One Planet News: Staggering canid behaviour documented

Meat-eating predator demonstrates unusual behaviour

By Annette J Beveridge

A rare canid species has been discovered doing something never recorded before.

The Ethiopian wolf is Africa's most threatened carnivore and is found only in the highlands of Ethiopia where fewer than 500 individuals survive.

Details of newly observed behaviour of these foraging wolves, with multiple wolves from different packs utilising the same food resource, were recorded in the journal Ecology.

Prey species

Ethiopian wolves are long and slender with small teeth. These are well-spaced suggesting the wolves adaptation to feeding on rodents. The wolves live in close-knit packs and are highly-territorial. They are most active during daylight hours having synchronised hunting activity with rodents when they emerge above ground.

Strange behaviour

Wolves were studied enjoying the sweetness of nectar - a new and curious behaviour….