What do African wild dogs eat? Meat, almost exclusively. African wild dogs, also called painted dogs (Lycaon pictus), hunt live prey and rarely touch anything else. Most of their diet is medium-sized antelope such as impala, kudu and gazelle. In Zimbabwe’s national parks, impala made up 38.7% of all wild dog kills in one survey. Greater kudu came second at 25.8%.
What do African wild dogs eat in each region? The answer changes as you move across the continent. Impala top the list across southern Africa, while Thomson’s gazelle leads in East Africa. Packs also take the calves of larger animals, plus hares, rats and birds when the chance comes up. Each dog eats 1.2 to 5.9 kilograms (2.6 to 13 pounds) of meat a day.
What do African wild dogs eat? The full prey list
Wild dogs usually hunt animals that weigh between 15 and 200 kilograms (33 to 441 pounds). That range covers most of Africa’s small and medium antelope. However, the pack picks the weakest target it can find, such as a young, old or sick animal.
Their pack hunting strategy relies on cooperative hunting and stamina rather than ambush. In this endurance hunting style, the dogs take turns chasing their target until it tires. As a result, the African wild dog hunting success rate varies a lot by habitat. One review of studies put the average at about 31%, although some packs catch prey in over 60% of chases. Our African wild dog facts guide explains where the famous 80% figure comes from.
These are the prey animals that turn up most often in studies across Africa:
| Prey animal | Typical weight | How often wild dogs take it |
|---|---|---|
| Impala | 40 to 60 kg | The top prey in most of southern Africa |
| Greater kudu | Calves mostly | Second most common prey in Zimbabwe’s parks |
| Thomson’s gazelle | 15 to 25 kg | The main prey on East Africa’s grassy plains |
| Blue wildebeest | Calves mostly | Common in the calving season |
| Reedbuck | 40 to 80 kg | A favorite in parts of Namibia |
| Springbok | 30 to 45 kg | Taken in drier parts of southern Africa |
| Bushbuck and common duiker | 12 to 80 kg | Common in thick bush and woodland |
| Kirk’s dik-dik | About 5 kg | The main prey in Kenya’s Laikipia rangelands |
| Warthog | 45 to 100 kg | Taken now and then, usually by several dogs |
Weights are typical adult ranges and vary by region and sex.
Wild dogs also hunt much smaller animals. Individual dogs catch hares, cane rats, spring hares and ground birds, and they eat small prey whole.
African wild dog diet by region
The painted dog diet changes from place to place. A wild dog in Kenya doesn’t eat the same things as one in South Africa. Instead, each pack hunts whatever antelope is common where it lives. Packs survive in only 19 countries, according to the 2020 IUCN assessment. Our guide to where African wild dogs live lists them.
What do African wild dogs eat in East Africa?
On the open plains of Tanzania and Kenya, packs mostly chase Thomson’s gazelle. They also take impala and wildebeest calves. These open plains suit endurance hunting, so packs can wear down even fast antelope.
What do African wild dogs eat in Kenya’s rangelands?
Laikipia in northern Kenya shows how flexible wild dogs can be. A 2007 study led by Rosie Woodroffe found that Kirk’s dik-dik made up 70% of the prey eaten there. A dik-dik weighs only about 15% of a wild dog’s body mass. Even so, the packs there were as large and healthy as packs in protected parks. Dik-dik are so common in Laikipia that hunting them pays off.
What do African wild dogs eat in Kruger National Park?
Impala dominate the diet in Kruger. However, a 2021 study in the Journal of Mammalogy found big differences between habitats. In thick bush, small browsers and mixed feeders made up about 73% of the diet. That group includes impala and duiker. In more open country, larger grazers and browsers made up about 67%.
A 2024 DNA study of wild dog droppings in Kruger added some surprises. Researchers from the University of Pretoria found francolins, Cape hares and vlei rats in the samples. They also found elephant DNA, which most likely came from dung or the environment rather than from a meal.
What do African wild dogs eat in Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia?
What do African wild dogs eat across the southern range? In Zimbabwe’s national parks, impala and kudu together made up almost two-thirds of kills. In Botswana’s Moremi Game Reserve, impala again top the list. In parts of Namibia, reedbuck take that top spot instead.
Do African wild dogs eat zebra?
