The Dogs And It's Wild Ancestors, Part 1 (78/268)

Part 1: Wolves, greyhounds and jackals are not exactly the most popular of species. For centuries they have been hunted and killed. In Central Europe, the "big, bad wolf" has been virtually exterminated. And yet fear of the wolf was by no means justified. There is not a single report of a human being having been killed by a wolf. Meanwhile, the first wolves seem to be reappearing here from the East. In Africa, too, these "dog-like" animals have a bad reputation - the African wild dogs, in particular, have been exterminated in many regions. We observe a project in Zimbabwe and investigate how wild dogs live and what can be done for their survival. Yet there is another even more endangered species, a species which one would not expect to find in Africa: the wolf. Researchers, who are fighting for its survival, describe the particularly dramatic situation of the Abyssinian wolf (canis simensis), the only one in the continent. The world population of this species is estimated at fewer than 400 individuals. And yet this Ethiopian wolf lives peacefully with the Oromoro herdsmen. Nevertheless, this lithe, long-legged wolf with its reddish fur now has the worst chances of survival - his enemy is the friend of man, the domestic dog.

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