Population Status and Threats of the Endangered African wild dog in the Selous-Nyerere Landscape, Southern Tanzania
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Date
2025-07
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NM-AIST
Abstract
African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) are one of the world’s most endangered carnivore. Despites their conservation status, there is limited information on population status and threats of African wild dogs in Selous-Nyerere landscape where viable populations are thought to still occur. Furthermore, as part of the threat assessment, communitity attitude towards the endangered African wild dog has never been studied in the landscape. This study has addressed this gap by providing an updated assessment of wild dog population status and threats of African wild dogs within the Selous-Nyerere landscape of southern Tanzania. The community attitude towards wild dogs has also being addressed to ascertain the influence of the attitudes to the conservation of the species in the landscape. Data from seven camera trap surveys deployed over 4,674 km 2 in Selous GR and Nyerere NP from 2020-2022 were used to provide an update on wild dog population status in the landscape. Camera trap data were also used to gain valuable insights on pack size and demographic structure, which were compared with direct observation data to test the method applicability for wild dog population assessment in a data-limited settings. Data from satellite imagery was used to capture human threats in terms of land cover conversion over time. Data from household surveys and focus group discussions were used to explore community attitudes towards wild dogs. Based on camera trap data a total of 222 wild dogs were identified. Of these, 38% were male, 38% were female, and 24% were of unknown sex. The population density stands at
approximately 2.14 ± 0.45 adult and yearling wild dogs per 100km². Remote sensing analysis revealed a significant increase of cropland from 11.83% in 2013 to 26.49% in 2023. Distribution of attitudes among the respondents revealed that the largest group (108 individuals; 36%) expressed a neutral attitude (p <0.001) towards the species. A positive attitude was the second most common response, with 100 individuals (33.3%) expressing favourable views toward wild dogs. This research study concludes that Selous-Nyerere remains a stronghold for wild dogs. The study recommends the need for establishing long term wild dogs population changes monitoring programmes to inform management actions.
Sustainable Development Goals
SDG :13- Climate Action
SDG: 15- Life on Land