The largest wild canine in Africa, with a patchy brown, black and white coat. Packs hunt hoofed animals, mostly at dawn and dusk, using stamina and teamwork to run them to exhaustion. It has been listed as endangered since 1990, with an estimated 6,600 adults left.
Quick answers
What is it?Mammal
Carnivore?Yes
Dangerous?Can be
Domesticated?No
Awake when?Daytime
Hibernates?No
Kept as a pet?No
Do people eat it?No
At a glance
Found inAfrica
ColoursBrown, Black, White
SizeMedium
Length71–112 cm, plus a 29–41 cm tail
Height60–75 cm at the shoulder
Weight18–36 kg
Legs4
Covered inFur
Lives inpacks
Lives for10–12 years
In the wild
- Where it lives
- Sub-Saharan Africa, mostly Southern and East Africa; rare in North Africa.
- What it eats
- Hoofed animals such as antelopes, wildebeest and kudu calves and zebras, plus hares, cane rats and insects.
- Conservation
- Endangered (IUCN Red List)
Did you know
Hunts in packs of up to 27, running its prey to exhaustion.
Packs have 2 to 27 adults and yearling pups, and members bring up food for other adults as well as for pups.
Pups get to eat first at a kill, a privilege that ends once they are a year old.
Often confused with
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