Yes, but not often. What do African wild dogs eat instead? Usually something far smaller. Packs have been recorded pulling down adult plains zebra weighing around 240 kilograms (529 pounds). They have also killed young African buffalo and, on rare occasions, eland. These large animals are risky and hard to kill, so most packs stick to antelope.
Big prey also takes longer to bring down. A medium antelope usually dies within two to five minutes. By contrast, a pack may need half an hour to pull down a wildebeest.
How much do African wild dogs eat?
What do African wild dogs eat in a single day, and how much? Wild dogs are hypercarnivores, so meat makes up nearly all of their diet. They also need a lot of it, because they burn a lot of energy. One field study measured six wild dogs and found that each burned about 3,670 kilocalories a day. The chase alone can push a dog’s energy use to 25 times its resting rate.
To cover that cost, each dog eats 1.2 to 5.9 kilograms (2.6 to 13 pounds) of meat a day. After a big kill, one dog can hold up to about 9 kilograms (20 pounds) in its stomach. That capacity lets adults carry plenty of food back to the pups at the den.
How do African wild dogs eat their prey?
Wild dogs eat fast. A pack can finish a Thomson’s gazelle in about 15 minutes. They tear off chunks and swallow them with very little chewing.
There’s a good reason for the speed. Spotted hyenas follow wild dog packs and try to steal their kills. In Tanzania’s Selous Game Reserve, packs lost about 2% of kills to hyenas and under 1% to lions. Those losses sound small. Still, a lost meal hurts a lot when every hunt costs so much energy.
How feeding begins after a kill
African wild dogs can begin feeding before prey has fully died because they do not rely on a single killing bite. For the killing process, prey consciousness, and how quickly different animals die, see our dedicated guide to whether African wild dogs eat their prey alive.
How African wild dog packs share food
Whatever the pack catches, it shares. What do African wild dogs eat first at a kill? The pups do, even before the breeding pair. Wild dogs divide food more fairly than almost any other predator, and there is very little fighting over a carcass.
Adults also carry food back in their stomachs. When they return to the den, the pups beg by licking the adults’ mouths. The adults then bring up meat for the pups. They do the same for the babysitters who stayed behind and for sick or injured pack members.
This sharing makes the whole pack stronger. For more on how an African wild dog pack works together, read our facts guide.
Do African wild dogs scavenge?
Very rarely. What do African wild dogs eat, fresh or scavenged? Nearly always fresh meat from their own kills. Now and then, though, they take carcasses from hyenas, leopards, cheetahs or lions. They have also been seen feeding on animals caught in snares.
Do African wild dogs drink water?
What do African wild dogs eat and drink? Meat covers most of their water needs, so they drink when water is around but don’t depend on it. As a result, packs can live in fairly dry country where water is hard to find.
Do African wild dogs eat livestock?
Only occasionally. What do African wild dogs eat on farmland? Wild prey, in almost every case. A 2005 study in northern Kenya recorded one livestock attack per 1,000 square kilometers (386 square miles) a year. Where wild prey remained, the cost worked out at about US$3.40 per wild dog a year.
Where antelope had disappeared, that cost rose to US$389 per dog. So wild dogs turn to sheep and goats mainly when their natural food gets scarce. You can read more in our guide on whether African wild dogs are dangerous to people and livestock.
African wild dog diet FAQs
What do African wild dogs eat most often?
Impala, in most of southern Africa. In East Africa, Thomson’s gazelle takes that place. Both are medium-sized antelope that live in large herds.
What do African wild dogs eat in the wild?
Mainly antelope such as impala, kudu, gazelle, reedbuck, springbok, bushbuck and duiker. They also take wildebeest calves, warthogs, hares, cane rats and ground birds.
What do African wild dogs eat when prey is scarce?
They switch to smaller animals. In Kenya’s Laikipia, dik-dik made up 70% of the prey eaten, and packs in depleted areas take about 30% more small antelope.
What do African wild dogs eat besides meat?
Very little. They are hypercarnivores, which means meat makes up more than 70% of their diet. Packs in the Okavango Delta have been seen eating jackalberry fruit before a hunt, but that is unusual.
Do African wild dogs eat their own dead?
There is no reliable evidence that they do. Pack members care for each other, including sick and injured dogs.
What eats African wild dogs?
Lions are the biggest natural threat. They kill wild dogs to cut down competition, but they usually leave the bodies uneaten. Hyenas may kill pups at a den.
So, what do African wild dogs eat? Medium antelope above all, topped up with whatever small prey the habitat offers.
