African Painted Dogs, also known as African Wild Dogs, have made a remarkable comeback in Uganda. Rangers sighted the species in Kidepo Valley National Park, located in the semi-arid Karamoja region in the far northeastern corner of the country. On 27 June 2023, the park recorded and confirmed the sighting, marking the species’ return after decades of absence. Wild dogs disappeared from Uganda in the 1980s after local extinction drove them out of the country.
Over the last few years, people have reported several wild dog sightings in the region, including sightings in Pian Upe Wildlife Reserve in Uganda’s semi-arid northeast and even near Queen Elizabeth National Park in western Uganda. However, conservationists dismissed these reports as rumors because no one provided photographic evidence. Wild dogs move incredibly fast, leaving observers with only a brief opportunity to capture a photograph. As soon as they notice people watching them, they quickly dash into the bush.
The ranger guide in Kidepo National Park who found the dogs around the Narus Valley was able to steal a shot of two wild dogs on his low-quality phone before the dogs quickly dashed away into the bush. The low-quality pictures however properly reveal the features of the wild dog. Doubts have been put to rest that wild dogs (African-painted dogs) currently exist in Uganda.
Uganda Wild Authority has immediately sent out teams into the park for further investigation to establish the extent of the wild dog occurrence in the park. There are suggestions that these could be African migrants as the dogs are capable of traveling thousands of kilometers when dispersing to look for mates and new home ranges.
What are wild dogs?
Scientific name: Lycaon pictus. Wild dogs have big, rounded ears and distinctive multi-colored coats with irregular patches of red, black, brown, white, and yellow. In fact each individual has its own unique coat pattern.
The dogs also have four toes on their long legs, differentiating them from other dogs which has five toes on the forefeet.
Most prolific of hunters
The wild dogs are perhaps most famous for their incredible hunting abilities. They are praised as the best hunters of all the predators. Wild dogs almost never fail and their hunting expedition does not take long till they have put down the prey. They hunt in large packs and will carry out a strategy of hunt depending on the prey. Their common tactic is to chase after the prey until it wears down, and when the prey slows down or stops to rest they pounce on it and start biting pieces off it and will eventually die from pain (a similar way hyenas eat their prey, they do not kill the prey first before eating). The dogs are light, agile, fast and are persistent runners.
Also, unlike other predators like lions that hunt at night, the wild dogs hunt during day. The wild dogs will raise the predator profile of Kidepo Valley National Park and Uganda.Wild dogs making a comeback in Uganda
