Painted Wolves

David Attenborough’s BBC1 Programme ‘Dynasties’, this week was all about Painted wolves. Here is some more information about them:

Painted wolves are wolves with black and white spots on their skin. These wolves are part of the dog family and can weigh up to 25kg (the same as a Border Collie).

The painted wolves hunt and eat Impalas and Baboons. In a pack of painted wolves there are an alpha male and an alpha female leading the pack. Only the leaders breed while the rest of the pack looks after the new born cubs.

Painted wolves are constantly on the move. Their typical home range can cover 1,500 square kilometres which is equivalent to the size of Greater London. This is a main factor to vanishing populations, as 1,500 square kilometres can really only support one or two painted wolf packs.

If there is a new born, the wolves will limit their travelling and hunting to areas closer to their dens. Today only about 5000 painted wolves remain and humans are the biggest reason for this. Farmers shoot painted wolves and track down dens, poisoning the wolves inside. Diseases such as rabies from domesticated animals can easily wipe out the entire pack with just one painted wolf infected because of their highly social nature.

By Avni and Harshini (Year 6)