MammalBase - Accepted taxon: Lycaon pictus

Accepted taxon: Lycaon pictus
Taxon:	Lycaon pictus
Rank:	Species
Higher Classification:	CARNIVORA \| CANIFORMIA \| Canidae \| Lycaon
Reference:	Wilson, Don E., and DeeAnn M. Reeder, eds. Mammal Species of the World. A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed), JHU Press, 2005.

Fig.1 - Ternary plot of the proximate analysis for the Lycaon pictus diet.
CF (Crude Fibre) 1, ASH (Ash contents) 6, NFE (Nitrogen-Free-Extract) 3, CP (Crude Protein) 72, EE (Ether Extract) 18. See details for the calculations in Lintulaakso, K., Tatti, N. and Žliobaitė, I., 2022. Quantifying mammalian diets. Mammalian Biology, pp.1-15. [DOI]

Table 1. List of Diet Items for Lycaon pictus.
TSN Complete name	Part	Ratio ^a.	Reference(s)
Aepyceros melampus	WHOLE	22.22	Grzimek,B…
Gazella thomsonii	WHOLE	14.81	Grzimek,B…
Equus	WHOLE	12.96	Grzimek,B…
Sylvicapra grimmia	WHOLE	7.41	Nowak,R. …
Connochaetes	WHOLE	7.41	Grzimek,B…
Lepus	WHOLE	7.35	Damuth, J…
Bovidae	WHOLE	5.56	Grzimek,B…
Mammalia	WHOLE	4.44	Nowak,R. …
Redunca	WHOLE	3.70	Nowak,R. …
Vertebrata	WHOLE	2.47	Damuth, J…
Rodentia	WHOLE	2.22	Nowak,R. …
Antidorcas marsupialis	WHOLE	2.16	Damuth, J…
Tragelaphus	WHOLE	1.85	Damuth, J…
Vertebrata	CARRION	1.54	Damuth, J…
Bos	WHOLE	1.23	Damuth, J…
Animalia	WHOLE	1.11	Nowak,R. …
Cephalophus	WHOLE	0.93	Damuth, J…
Raphicerus campestris	WHOLE	0.62	Damuth, J…

^a. Standardized values. See details for the calculations in Lintulaakso, K., Tatti, N. and Žliobaitė, I., 2022. Quantifying mammalian diets. Mammalian Biology, pp.1-15. [DOI]

Table 2. List of Standard Traits for Lycaon pictus.
Trait	Selected Value	All Value(s)	Reference(s)
Temporal habits	diurnal	diurnal	– John L. Gittleman, 1985, 'Carnivore body size: Ecological and taxonomic correlates', Oecologia, vol. 67, no. 4, pp. 540-554
Dietary category: Eisenberg 1981	Carnivore	Carnivore	– Brian K. McNab, 1986, 'The Influence of Food Habits on the Energetics of Eutherian Mammals', Ecological Monographs, vol. 56, no. 1, p. 1, John L. Gittleman, 1985, 'Carnivore body size: Ecological and taxonomic correlates', Oecologia, vol. 67, no. 4, pp. 540-554, Juhn, M., Balisi, M., Doughty, E., Friscia, A., Howenstine, A., Jacquemetton, C., Marcot, J., Nugen, S., Van Valkenburgh, B. 2024. Cenozoic climate change and the evolution of North American mammalian predator ecomorphology. Paleobiology. None(None), pp.1-10. Available at: 10.1017/pab.2024.27.
Dietary category: Miljutin 2009	Animalivore	Animalivore	– Brian K. McNab, 1986, 'The Influence of Food Habits on the Energetics of Eutherian Mammals', Ecological Monographs, vol. 56, no. 1, p. 1, John L. Gittleman, 1985, 'Carnivore body size: Ecological and taxonomic correlates', Oecologia, vol. 67, no. 4, pp. 540-554, Juhn, M., Balisi, M., Doughty, E., Friscia, A., Howenstine, A., Jacquemetton, C., Marcot, J., Nugen, S., Van Valkenburgh, B. 2024. Cenozoic climate change and the evolution of North American mammalian predator ecomorphology. Paleobiology. None(None), pp.1-10. Available at: 10.1017/pab.2024.27.
Locomotion: Eisenberg 1981	Terrestrial	Terrestrial	– John L. Gittleman, 1985, 'Carnivore body size: Ecological and taxonomic correlates', Oecologia, vol. 67, no. 4, pp. 540-554

