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Climate change has caused African wild dogs to give birth 22 days later than in the past.
The data on 60 packs of wild dogs in Africa was analysed by Briana and her colleagues at the University of Washington.
They compared the data to the model they created. The maximum temperature the dogs experienced on a daily basis was shown.
The cool times of the year are when African wild dogs like to breed. The average date when they gave birth was in 1990. They had a baby on June 12th in 2020.
It's not clear why wild dogs prefer to breed when the temperature is cooler.
When a wild dog is born, its mother takes care of it for the first 90 days. She says it is safer from the elements and other predatory animals. The other dogs in the pack have to find the mother and pup during this time.
There was a correlation between the shift in birthing dates and the increase in temperature. The dogs experienced a 3.8 degree rise in the daily temperature. She says it is a very close correlation. The lines are almost parallel when it comes to the rate of warming and the rate of shifting breeding.
pup survival rates may be affected by the rise in temperatures It is not clear why fewer pups emerge from the den.
Climate change has led to changes in the breeding schedules of many animals, but the shift in wild dogs seems to be the most dramatic. An average shift of 2.88 days per decade was found in one study.
The breeding patterns of wild dogs are extremely sensitive to temperature.
The results are very clear. Julia Myatt says that the shift in the timing of denning behavior is significant and only likely to accelerate. The rate of change in the environment is so rapid that animals may not be able to keep up.
The study will help to focus our efforts on the impact of climate change on the environment in which they live.
There is a journal reference in the Pnas.
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