In northern Botswana the largest pack I have recorded is 31 and that consisted of 20 adults and 11 sub adults in the Vumbura area. These larger packs usually comprise almost 50% pups and often by the time the pups reach a year in age the pack has already split. Only occasionally and temporarily do these packs push 50 animals. Today, packs very rarely reach any big numbers and throughout their present range are most often recorded in packs of 5-15 animals. This is not the only source that I have read such outrageous numbers being documented and in Alan Cattrick’s ‘Spoor of Blood’ there is another report where one hunter on an expedition during the 1800’s and not far from today’s city of Johannesburg, wakes up one morning to find himself surrounded by well over 100 of these carnivores at first light! They found the hunter sleeping there and while they paid some interest, they showed no aggression and it wasn’t long before they moved off into the dim light. Stevenson-Hamilton also quotes in this book that in the early days of South Africa, Gordon-Cumming and others used to record ‘bands of several hundred’. These old books provide a wealth of information into Africa’s wildlife before it was so negatively impacted on by humans.ĭuring the mid-twentieth century, packs in the Kruger National Park area of South Africa often numbered in the region of 60-70 animals and this was widely documented and often by hunters and game wardens who saw this species as vermin and one of the biggest reasons for the destruction of herbivore populations. I have always read up on any information I can find on them and recently came across a book by Stevenson-Hamilton called ‘Wild Life in South Africa’. This is one of the most fascinating predators to spend time with and they provide incredible adrenaline packed entertainment when you follow them on the hunt. Did you know that historically this species used to occur in packs of well over 100 animals?

Wild dogs packs