HANDLING AND SURVIVORSHIP OF AFRICAN WILD DOG (LYCAON-PICTUS) IN 5 ECOSYSTEMS

Populations of the African wild dog, Lycaon pictus, have declined thro ughout their range in sub-Saharan Africa during the last 20 years. It has been hypothesized that handling of wild dogs led to local extincti on of a study population in the Serengeti-Masai Mara ecosystem. In thi s paper we compare rates of mortality and disappearance in handled (n = 305) versus unhandled (n = 135) dogs to test the hypothesis that han dling leads to increased mortality of Lycaon. We examine data from fiv e ecosystems in which Lycaon have been handled. Our data show that the re is no effect of handling on the longevity of Lycaon in any ecosyste m studied. Given these data a more parsimonious explanation of the dec imation of the Serengeti-Mara Lycaon population would be that disease alone was responsible for the population collapse and that researcher handling of Lycaon was correlated with, but not causal to, this mortal ity.