Reddit reviews Painted Wolves: Wild Dogs of the Serengeti-Mara

Scientific papers may use mostly African wild dog, but amongst non- scientists, some only know them as Painted Dogs others call them African Hunting Dogs - and like with Wild Dogs, the pre-fix ‘African’ is often left out. There really is no one specific name people know them by. Personally, I’d say that the term African wild dog is one of the worst- a ‘no name’ really. Would anyone consider African wild cat sufficient for lions?

As I mentioned, there is an upcoming BBC program with Sir David Attenborough which will introduce these animals to millions who have never heard of them as Painted Wolves: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p06mvrr0

The term painted wolves has of course been around for some time, given that it is the translation of their Latin name. Here a book title on the species from 1991: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Painted-Wolves-Wild-Dogs-Serengeti-Mara/dp/0241124859/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1542784514&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=painted+wolves&dpPl=1&dpID=41ZzbvFeXyL&ref=plSrch

I don’t know with whom exactly the current push originated but a co-founder of the Painted Wolf Foundation (PWF) is Peter Blinston of Painted Dog Conservation Zimbabwe: https://paintedwolf.org/conservation/

He and Nick Dyer have also just co-published what will be the ultimate coffee table book on the species for some years to come with all profits going to PWF: https://paintedwolf.org/the-book/

Nick has been interviewed by a host of papers and magazines, NatGeo amongst them, always using the term Painted Wolves: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2018/10/wild-dogs-painted-wolves-eat-baboons-photos-news/

So between TV, book and journalists, Painted Wolves will become the nome de plume of the species for a lot of people.

... and of course, once the Painted Wolves sub gets added to the auto-subscription list.... ;-)