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What’s the difference between African wild dogs and the dogs we know as pets?
For one thing, African wild dogs, which live in Africa, south of the Sahara desert, only have four toes, while domestic[驯养的] dogs and wolves have five. But you wouldn’t want to count for yourself, because these are truly wild animals.
“Wild dogs are not somebody’s domestic dogs that ran away and didn’t come back, although some people used to think that,” explains Dr. “Tico” McNutt, who studies these animals at Wild Dog Research Camp in the African country of Botswana. “They are actually Africa’s wolf, and just like wolves, they do not make good pets. They need to be out in the wild doing what they are supposed to be doing – ranging[在……徘徊] many miles every day and hunting to find the food they need to survive and feed pups[幼畜].”
In fact, they travel so far that researchers use radio collars to keep track of them. The collars send out radio signals that tell people where the dogs are. African wild dogs are a separate species[种类] from domestic dogs: lycaon pictus注, which means painted, wolf-like animal. No two wild dogs have the same pattern to their coats[(动物的)皮毛], so it is easy to tell them apart.
Roaming[来回走动] through grasslands, savannas[热带大草原], and wooded areas, they hunt gazelles[瞪羚], baby wildebeests[牛羚], warthogs[疣猪], birds and rats. Incredible hunters, they can run up to 35 miles per hour.
African wild dogs are smart and sociable, like pet dogs. They enjoy each other’s company and live in packs of about six to 20 animals. Both males and females look out for young dogs and make sure they have food. Dr. McNutt was surprised to learn that they like pups so much, they will even take care of orphans that don’t belong to them.
African wild dogs talk to each other with two common types of calls, says Dr. McNutt. “The
‘hoo’ call is a call that they make when lost or when a pack member is missing. It sounds almost like an owl.” The dogs can hear the call two or three miles away and easily find each other.
On the other hand, says Dr. McNutt, “The twitter[吱吱地叫] calls are intended to carry only very short distances, and are used to wake up the pack members and rally[召集] them to go hunting. They are very high pitched[高音调的] and sound almost like songbird calls.”
There’s one huge difference between domestic or pet dogs and African wild dogs. Millions ofdomestic dogs live on the planet, but there are probably fewer than 6,000 African wild dogs left.
Lions and hyenas eat them, but most of all, African wild dogs are threatened by people.
Humans hunt them, and ranchers[牧场主,农场工人] and farmers who don’t want them going after cows and sheep poison them. Humans are also destroying the wild, natural habitat[栖息地] they need to survive.
Researchers like Dr. McNutt are working to help people understand how rare and special these animals are. Today, more ranchers are finding other ways to protect their cows and sheep from African wild dogs instead of killing the rare and special animals.
非洲野犬和我们熟悉的宠物犬有什么区别呢?
首先,生活在非洲撒哈拉沙漠南部的非洲野犬只有4个脚趾,而家犬和狼则有5个。但你不会愿意亲自数一数吧,因为它们是真正的野生动物哦。
“以前有些人以为野犬是跑走以后没有再回来的家犬,其实不然,”“蒂克”·麦克纳特博士解释道。他在位于非洲国家博茨瓦纳的野犬研究营里研究这些动物。“事实上,它们就是非洲的狼。就像狼一样,它们不是理想的宠物。它们需要在野外做应做的事情——每天奔跑很多英里,为了生存和喂养幼兽而捕猎食物。”
事实上,由于它们的活动范围实在太广,研究人员不得不利用无线电项圈来记录它们的行踪。这些项圈会发出无线电信号,告诉人们野犬的位置。非洲野犬和家犬属于不同种类。它们是非洲野犬属(lycaon pictus),这个名字的意思是“外形似狼的杂色动物”。每一只野犬的毛皮都不相同,所以很容易便能将它们区分开来。
它们在草丛、热带草原以及林地间游走,捕猎瞪羚、牛羚幼崽、疣猪、鸟类和老鼠。这些了不起的猎手奔跑的时速可达35英里(56千米)。
和宠物犬一样,非洲野犬是聪明的群居动物。它们喜欢相互做伴,一群通常有6至20只野犬共同生活。雄性和雌性野犬都会照顾幼犬,保证它们得到食物。麦克纳特博士惊讶地发现它们相当喜欢幼犬,甚至乐意收养群体外的孤儿。
麦克纳特博士说,非洲野犬主要通过两种基本叫声进行交流。“当一只野犬迷路或群队里有成员掉队时,它们会发出‘呼’的叫声。听起来很像猫头鹰叫。”野犬能够在2至3英里(3至5千米)外听到叫声,很容易就能找到对方。
另一方面,麦克纳特博士说:“吱吱声只能在很短的距离内传播,目的是叫醒同伴,召集它们去捕猎。这些叫声的声调相当高,听起来就像鸣禽的叫声。”
家犬或宠物犬与非洲野犬还有一个很大的不同,那就是地球上生活着数以百万计的家犬,但非洲野犬或许只剩下不足6000只。
它们被狮子和土狼猎食,但最主要的原因是人类对其生存的威胁。人类猎杀野犬;希望它们远离牛群和羊群的牧场主和农民毒杀它们;人类还破坏它们赖以生存的自然栖息地。
像麦克纳特博士这样的研究人员正努力帮助人们了解这种动物的珍贵及特别之处。如今,越来越多牧场主寻求其他保护牛群和羊群的方法,从而不必杀死这种独特的珍稀动物。
注:“lycaon pictus”(拉丁文)是非洲野犬的学名。非洲野犬也叫非洲猎犬或杂色狼,是一种生活在非洲草原、灌木丛以及稀疏林地的犬科动物,是非洲野犬属下的唯一一种。
For one thing, African wild dogs, which live in Africa, south of the Sahara desert, only have four toes, while domestic[驯养的] dogs and wolves have five. But you wouldn’t want to count for yourself, because these are truly wild animals.
