Somali wild dog
The Somali wild dog is a subspecies of African wild dog native to the Horn of Africa. It is similar to the East African subspecies, but is smaller, has shorter and coarser fur and has a weaker dentition. Its colour closely approaches that of the Cape subspecies, with the yellow parts being buff, rather than bright orange, as is the case in the East African subspecies.
It is legally protected in Ethiopia, though it is absent in all protected areas, being present only in small numbers in the southern part of the country. The animal may still occur in northern Somalia, but the ongoing Somali Civil War has made its prospects for survival poor. It is probably extinct in Eritrea.
According to Enno Littmann, the people of Ethiopia's Tigray Region believed that injuring an African wild dog with a spear would result in the animal dipping its tail in its wounds and flicking the blood at its assailant, causing instant death. For this reason, Tigrean shepherds would repel African wild dog attacks with pebbles rather than with edged weapons.
