Three Wild Dogs Walked 2,500 Miles Across Zambia in a Record Mammal Journey
Three endangered African wild dog brothers travelled more than 2,500 miles (4,100 km) over eight months across Zambia, in what researchers describe as the longest-ever recorded single journey by a mammal from the African continent. The Guardian
The brothers started in Kafue National Park in western Zambia and ended in the Luangwa Valley in eastern Zambia. The straight-line distance from start to finish, what biologists call displacement, was 340 miles (546 km), also reported as a record. The previous longest recorded journey was 2,418 miles by African wild dogs moving between Loliondo in Tanzania's Ngorongoro district and Tsavo West National Park in Kenya in 2012. The Guardian
Scientists from the Zambian Carnivore Programme monitored the movement and published their findings in the journal Ecology. Researchers tracked 19 separate groups of wild dogs to monitor their dispersals, when young animals leave their birth group to find new territory. Dr Matt Becker is chief executive of the Zambian Carnivore Programme. The Guardian
The three males travelled in search of new territory and mates. Reuters Two sisters of the three brothers died during the dispersal period, probably caught in snares. Two months into the journey, the sibling groups met in Zambia's copper-belt mining region and spent a day together before separating. The Guardian
About 6,600 adult African wild dogs remain across 39 distinct populations. The species is classified as endangered on the IUCN Red List, the global list that measures extinction risk. The Guardian Background material from the programme notes that prior to 2022, the longest-recorded dispersal distance for African wild dogs was approximately 600 km.
The Zambian Carnivore Programme describes itself as a field-based non-profit organization dedicated to conserving large carnivore species in Zambia. Zambian Carnivore Programme Its stated mission is to conserve Zambia's large carnivores and ecosystems through science, action, coexistence and strengthening local leadership. Its conservation strategy comprises Conservation Science, Conservation Action, Conservation Leadership, and Coexistence, and it states it works to protect lions, leopards, hyenas, wild dogs and cheetahs.
The broader context here is dispersal biology under fragmentation, or how animals move when habitat is broken into pieces. The total distance walked was very large while the straight-line progress was modest. That points to searching behaviour through landscapes where chances to settle are scarce or interrupted, rather than direct travel between known endpoints. It was less like a commute and more like circling a city looking for an open parking space.
Looking at what this means for conservation practice, the details of mortality and route carry weight. The reported loss of the two sisters to probable snaring, and the passage of both sibling groups through a mining region, focus attention on threats outside protected areas and on the limits of site-based protection for a wide-ranging species. The tracking of 19 groups provides comparative context, with this coalition at the extreme end of observed variation. The scale is unprecedented. Questions for follow-up include how often such extremes occur, what landscape features channel or block them, and how protection can be extended along dispersal paths without assuming dispersers will repeat the same route.
