Kingdom Animalia Class Mammalia Family Canidae Rank Subspecies | Phylum Chordata Order Carnivora Genus Lycaon | |
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Similar Mammal, East African wild dog, Cape wild dog, Acinonyx jubatus soemmeringii, Lycaon | ||
The Somali wild dog (Lycaon pictus somalicus) is a subspecies of African wild dog native to the Horn of Africa. It is similar to the East African wild dog, but is smaller, has shorter and coarser fur, and has a weaker dentition. Its colour closely approaches that of the Cape form, with the yellow parts being buff rather than bright orange as is the case in the East African subspecies.
It is legally protected in Ethiopia, though it is absent in all protected areas, being present only in small numbers in the southern part of the country. The animal may still occur in northern Somalia, but the ongoing Somali Civil War has made its prospects for survival poor. It is probably extinct in Eritrea.
According to Enno Littmann, the people of Ethiopia's Tigray Region believed that injuring a wild dog with a spear would result in the animal dipping its tail in its wounds and flicking the blood at its assailant, causing instant death. For this reason, Tigrean shepherds would repel wild dog attacks with pebbles rather than with edged weapons.