“Wild dogs are not somebody’s domestic dogs that ran away and didn’t come back, although some people used to think that,” explains Dr. “Tico” McNutt, who studies these animals at Wild Dog Research Camp in the African country of Botswana. “They are actually Africa’s wolf, and just like wolves, they do not make good pets. They need to be out in the wild doing what they are supposed to be doing – ranging[在……徘徊] many miles every day and hunting to find the food they need to survive and feed pups[幼畜].”
In fact, they travel so far that researchers use radio collars to keep track of them. The collars send out radio signals that tell people where the dogs are. African wild dogs are a separate species[种类] from domestic dogs: lycaon pictus注, which means painted, wolf-like animal. No two wild dogs have the same pattern to their coats[(动物的)皮毛], so it is easy to tell them apart.
Roaming[来回走动] through grasslands, savannas[热带大草原], and wooded areas, they hunt gazelles[瞪羚], baby wildebeests[牛羚], warthogs[疣猪], birds and rats. Incredible hunters, they can run up to 35 miles per hour.
African wild dogs are smart and sociable, like pet dogs. They enjoy each other’s company and live in packs of about six to 20 animals. Both males and females look out for young dogs and make sure they have food. Dr. McNutt was surprised to learn that they like pups so much, they will even take care of orphans that don’t belong to them.
African wild dogs talk to each other with two common types of calls, says Dr. McNutt. “The
‘hoo’ call is a call that they make when lost or when a pack member is missing. It sounds almost like an owl.” The dogs can hear the call two or three miles away and easily find each other.
On the other hand, says Dr. McNutt, “The twitter[吱吱地叫] calls are intended to carry only very short distances, and are used to wake up the pack members and rally[召集] them to go hunting. They are very high pitched[高音调的] and sound almost like songbird calls.”
There’s one huge difference between domestic or pet dogs and African wild dogs. Millions ofdomestic dogs live on the planet, but there are probably fewer than 6,000 African wild dogs left.
Lions and hyenas eat them, but most of all, African wild dogs are threatened by people.
Humans hunt them, and ranchers[牧场主,农场工人] and farmers who don’t want them going after cows and sheep poison them. Humans are also destroying the wild, natural habitat[栖息地] they need to survive.
Researchers like Dr. McNutt are working to help people understand how rare and special these animals are. Today, more ranchers are finding other ways to protect their cows and sheep from African wild dogs instead of killing the rare and special animals.
非洲野犬和我们熟悉的宠物犬有什么区别呢?
首先,生活在非洲撒哈拉沙漠南部的非洲野犬只有4个脚趾,而家犬和狼则有5个。但你不会愿意亲自数一数吧,因为它们是真正的野生动物哦。
“以前有些人以为野犬是跑走以后没有再回来的家犬,其实不然,”“蒂克”·麦克纳特博士解释道。他在位于非洲国家博茨瓦纳的野犬研究营里研究这些动物。“事实上,它们就是非洲的狼。就像狼一样,它们不是理想的宠物。它们需要在野外做应做的事情——每天奔跑很多英里,为了生存和喂养幼兽而捕猎食物。”
事实上,由于它们的活动范围实在太广,研究人员不得不利用无线电项圈来记录它们的行踪。这些项圈会发出无线电信号,告诉人们野犬的位置。非洲野犬和家犬属于不同种类。它们是非洲野犬属(lycaon pictus),这个名字的意思是“外形似狼的杂色动物”。每一只野犬的毛皮都不相同,所以很容易便能将它们区分开来。
它们在草丛、热带草原以及林地间游走,捕猎瞪羚、牛羚幼崽、疣猪、鸟类和老鼠。这些了不起的猎手奔跑的时速可达35英里(56千米)。
和宠物犬一样,非洲野犬是聪明的群居动物。它们喜欢相互做伴,一群通常有6至20只野犬共同生活。雄性和雌性野犬都会照顾幼犬,保证它们得到食物。麦克纳特博士惊讶地发现它们相当喜欢幼犬,甚至乐意收养群体外的孤儿。
麦克纳特博士说,非洲野犬主要通过两种基本叫声进行交流。“当一只野犬迷路或群队里有成员掉队时,它们会发出‘呼’的叫声。听起来很像猫头鹰叫。”野犬能够在2至3英里(3至5千米)外听到叫声,很容易就能找到对方。
另一方面,麦克纳特博士说:“吱吱声只能在很短的距离内传播,目的是叫醒同伴,召集它们去捕猎。这些叫声的声调相当高,听起来就像鸣禽的叫声。”
家犬或宠物犬与非洲野犬还有一个很大的不同,那就是地球上生活着数以百万计的家犬,但非洲野犬或许只剩下不足6000只。
它们被狮子和土狼猎食,但最主要的原因是人类对其生存的威胁。人类猎杀野犬;希望它们远离牛群和羊群的牧场主和农民毒杀它们;人类还破坏它们赖以生存的自然栖息地。
像麦克纳特博士这样的研究人员正努力帮助人们了解这种动物的珍贵及特别之处。如今,越来越多牧场主寻求其他保护牛群和羊群的方法,从而不必杀死这种独特的珍稀动物。
注:“lycaon pictus”(拉丁文)是非洲野犬的学名。非洲野犬也叫非洲猎犬或杂色狼,是一种生活在非洲草原、灌木丛以及稀疏林地的犬科动物,是非洲野犬属下的唯一一种。