Do African Wild Dogs really ‘vote’ to go hunting by sneezing?

Researchers from a conservation group in Botswana have just revealed something extremely strange that they noticed:

The African Wild Dogs there seem to sneeze in order to decide whether or not to go hunting.

One of the people working at the Botswana Predator Conservation Trust had been studying the wild dogs, who gather together in what is called a “rally.”

In a rally, the pack gets together and begins to act with excitement, sniffing each other and being lively.

Sometimes, they all go off hunting at the end of a rally. Sometimes they just calm down and go back to whatever they were doing before.

What she noticed was a key to tell whether they would go hunting or not: Sneezing.

If several dogs sneezed, off they would all go hunting. But if only a few sneezed, the rally broke up and nothing happened.

Now here’s where “voting” really comes in: If one of the top dogs started the rally, it only took a few sneezes before the pack went on the hunt.

But if a dog with low status began the rally, it took many more sneezes before the pack agreed to hunt.

Researchers elsewhere in Africa said they want to see if that’s true of wild dogs in their area, and if maybe something else happens during some rallies that makes the dogs sneeze. photo/Derek Keats