For the first time, “hyper-carnivorous” African wild dogs have been recorded eating fruit, a behavior so far documented only in a small part of Botswana’s wildlife-rich Okavango Delta.   The wild dogs were seen picking up jackalberries, the fruit of the African ebony tree (Diospyros mespiliformis), with their teeth and swallowing them almost whole. Jackalberries are commonly eaten by jackals (Lupulella spp.), hence the name, but this is the first record of wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) consuming them. Wild dogs have teeth adapted to quickly devour flesh and bone, and were previously thought to eschew anything but meat. However, from July to August 2022, researchers observed all 11 adult members of a wild dog pack eat jackalberries daily.  These observations are published in the journal Canid Biology & Conservation. The study was led by Megan Claase, then a researcher with local NGO Wild Entrust’s Botswana Predator Conservation program. She later learned that Duncan Rowles, a safari guide, had seen a neighboring pack eating jackalberries a year earlier. Much of the fruit-eating Claase observed occurred near the pack’s den, just before the adults headed off to hunt. She hypothesized they may have been fueling up for the hunt. Older subdominant dogs were observed eating fruit throughout the day, likely to supplement their nutrition since they were lower in the pack hierarchy and had less access to meat, Claase said. Wild dogs raise pups cooperatively and regurgitate food for them in the den, so pups would likely be introduced to this novel…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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