My guest today is Dr. Greg Rasmussen, founder of the Painted Dog Research Trust .
The African Painted Dog is one of the most beautiful animals I have seen in the wild. Their body is covered in patches of black and tan that do look painted on with a brush! AND they have huge rounded ears and a furry white tipped tail. I am Marcia Sivek and this is BeProvided Conservation Radio. My first sighting of the dogs in the wild was in Namibia, at Erindi Private Game Reserve. A gate opened to enter the natural area of the reserve and there they were, a pile of black and tan spots. There were groups laying around on each other, some curled up sleeping others laying on their backs with legs in the air just like a house dog playing and enjoying time in the sun.They are social creatures and I could tell there were both young and older dogs in the group interacting with each other. When seeing such playfulness I almost felt like I could reach down and rub their bellies! (See the gallery of photos below from my Erindi experience!)
Then one yawned and that’s when I saw the teeth - large sharp scissor-like molars and I greatly appreciated I was safely sitting in a safari vehicle. They definitely demand respect.
In this episode, Dr. Greg shares his life lessons learned from painted dogs and how all people can learn from their social interactions. Click on the play button below to listen! Greg is a great storyteller of stories based on science and experience.
Videos below are provided with permission by The Endangered Wolf Center in St. Louis, MO.
This video demonstrates some of the greeting behaviors Dr. Greg talks about in today's episode.
This video demonstrates the "hoo" call Dr. Greg also talked about. (Yes! There are wolves howling in the background!)
African Painted Dogs Seen by Author at Erindi Private Game Reserve in 2017
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