African wild dogs — painted wolves, if you use the name that's trying to rehabilitate their reputation — are listed endangered across their range: the IUCN puts the global population at around 6,600 mature individuals, and northern Botswana is one of the strongholds. The day started well before any of that came to mind, with first light coming up low and gold and backlighting a den full of pups. The adults were already gone, off hunting, which left the pups to their own devices for the morning.
Left to themselves, the pups were mostly just play — chasing, wrestling, the usual — but it's the kind of play that lets individual character show through in a way a single portrait never quite manages. One moment in particular stood out: the whole litter sitting together, and then, for no reason we could work out, every head turning to the same direction at exactly the same time. Almost comic to watch happen live.
It wasn't until later in the morning, well away from the den, that we caught up with the adults at Mababe — back from the hunt and resting, still a good distance from the pups they'd left behind.
