A Special Find II

[Teton Chuck]

African painted-dogs have a keen sense of hearing. Their ears are shaped like parabolas so they collect sound efficiently. Each ear can be pointed in a different direction so the dogs can be checking for sounds all around them. They also communicate with barks. The entire pack was near us, some lying down, and some milling around. Then the birds started making lots of noise. The dogs all perked up. Suddenly, one of the dogs gave kind of a yelp and within seconds they cleared the area on a full run. Within less than a minute the lions walked into the area. We were lucky to see this interaction.







Izzie, here is a Black-backed jackal just for comparison.

[Shadowman]

Nicely done series.

[Mike Buckley]

More terrific photos!

You might be interested in my thread, which also explains their hunting habit that begins with the dogs getting in a frenzy before taking off on their hunt. I'm reasonably confident davidedrich told me that he once witnessed that frenzy and then followed the dogs on their hunt.

[Ziggy]

Very nice, enjoyed viewing.

[JohnRostron]

Amazing pictures of amazing animals.

John

[deetheturk]

Great images Chuck, thanks for sharing!

[bnnrcn]

They have beautiful fur, thanks for sharing Chuck

[Mike Buckley]

They have beautiful fur

Dogs have hair, not fur.

[Max von MeiselMaus]

Beautiful animals and great that you managed to shoot them in shade. That fur colouring wouldn't have been so spectacular under direct sunlight. I'll bet that took some doing.

And that is definitely the best way to shoot animals in Africa.

[bnnrcn]

Hi Mike It is strange that if I was talking about my dog Ella I would say 'hair' I think I used 'fur' instead of hair because those are wild animals and I can't play with them like I play with my cute girl. Seriously, should I have used 'hair' ? I'm asking because you know that English is not my native language.

Dogs have hair, not fur.

[Mike Buckley]

I really don't know about the proper use of hair or fur, Binnur. In America everyone seems to refer to hair but it may be different in other parts of the world. Wikipedia refers to both when describing the dog's coat, so maybe we should always use the term, coat, to be safe that we know we are right.

[Shadowman]

Hi Mike It is strange that if I was talking about my dog Ella I would say 'hair' I think I used 'fur' instead of hair because those are wild animals and I can't play with them like I play with my cute girl. Seriously, should I have used 'hair' ? I'm asking because you know that English is not my native language.

You are both wrong, they have coats.

[Teton Chuck]

These dogs have only course hair, not an undercoat like many dogs we have as pets. They lose some of it as they grow older and some of them look nearly bald. In my case I don't have fur or hair. I wear a coat but the fact that I am like an old African painted-dog, I am nearly bald. Therefore I wear a hat. I hope this clears up the discussion.

[Shadowman]

These dogs have only course hair, not an undercoat like many dogs we have as pets. They lose some of it as they grow older and some of them look nearly bald. In my case I don't have fur or hair. I wear a coat but the fact that I am like an old African painted-dog, I am nearly bald. Therefore I wear a hat. I hope this clears up the discussion.

Pretty much covers everything.

[IzzieK]

These dogs have only course hair, not an undercoat like many dogs we have as pets. They lose some of it as they grow older and some of them look nearly bald. In my case I don't have fur or hair. I wear a coat but the fact that I am like an old African painted-dog, I am nearly bald. Therefore I wear a hat. I hope this clears up the discussion.

Great comeback... 'Learned something early in the morning, Chuck...thanks for the laughs...

OK...back to track -- good narrative to describe these wild animals...interesting notes about their ears too. You know when one has a disability we/they tend to use other senses to survive...it comes naturally, especially with these animals in the wild. So now I know how a jackal really looks like. Thanks for that.

[Teton Chuck]

Thanks to all for weighing into the discussion. I had fun. Hope you did.

[AlwaysOnAuto]

I was hoping you had some frog pictures Chuck, so we could see what frog's hair looked like, but I realize those are as rare as hen's teeth so won't hold my breath for them to be posted.