A wild canid found from Panama into South America. Short legs and a short tail give it a low, stocky outline.
The reddish-tan head contrasts with darker fur toward the rear. Its feet have webbing.
Bush-dog packs can range widely. In an agricultural landscape in Brazil, one pack mainly used native savannah and forest, foraging in savannah, resting in forest and moving quickly through cultivated land.
Research published online in 2014 followed one pack of seven to ten bush dogs near Água Boa, Mato Grosso, Brazil. From May 2008 to December 2009, 230 of its 245 recorded locations were in native vegetation, although crops and pasture covered about two-thirds of its home range.
The pack shifted between areas rather than remaining in one small area. Following reproduction in February–April 2009, it began returning to previously used areas. By May, it was using the same areas again as a year earlier, revealing a pattern of moving between areas and returning after an interval.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.
The Água Boa pack preferentially used native savannah and forest within an agricultural landscape. About 80% of the remaining native habitat was connected in one patch. The authors suggested that this connectivity may have supported the pack’s persistence, and raised concern that further habitat loss could increase its spatial requirements and exposure to risks.