litter of pups is born, they take priority over even the alphas.
- This is a consequence of the males mostly staying with the pack whilst female offspring disperse
- AWD tend to avoid crowded or forested areas, preferring wide open plains and savanas.
- Lions are a major source of mortality to AWD
- They have an extremely powerful bite – with specialised molars for shearing meat and breaking bone
- exceptionally keen senses of sight, smell and particularly hearing.
- Long legs, a lean build and rapid muscle recovery all assist in making this animal a formidable endurance hunter.
- At first pups are fed by pack members that regurgitate fresh meat after returning from a hunt, but once old enough, they are taken to the kill and given first choice over the spoils. Adult pack members patiently wait on the side lines, standing guard until their turn to feed. They almost never fight amongst themselves over food due to this ranking system
- When a pack member becomes ill, injured or elderly restricting or even incapacitating their effectiveness as a hunter, the rest of the pack cares for and feeds them.
- The alpha female is the core of the pack – leading her pack from its formation until she dies. She is the leader, general, decision maker and caring mother. Once she dies the pack splits, with the males and females heading in different directions to form new packs.
- Painted wolves are nomadic animals and can traverse 50km in a single day. As a result, their territories can range between 400 and 1500 square kilometres. They only remain in one area when denning
- Communication is key and the pack members constantly let one another know both their location and that of the prey. Their high intelligence and teamwork allows them to adapt to changing scenarios during a hunt.
- The dominant pair is monogamous and would usually be the only ones in the pack to breed, though a beta pair does sometimes produce pups as well, which are then either killed or adopted by the alpha pair.
- They are naturally distrusting of humans or indeed any animal outside of their own pack