Good on the people of Zoo Tampa for trying to preserve the African painted dogs. I hope their efforts work out.
That being said, these creatures do not actually look like dogs. If you saw someone walking one down the street you'd spend at least a few seconds going "What is that?" rather than going straight to "Ah, dog."
Africa has produced a lot of animals that have weird and obvious patterns on their fur. I'd guess their extreme lighting conditions have something to do with that.
2 comments:
My first thought on seeing them was that they were hyenas, but on closer examination I decided not. Their faces remind me of German Shepards but not the rest of them. You're right they're both unusual and attractive animals.
I don't know what the appeal is for people having unusual pets but let's hope African painted dogs don't get domesticated. I wouldn't like seeing one on a leash. "What is that?" - indeed. It's good there are programs to save the species.
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They do like hyenas, despite not being all that closely related. (As I think I've mentioned before, hyenas are more closely related to cats.) It could just be that they're evolved to blend into similar environments. But yeah, they're pretty striking no matter how you slice it.
They probably wouldn't work out as house pets. The number of species that do work as house pets is relatively small. But that's in part a North American thing. In Africa and maybe Southern Asia they could be part of someone's posse.
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