Measurements
Lenght 60 to 80cms
Weight 5–7 kg.
Height 25–30 cm.

Diet
Bush dogs prefer larger rodents such as agoutis and acouchis.
They may also take prey much larger than their own body size (capybaras and rheas) by hunting in packs.

Identification
The bush dog has soft short reddy-brown fur. They have short stumpy tail and proportionally short legs.
The underside is dark, sometimes with a lighter throat patch.

Behaviour
The bush dog is the most social of the small canids, living in groups of up to 10 individuals. These may be family groups which exhibit social suppression of oestrus (or breeding cycle), as in other social canids. They den in burrows or hollow tree trunks. Mainly diurnal, they spend the night at the den.

Distribution & Habitat
Forests and wet savannahs of Panama and northern South America to southern Brazil, Paraguay and northeastern Argentina. It reaches west to Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador.

Reproduction
Males will bring food to nursing females in the den.
Gestation: 67 days. Litter size: 1 to 6, The young are weaned at approximately 8 weeks.
Age at sexual maturity: 1 year. Longevity: 10 years.

Conservation
This species is thought to be rare in the wild although it has so far proved to difficult to study or properly estimate remaining numbers. Human encroachment into its natural range is believed to be one of its main threats. There are around 60 bush dogs in the European Breeding Programme and numbers appear to self-sustaining, although captive breeding successes need to be improved upon.