The purpose of these coat patterns may be an adaptation for communication, concealment, or temperature regulation. Individuals differ in patterns and colours, indicating a diversity of the underlying genes. The African wild dog exhibits one of the most varied coat colours among the mammals. This adaptation also occurs in two other hypercarnivores – the dhole and the bush dog.

On the lower carnassials (first lower molars), the talonid has evolved to become a cutting blade for flesh-slicing, with a reduction or loss of the post-carnassial molars. The teeth are generally carnassial-shaped, and its premolars are the largest relative to body size of any living carnivoran with the exception of the spotted hyena. This adaptation allows it to pursue prey across open plains for long distances.

It has a graceful skeleton, and the loss of the first digit on its forefeet increases its stride and speed. The African wild dog possesses the most specialized adaptations among the canids for coat colour, diet, and for pursuing its prey through its cursorial (running) ability. Evolution Īrtistic reconstruction by Mauricio Antón of Xenocyon, a possible ancestral genus This grouping was disputed by Juliet Clutton-Brock, who argued that, other than dentition, too many differences exist between the three species to warrant classifying them in a single subfamily. Simpson placed the African wild dog, the dhole, and the bush dog together in the subfamily Simocyoninae on the basis of all three species having similarly trenchant carnassials. 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. The root word of Lycaon is the Greek λυκαίος ( lykaios), meaning 'wolf-like'. It was later recognised as a canid by Joshua Brookes in 1827, and renamed Lycaon tricolor. He named the animal Hyaena picta, erroneously classifying it as a species of hyena. The African wild dog was scientifically described in 1820 by Coenraad Jacob Temminck, after examining a specimen from the coast of Mozambique. Solinus's Collea rerum memorabilium from the third century AD describes a multicoloured wolf-like animal with a mane native to Ethiopia. The earliest written reference for the species appears to be 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. Taxonomic and evolutionary history Taxonomy Phylogenetic tree of the wolf-like canids with timing in millions of years While the name 'painted dog' has been found to be the most likely to counteract negative perceptions. Though the name 'African wild dog' is widely used, 'wild dog' is thought by conservation groups to have negative connotations that could be detrimental to its image one organisation promotes the name 'painted wolf',

The English language has several names for the African wild dog, including African hunting dog, Cape hunting dog, painted hunting dog, painted dog, painted wolf, and painted lycaon. The African wild dog has been respected in several hunter-gatherer societies, particularly those of the San people and Prehistoric Egypt. The young have the privilege to feed first on carcasses.

Like other canids, the African wild dog regurgitates food for its young, but also extends this action to adults, as a central part of the pack's social unit. Its natural competitors are lions and spotted hyenas: the former will kill the dogs where possible, whilst hyenas are frequent kleptoparasites. The species is a specialised diurnal hunter of ungulates, which it captures by using its stamina and cooperative hunting to exhaust them. As the largest subpopulation probably comprises fewer than 250 individuals, the African wild dog has been listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List since 1990. It's estimated that there are around 6,600 adults (including 1,400 mature individuals) living in 39 subpopulations that are all threatened by habitat fragmentation, human persecution, and outbreaks of disease. It is the largest wild canine in Africa, and the only extant member of the genus Lycaon, which is distinguished from Canis by dentition highly specialised for a hypercarnivorous diet, and by a lack of dewclaws. The African wild dog ( Lycaon pictus), also known as the painted dog or Cape hunting dog, is a wild canine native to sub-Saharan Africa.

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