Bushdogs

The Bush Dog is a canine with the face of a bear and the feet of an otter, with a strange but distinctive scent of vinegar, which has led to its local nickname of “vinegar dog”.

Native to Central and South America, bush dogs have proved to be extremely difficult to locate in the wild, making it tricky to estimate population trends, and we still do not know how long they can live in the wild. In fact, bush dogs are so rare that researchers thought it extinct after first identifying bush dog fossils in the 1800s, only to find live specimens decades later.

Bush dogs are found in a number of habitats including rainforest, wet savannah, and mangroves, but they prefer dense forests with plenty of cover for hunting prey.

Bush dogs are social creatures - they live, sleep, hunt and feed together.

They live in packs of up to 12, with one mating pair as the leaders. The other bushdogs help care for the pups - up to 6 at a time - by guarding, cleaning and carrying the pups from place to place, and feeding, with males in charge of bringing food to the mothers in the den.

Bush dogs are primarily carnivorous. When they hunt in packs, they can capture prey much bigger than themselves, like capybara, like paca and agouti. Solitary hunters take on snakes, lizards and birds with their sharp incisors and strong molars.

They live primarily in areas where other predators struggle, such as lowland forests and flooded areas. An environment they are particularly adapted to, with their webbed feet, which stops them from sinking in the mud on top of turning them into powerful swimmers. And they can dive underwater for over 30 seconds!

Bush dogs make some strange calls - these vocal signs are used to claim territory, ward off aggressors and communicate with each other.

Art by cinnamon_meep