Page 22 - BBC Wildlife Volume 36 #11

PAINTED WOLVES

Painted wolves are some

of the most successful

hunters on the planet,

with about 80 per cent

of chases ending in kills.

Above left: a painted from Victoria Falls. “There’s a big painted
wolf tackles an wolf pack denning not so far away. Nobody’s
antelope that has managed to locate the den just yet, but the
been captured in dogs will be having pups anytime now, so
water. Above: a
group enjoys a they’re less mobile than usual and you have
spot of rough play. a better chance of seeing them.”
Left: the carnivores Tyron and I were enjoying a drink beside
will often attack the lodge swimming pool, which was off-
wildebeest, but
sometimes the limits because a herd of thirsty elephants
odds stack up was busy drinking it dry. One evening not
against them. Here, so long ago, guests had been gathering for
wildebeest see of the regular evening pachyderm cocktail hour
a lone wolf that has when a female kudu dashed into the clearing
strayed too close to
their herd. Without and launched into the pool in a futile effort to
back-up, the hunter evade 11 painted wolves. “The dogs leaped in
has to retreat. after her,” Tyron recalled. “For a few minutes,
the pool looked like a scene from Jaws.”

A view to a kill
Painted wolves are among the planet’s most
successful hunters, with about 80 per cent
of chases ending in kills. There seems to be
a level of terror involved in a wolf hunt that
pushes their victims to unusually desperate

22 BBC Wildlife November 2018