Unlike cats, most members of the dog family – canids – are not what scientists call obligate carnivores. They don’t have to eat meat, in other words.
The South American maned wolf, for example, has a diet that is at least 50 per cent fruit, tubers and other plant material.
However that doesn't mean they aren't deadly hunters – far from it...
You might not appreciate it when your Labrador hares off in yet another pointless, hapless pursuit of a squirrel that has scurried up a tree before the gormless pet has even moved, but many canids are exceptional hunters, and they employ a remarkable diversity of techniques to chase and kill a wide diversity of prey. Here are our top 10 hunters.
- Fearsome hunters: meet nature's masters of attack
- It has supermodel legs, walks like a camel, hunts like a cat and loves fruit. Meet one of the weirdest dogs on the planet
The 10 deadliest dogs on Earth
Grey wolf
The grey wolf, which is found throughout North America, Europe and Asia, is arguably the pre-eminent pursuit hunter of all the world’s predators. Favoured prey are large herd animals such as deer, caribou, musk ox and Dall sheep, and a pack will work together to isolate a sick or injured individual and then to bring it down.
Wolves are highly intelligent and seem to understand that while a flat, grassy plain favours the ungulates, they can move faster over crusty snow because their snowshoe-like paws carry them over it while the heavier herbivores sink in. Scientists say there is no sense in which an alpha wolf leads the hunt, but all pack members have a role in the hunt and appear to know what to do.
- Wolf vs dog: what's the difference between man's best friend and its wild cousin?
- Coyote vs wolf: what's the difference between these two beautiful and charismatic canids that thrive in North America?
African hunting dog
Like wolves, African hunting dogs are usually thought of as endurance pursuit hunters, chasing their prey such as zebras, wildebeest and impalas over distances of typically 5km or so at speeds of up to 50kmh.
- Remembering African Wild Dogs: Beautiful photographs of this wild canine, also known as painted dogs.
- It may look like a dog, but don’t be fooled – Africa’s most efficient killer, which can travel up to 72km/h, is neither a wolf nor a dog
Their long legs and big lungs help them outlast their prey and they are said to have a hunting success rate of between 70 and 90 per cent. But one study showed that hunting dogs living in mixed woodland-savannah habitats largely hunted alone in short, high-speed chases, though any kills were still shared among the pack.
Dhole
Dholes are a rare but widespread Asian canid found from mountains in northern China, through India and as far south as Java in Indonesia. Target prey varies according to where they are found, but sambar and chital deer are certainly important, but so are other deer, blue sheep, goral, wild pigs and (in Malaysia) mouse deer.
Scientists report that they are pack hunters, but more ambush than pursuit predators, chasing their prey down over distances of less than 500 metres. In India, it’s said they often make a kill in and around bodies of water, because deer will tire more and find it harder to kick out, reducing the risk of injury. Hunting success rate is though to be about 20 per cent.
Coyote
Coyotes eat a huge range of prey, from small mammals such as rabbits, mice and voles and ground-dwelling birds such as turkeys and grouse up to much larger prey like white-tailed deer and moose. Largely solitary hunters, they have been found to cooperate in loose packs went taking down bigger victims and even with other species such as badgers.
But a more typical hunting technique is what is called ‘mousing’, where they stand poised and still, listening out for the sound of a rodent rustling underneath. When the coyote is certain of its location, it springs into the air and drops on its victim, hitting it with its front legs held straight out in front.
Arctic fox
If coyotes will sometimes employ the mousing technique, then it is bread and butter – or lemmings, more accurately – for Arctic foxes. During the Arctic winter, they will spend hours each day patrolling the tundra while listening out for the sound of lemmings underneath the snow.
- Arctic animals that not only survive, but also thrive, in this inhospitable freezing landscape
- All you need to know about the beautiful Arctic fox - including how it survives the harsh Arctic conditions
Then, as with the coyote, a fox will leap up into the air and crash through the surface of the snow to the presumably startled lemming that believes it was safe in its network of tunnels. But these foxes are adaptable creatures, and in the summer – when there is no snow protecting the lemmings – they feed on ground and cliff-nesting birds and their chicks and eggs, and really anything they can find.
Bush dog
Native to the Amazon Basin and other parts of South America and Panama in Central America, bush dogs are small, unusual canids weighing little more than 4-7kg – so about the size of a red fox – and which more closely resemble mini bears than other dogs.
They live in packs of up to 12 individuals and hunt cooperatively, frequently driving their prey – which can include rodents such as pacas – towards water or other pack members. But hunting in groups, they can also – despite standing no higher than a basset hound – take down much larger species such as armadillos, capybara and even the ostrich-like rheas.
Fennec fox
The smallest member of the canid family, fennec foxes are instantly recognisable from their pint-size appearance and outsize ears. Adapted to live in desert and semi-desert environments in North Africa, Sinai and Arabia, they are mainly nocturnal and use their large ears to listen out for prey such as grasshoppers and locusts, small rodents and lizards, often underneath the sand which they then dig into to unearth the meal.
Tiny – they weigh little more than 1kg, even most chihuahuas are heavier – they can also take on larger animals such as rabbits.
Golden jackal
Like many canids, golden jackals are the ultimate opportunists, with about half their diet coming from animals hunted or scavenged and half from fruits and plants.
Males and females form strong pair bonds and often hunt cooperatively, usually at night, especially where they live close to human settlements. When gazelles or other ungulates are giving birth, golden jackals will deliberately target the new-borns, but otherwise small rodents, birds and even insects are mainly taken.
Ethiopian wolf
Entirely restricted to isolated areas of the Ethiopian highlands above 3,000 metres, the Ethiopian wolf has adopted a completely different form of hunting compared to other large canids such as wolves and hunting dogs.
They largely hunt rodents, waiting for them to emerge from their burrows and then pouncing on them with a serval-like leap. This is a one-wolf job, though they occasionally band together to hunt calves of antelopes such as mountain nyala.
Dingo
Dingos show a remarkable variety of hunting behaviour which reveals the great intelligence of this Australian wild dog. They have been observed, for example, pursuing kangaroo or wallaby mothers with the aim of forcing them to eject their young from their pouches.
Targeting kangaroos at watering holes is also common, and one was even seen using waves on the seashore to trap and drown a swamp wallaby. Drone footage showed a dingo chasing an eastern grey kangaroo into rocky terrain, where the kangaroo twice trips before being caught.
