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The African wild dog, African hunting dog,〔(African hunting dog ), Edinburgh Zoo〕 or African painted dog (''Lycaon pictus'') is a canid native to Sub-Saharan Africa. It is the largest of its family in Africa,〔 and the only member of the genus ''Lycaon'', which is distinguished from ''Canis'' by its fewer toes and dentition, which is highly specialised for a hypercarnivorous diet.〔 It is classed as endangered by the IUCN, as it has disappeared from much of its original range. The current population has been estimated at roughly 39 subpopulations containing 6,600 adults, only 1,400 of which are fully grown. The decline of these populations is ongoing, due to habitat fragmentation, human persecution, and disease outbreaks.〔 The African wild dog is a highly social animal, living in packs with separate dominance hierarchies for males and females.〔 Uniquely among social carnivores, it is the females rather than the males that scatter from the natal pack once sexually mature, and the young are allowed to feed first on carcasses. The species is a specialised diurnal hunter of antelopes, which it catches by chasing them to exhaustion.〔 Like other canids, it regurgitates food for its young, but this action is also extended to adults, to the point of being the bedrock of African wild dog social life.〔 It has few natural predators, though lions are a major source of mortality, and spotted hyenas are frequent kleptoparasites.〔 Although not as prominent in African folklore or culture as other African carnivores,〔 it has been respected in several hunter-gatherer societies, particularly those of the predynastic Egyptians〔〔 and the San people.〔 ==Early accounts and naming== The earliest possible written reference to the species comes from Oppian, who wrote of the ''thoa'', a hybrid between the wolf and leopard, which resembles the former in shape and the latter in colour. Solinus's ''Collectanea rerum memorabilium'' from the 3rd century AD describes a multicoloured wolf-like animal with a mane native to Ethiopia.〔Smith, C. H. (1839). ''(Dogs )'', W.H. Lizars, Edinburgh, p. 261-69〕 The species was first described scientifically in 1820 by Coenraad Temminck, after having examined a specimen taken from the coast of Mozambique. He named the animal ''Hyaena picta'', erroneously classifying it as a species of hyena. It was later recognised as a canid by Joshua Brookes in 1827, and renamed ''Lycaon tricolor''. The root word of ''Lycaon'' is the Greek λυκαίος (''lykaios''), meaning 'wolf-like'. The specific epithet ''pictus'' (Latin for 'painted'), which derived from the original ''picta'', was later returned to it, in conformity with the International Rules on Taxonomic Nomenclature.〔Bothma, J. du P. & Walker, C. (1999). ''Larger Carnivores of the African Savannas'', Springer, pp. 130–157, ISBN 3-540-65660-X〕 The English language has several names for ''Lycaon pictus'', including painted lycaon,〔 African wild dog, Cape hunting dog,〔Woodroffe, R., McNutt, J.W. & Mills, M.G.L. (2004). African Wild Dog ''Lycaon pictus''. In Sillero-Zubiri, C., Hoffman, M. & MacDonald, D. W., ed., ''Canids: Foxes, Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C., Jackals and Dogs – 2004 Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan'', 174–183. IUCN/SSC Canid Specialist Group, ISBN 2-8317-0786-2〕 and painted dog or painted wolf. The latter name is being promoted by some conservationists as a way of 're-branding' the species, as 'wild dog' has several negative connotations that could be detrimental to its image. Nevertheless, the name 'African wild dog' is still widely used.〔Chimimba, C. T. (2005). ''The Mammals of the Southern African Sub-region''. Cambridge University Press. pp. 474–480. ISBN 0-521-84418-5〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「African wild dog」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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