This buck goes swimming in a dam to escape a pack of wild dogs; little did he know that they were so hungry they would swim after him.
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C.F. Truter, a field guide in Madikwe, had front-row seats to all this action and shared it with LatestSightings.com.
“As the sun peeked over the horizon, casting its golden hues across the plains, we embarked on our quest to locate the wild dogs. We traversed the vast landscape of Madikwe. Soon enough, our efforts were rewarded. We spotted the pack of wild dogs zigzagging through the bushes, clearly on the hunt!”
“With a clear intention in mind, they pushed on, passing rhinos and elephants along the way. We were trying our best to keep up, but the dense bush, accompanied by their agile movements, did not make it an easy task. We lost the dogs momentarily.”
Wild dogs are known for their special way of hunting. They live in groups and hunt together. They use a strategy called “pack hunting” This technique means that the entire pack participates in a high-speed pursuit of their prey. Once they catch up, they surround the prey and work together to bring it down. This all results in wild dogs having one of the highest hunting success rates in the wild, with a whopping 8 out of 10 hunts being successful.
“I continued driving despite having lost visual, in the back of my mind, I knew that not too far away was a dam that a lot of plains game would frequent. So, I pressed the gas and headed there. When we arrived, the dogs had already managed to surround a lone impala ram that had been drinking from the water. The hunt was on!”
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“They all scattered around the dam, with one dog chasing the impala along the dam wall. The impala jumped into the water for safety. The dog started calling the rest of the pack before plunging in after the impala. It began carefully herding the impala back towards the dam wall, where the rest of the pack was waiting. As the impala got closer, the rest of the dogs plunged in and dragged the exhausted impala to the edge, where they started ripping into it.”
Impalas serve as a very important food source for predators, even though it’s sad. Predators like lions, cheetahs, leopards, and wild dogs need to eat in order to survive. Even though it’s not nice to think about, it’s how nature works. It’s the circle of life that keeps the balance in the wild and helps different animals stay alive.