African wild dogs are incredible animals with an impressively high success rate for their hunts. Their coordinated pack tactics give them an edge over competing predators when it comes to bringing down prey, and even when stealing kills from others, such as lions and hyenas.
This sighting, caught on camera by David Beverley in Madikwe in South Africa, shows the savageness of these dogs as they consume their prey without bothering to take the time to kill it first.
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Sightings like these can be difficult to watch, but they’re a part of nature just as much as any other, and they’re an important insight into how certain predators operate.
Overwhelming Tactics
One thing that makes wild dogs such effective hunters is their ability to run long distances. This means that they can keep up with any animals that try to escape, and their pack tactics allow them to surround and then overwhelm their prey.
By the time David began filming this encounter, multiple dogs had already begun pinning the unfortunate impala. Despite the pain it must have been experiencing, the stricken prey did make a brief escape attempt, but this could never succeed.
Even if it had broken away, the status of these dogs as endurance runners meant it wouldn’t have made it far, and their habits of attacking their prey’s back legs meant that this last surge of energy was the impala’s last chance.
Even as the dogs dragged their prey to the ground, more and more were emerging from the bush. With packs often numbering more than ten individuals, but sometimes reaching more than thirty, they would quickly overwhelm and consume the impala.
An Unpleasant End
The dogs swarmed around the hindquarters of the impala, and from there they began devouring it upwards. It struggled feebly, but at that point it was already over.
Wild dogs and spotted hyenas often consume their prey in this manner because rival predators could come and steal the kill at any moment, and the relatively thin skin around their prey’s rear legs offers the quickest path to valuable and nutritious organs.
No doubt it’s incredibly painful for the impala, but the wild dogs need to replenish their energy as quickly as possible to ensure they’re fit and healthy to continue hunting in the future.
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Gruesome Necessities
The reason these dogs eat their prey alive like this is to ensure they get the opportunity to eat it at all. Although their large packs mean they can pose a threat to other predators that come knocking, they are still physically smaller than both hyenas and lions, and if either show up in force, then they could be forced to retreat.
The sound of a hunt can attract other predators, and because of the success of wild dogs, hyenas often keep a close eye on them whenever they cross paths.
It makes for some horrible scenes of bloody fur and painful ends, but these eating habits are essential for the wild dog’s survival. Expending energy on a hunt and then not replenishing it can be fatal if it happens too often, and they’re already classified as endangered.