Motion-sensitive cameras placed at several sites in Panama have captured images of the bush dog (Speothos venaticus), one of the most enigmatic of the world’s canids.
This picture of elusive bush dogs was taken by a camera trap in the wet tropical forest of Pirre, Panama. Image credit: GEMAS Panamá / Fundación Natura / Fondo Darién / Fundación Yaguará Panamá / Southern Illinois University.
The bush dog is a small Neotropical canid species. It is squat in stature with a body length of 22-30 inches (55-75 cm), tail length of 4.7-6 inches (12-15 cm), and a height of 12 inches (30 cm). It weights 6 to 8 kg and has a snub-nosed head with short ears (1.4 inches, or 3.5 cm).
The head is covered with short reddish tan fur. The fur darkens to a dark brown or black towards the tail, and a light patch is found on the underside of the throat.
Bush dogs live in extended family groups of up to 12 members and use highly-developed vocalizations to communicate with each other. Their repertoire includes whines, long-distance calls, and growls.
They feed mostly on large forest rodents like agoutis and pacas, but at one site in Brazil, they mainly ate armadillos. Fierce for their size, a pack of six once was seen chasing a tapir, an animal almost 20 times a bush dog’s weight.
Bush dog photographed in Nusagandi, Panama. Image credit: Fundación Yaguará Panamá / Panama’s Ministry of the Environment.
The species occurs from extreme eastern Central America and northern South America, south to Paraguay and north-eastern Argentina.
Its habitat includes lowland forests, semi-deciduous forests, seasonally flooded forests, and wet savannahs.
Despite its large distributional range and occurrence in a variety of habitats, the species seems to be naturally rare throughout its range.
In a 2008 survey, the majority of countries in the bush dog’s distribution reported the status of the species as rare or unknown, and only two countries reported it as common (Guyana and Peru).
Bush dogs photographed in Donoso, Panama. Image credit: MWH Global, Inc. / Minera Panama S.A.
Panama is the only country in Central America where the species is known to occur, aside from a few unconfirmed sightings in easternmost Costa Rica near the Panamanian border, according to a team of scientists led by Ninon Meyer of the Yaguará Panamá-Sociedad Panameña de Biología.
“The current IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) distribution map may not reflect t e actual distribution of the bush dog in Panama. Thus, we review its distribution by presenting new records from direct sightings and the first camera-trap photographs taken in the Panamanian Isthmus,” Meyer and co-authors wrote in a paper published in the journal Canid Biology and Conservation (article in .pdf).
Their digital camera traps snapped photos of bush dogs at four sites ranging from Cerro Pirre near the Colombian border in eastern Panama, to Santa Fe National Park in the western part of the country.
The team also reports bush dog sightings from five additional sites, including Fortuna west of Santa Fe.
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Meyer, N. et al. 2015. New records of bush dog in Panama. Canid Biology & Conservation 18 (10): 36-40
