Pack settle together

Our four painted dogs are settling into their new home after being introduced together to form our first ever breeding pack.

Mother and daughter, Alice and Isobel, who recently arrived from Germany, have now joined the two boys, who keepers have named Bruce and Walter, as part of a carefully managed conservation breeding programme.

Senior Curator, Richard Brown, said: “The integration between the girls and boys continues to go well.

“A pack of dogs has to have a hierarchy, with a dominant male and female, so we’re closely observing their behaviours as they work out the dynamics of the group themselves.”

And pack feeding is one of the ways keepers are able to observe this behaviour.

Richard added: “Painted dogs are a highly social species, who live and hunt together in a group. We feed them big joints of meat every other day, which not only mimics feeding patterns in the wild, but ensures natural behaviours.

“Pack feeding is very important to keep groups together. It’s how they decided the hierarchy between members initially, as well as helping them maintain it going forward, as the dominant pair feed first, before the others take their turn.”

Find out more about painted dogs HERE.