Wolf

True Wild Life | Wolf | The wolf is thought to be an ice age survivor, dating wolves around 300,000 years ago. The wolf is accepted to be the ancestor of the domestic dog as the wolf is thought to have selectively bred in order to breed appealing traits typical of puppies and to eliminate the not so appealing traits of adult wolves. The grey wolf is a highly adaptive animal found in all kinds of terrain. Wolves inhabit forests, deserts, mountains, tundras, grasslands and even urban areas with the wolf being a particularly dominant and ruthless predator within it's environment. They vary in color from pure white to pure black and every shade of brown and gray inbetween. At one time the wolf had the widest distribution of any mammal. The biggest wolves on earth live in Alaska and average 125-135 lb. One specimen was taken that weighed 200 lb. The smallest wolves live in Iran and average about 60 lb.

Raccoon Dog

True Wild Life | Raccoon Dog | The raccoon dog is a small species of canine, native to parts of eastern Asia. As it's name suggests, this wild dog has markings that closely resemble those of a raccoon and has also been known to display similar behaviours including the washing of food. Despite their similarities however, raccoon dogs are not actually closely related to the raccoons found in North America. The raccoon dog is now found across Japan and throughout Europe where it has been introduced and appears to be thriving. Historically however, the raccoon dog's natural range stretched through Japan and across eastern China where the raccoon dog is now extinct in many parts. Raccoon dogs are found inhabiting forests and woodland, that is close to water.

Jackal

True Wild Life | Jackal | The jackal is a medium sized member of the dog family, originally found in Africa, Asia and southeast Europe. There are four main species of jackal with these jackal species being the golden jackal, the side-striped jackal, the black-backed jackal and the Ethiopian wolf jackal. The golden jackal is the most northernly species of jackal and can be found as far east as Burma in Southeast Asia. Jackals are generally found in packs of roughly between 10 and 30 jackal individuals. Jackals use their large group numbers to their advantage and work together in a similar way to a wolf pack to both occasionally hunt for food but more so that the jackals can protect one another.

Dog

 

True Wild Life | Dog | Dogs are thought to have been first domesticated in East Asia thousands of years ago. People primarily used dogs for guarding the hunters and areas of land. Todays domestic dog is actually a subspecies of the gray wolf, a type of dog that is feared by most humans. Many people today, in all countries around the world, keep dogs as household pets and many even regard their dog as a family member.

Dingo

True Wild Life | Dingo | The dingo is medium-sized canine natively found on the Australian continent and even into South-East Asia. The dingo is thought to have once been a domestic dog that has returned to living in the wild now for thousands of years. The dingo can be found in a variety of habitats throughout the Australian mainland and it's surrounding islands. Dingos are in both woodlands and rainforests, shrublands and even on the outskirts of the arid Australian deserts.

Dhole

True Wild Life | Dhole | The dhole (also known as the Asiatic Wild Dog, Indian Wild Dog and the Red Dog) is an endangered wild dog native to the jungles of Asia. Although the dhole is very similar in appearance to the African Wild dog and the Bush dog, the dhole is the only member of it's genus. Historically, the dhole was found though East and Southern Asia, from the Russian far east right down to Sumatra, and although today the range of the dhole has been significantly reduced, the dhole inhabits a wide variety of habitats including thick, deciduous woodlands to jungles and tropical rainforests.

African Wild Dog

True Wild Life | African Wild Dog | The African wild dog (also known as the painted dog and the Cape hunting dog) is a large species of canine found across sub-Saharan Africa. The African wild dog is most easily identified from other dogs by their brightly mottled fur.