Table 3. List of Standard Measurements for Lycaon pictus.
Measurement	Location	Unit	n Total	n Unknown	n Female	n Male	Min	Mean	Max	SD	Reference(s)
Body Mass (BM)	nan	g	2	2	-	-	-	23,133.2	-	-	Engelman,…
Body Mass (BM)	nan	g	-	-	-	-	8,750	-	36,000	-	Freudenth…
Body Mass (BM)	nan	g	-	-	-	-	-	22,000	-	-	Juhn, M.,…
Head-Body Length (HBL)	nan	mm	-	-	-	-	-	973	-	-	Engelman,…
Occipital condyle width (OCW)	nan	mm	2	2	-	-	-	41.62	-	-	Engelman,…

Table 4. List of other Measurements ^b. for Lycaon pictus.
Measurement	Location	Unit	n Total	n Unknown	n Female	n Male	Min	Mean	Max	SD	Reference(s)
brainmass	nan	g	-	-	-	-	-	129	-	-	Engelman,…
skull_length	nan	mm	-	-	-	-	-	188	-	-	Engelman,…
femur circumference	nan	mm	-	-	-	-	-	44	-	-	Nelson, A…
humerus circumference	nan	mm	-	-	-	-	-	47	-	-	Nelson, A…
relative blade length (RBL)	nan	unitless	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	Juhn, M.S…

^b. other Measurements. Source Measurements which are not listed on or mapped with the Standard Traits..

Table 5. List of Data Sources for Lycaon pictus.
Taxon	Reference	Match	Status
Lycaon pictus	McNab,B. K., 1986, The influence of food habits on the energetics of eutherian mammals, Ecological Monographs	1: Exact Taxon match	Verified - Accepted
Lycaon pictus	Gittleman,J. L., 1985, Carnivore body size: ecological and taxonomic correlates, Oecologia	1: Exact Taxon match	Verified - Accepted
Lycaon pictus	Damuth, J. 2010. ABSOLUT 6 a mammalian database compiled by the national center for ecological analysis and synthesis (NCEAS ) workshop on mammalian communities.	1: Exact Taxon match	Verified - Accepted
Lycaon pictus	Nowak,R. M., 1991, Walker's mammals of the world,	1: Exact Taxon match	Verified - Accepted
Lycaon pictus	Grzimek,B., 2003, Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia: Mammals I-V,	1: Exact Taxon match	Verified - Accepted
Lycaon pictus	Nowak,R. M., 1991, Walker's mammals of the world,	1: Exact Taxon match	Verified - Accepted
Lycaon pictus	Law, C.J., Blackwell, E.A., Curtis, A.A., Dickinson, E., Hartstone‐Rose, A. and Santana, S.E., 2022. Decoupled evolution of the cranium and mandible in carnivoran mammals. Evolution.	1: Exact Taxon match	Verified - Accepted
Lycaon pictus	Engelman, R.K., 2022. Occipital condyle width (OCW) is a highly accurate predictor of body mass in therian mammals. BMC biology, 20(1), p.37.	1: Exact Taxon match	Verified - Accepted
Lycaon pictus	DeMers, A.C., 2023. Functional Significance of the Mandible, Tooth Roots, and Tooth Crowns, and their Implications for Fossil Dietary Inference (Doctoral dissertation, The Ohio State University).	1: Exact Taxon match	Verified - Accepted
Lycaon pictus	Nelson, A., Engelman, R.K. and Croft, D.A., 2023. How to weigh a fossil mammal? South American notoungulates as a case study for estimating body mass in extinct clades. Journal of Mammalian Evolution, 30(3), pp.773-809.	1: Exact Taxon match	Verified - Accepted
Lycaon pictus	Freudenthal, M. and Martín-Suárez, E., 2013. Estimating body mass of fossil rodents. Scripta Geologica, 145, pp.1-513.	1: Exact Taxon match	Verified - Accepted
Lycaon pictus	Juhn, M.S., Balisi, M.A., Doughty, E.M., Friscia, A.R., Howenstine, A.O., Jacquemetton, C., Marcot, J., Nugen, S. and Van Valkenburgh, B., 2024. Cenozoic climate change and the evolution of North American mammalian predator ecomorphology. Paleobiology, pp.1-10.	1: Exact Taxon match	Verified - Accepted
Lycaon pictus	Rowan, J., Beaudrot, L., Franklin, J., Reed, K.E., Smail, I.E., Zamora, A. and Kamilar, J.M., 2020. Geographically divergent evolutionary and ecological legacies shape mammal biodiversity in the global tropics and subtropics. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 117(3), pp.1559-1565.	1: Exact Taxon match	Verified - Accepted

Citation for this page: [The MammalBase community 2026. / CC BY 4.0. http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7462864 Lycaon pictus , Accessed 17th April 2026 at https://mammalbase.net/me/14522]