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A bush dog is a carnivorous mammal of canids. This animal really prefers to live in scrub thickets, but, in addition, inhabits a variety of tropical and mountain forests. Region habitat are the territories of Central and South America.
Now shrub dogs practically do not exist in the wild, as the forests where they used to live are quite actively cut down, as a result, dogs often have to migrate a lot and they gradually reduce their population. In addition, there are factors such as rabies epidemics, the spread of other diseases, parasites. To preserve shrub dogs, they are transferred partially to zoos and reserves, nurseries.
Appearance description
Externally, the shrub dog resembles a mixture of a bear and affection, this animal is also quite comparable with a large badger on short legs.A superficial glance makes it possible to compare a bush dog with a simple mongrel, but only on short legs and with a short muzzle. At the same time, the size of these animals was much larger, but evolution has done its job, and brought it to the optimum for this species, because dogs need to move a lot in search of food, therefore it is more profitable to have a relatively small body.
A distinctive feature of this land animal is the presence of membranes on the legs. Actually, marine species of animals also have membranes, and both of these facts indicate aquatic ancestors. Like humans, shrub dogs have retained the ability to swim well and use this ability, which is described in more detail below.
In color, the body always has the standard combination of brown and brown. However, juveniles have a lighter body color. Sometimes it is possible to observe a brighter coat in adult animals, but rarely.
The head of these canids is distinguished by small and oval ears, which make a small muzzle look like a small bear or something similar. The body increases towards the top, is quite dense. The description of a shrub dog is found in various rather ancient legends and legends, and this fact confirms the duration of the existence of representatives on the planet and the gradual decrease in the number of individuals that were previously (given the rather active mention in various sources) was much larger.
Typical behavior
The animal is quite active and mobile, mainly acts during the day, and at night it sleeps in burrows or rocky indentations. The animal prefers to hunt in the mornings and evenings, partly this fact is caused by the weather in the forests of South America,where during the day the air can warm up, in part, by the behavior of other animals, which are the food base. In order to get a burrow at his own disposal, a dog can independently dig in the ground, and can appropriate the mink of another animal.
Shrub dogs are quite social, and gather in flocks (4-12 individuals, sometimes they can exist in a stable pair), in which they travel through forests and other spaces. Dogs sniff at each other and thus get information about who belongs to which pack, and who needs to continue social interaction. If a flock travels through the forest and cannot sniff at each other and maintain visual contact, then barking, which is similar to dog's, is used, only slightly higher in pitch, or howl.
Like other dogs, these mark their territory with urine and are guided by such marks in order to understand the boundaries. At the same time, shrub dogs rather accurately monitor their own borders and can fiercely defend the territory. They defend well and, as a rule, fight to the last gasp if there is no help,try to cling to the enemy in the throat, act very selflessly.
The enemies
The natural enemies of these animals are other larger predators. In particular, we are talking about jaguars and cougars, who also prefer to spend a lot of time in the jungle. In addition, shrub dogs are often eaten by ocelots.
Despite the previous passage, it should be noted the friendliness of shrub dogs that do not show aggression towards a person and behave mostly with curiosity. They begin to be interested in people, go on contact and actively communicate. Some people even tame these animals and use them for hunting purposes or simply keep them at home.
Features of the diet
As mentioned above, the bush dog is a predator, that is, it feeds on other living creatures. She prefers various rodents and lizards, sometimes birds.
Nutrition
Shrub dogs are excellent swimmers, and therefore can afford to eat the various inhabitants of water bodies, in particular, they adore to feast on larvae, fry and aquatic insects.
They hunt quite often in flocks and then can look for larger prey: capybara, young deer or ostriches. In order to make this process productive, animals are divided into two groups, one of which drives the prey to the water, and the other expects from the water.
During the sharing period of the prey, they almost never quarrel, unlike other representatives of the wolf, they do not chew on the flesh, but swallow almost immediately.
Breeding features
The pairs of shrub dogs do not fall apart, that is, they continue to be in communication after the birth of offspring. As said earlier, a couple can exist separately and represent a kind of mini-flock. One way or another, when the female is engaged in feeding the young, the male searches for food, who brings food to the female, while she feeds her young with milk for about 8 weeks after the birth.
Sexual maturity comes a year after birth. Juveniles may operate under the conditions of the available flock, but new ones may also be formed.
Interesting Facts
In conclusion, a number of facts about shrub dogs to summarize the basic information.
- They have quite an impressive range of communication and can use a variety of sounds - from a loud roar, to a quiet whine.
- They have an equally varied menu, which includes all sorts of small rodents and mammals, insects, and sometimes just the fruits of trees that can be seen along the way.
- They have the smallest number of teeth (only 38) compared with all other members of the wolf squad.
- It is a little-known representative of the fauna, as in the wild conditions of shrub dogs it is very difficult to study, and in captivity they behave in a completely different way, and they do not particularly positively tolerate conditions of bondage. Therefore, scientists do not even know what the natural duration of the existence of one individual.
At this period, shrub dogs live in the wild in the amount of about 10 thousand individuals, and this fact classifies them as endangered.Therefore, hunting for these animals is prohibited, but sometimes still allowed during periods of rabies, when animals threaten to infect the rest of the population, and can harm other animals and people.
Shrub dog is a good example of how the human factor affects the biodiversity of the planet.
Video: shrub dog (Speothos venaticus)
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