Three African wild dog brothers completed a 2,564-mile dispersal across Zambia over nine months, marking the longest single journey ever recorded for any mammal on the African continent after leaving their birth pack in Kafue National Park in search of new territory and mates.
Kafue National Park Departure and the Push for Dispersal
The journey began in mid-2025 when three brother wild dogs left their birth pack in Kafue National Park in Zambia. Known as the Mayukuyuku males, the siblings were approaching three years of age when they struck out into unprotected areas.
In a typical pack, only the dominant male and female breed, leaving subordinate adults with little chance of raising pups unless they strike out on their own. Once offspring reach maturity, they must leave their birth group to find unrelated mates and establish new territories, avoiding inbreeding and starting families of their own. Scott Creel, a researcher who has studied the country’s wild dogs for 16 years with the Zambian Carnivore Programme, explains that this dynamic drives young males to go looking elsewhere.
The Industrial Detour Through the Copperbelt Province
The siblings spent a single day together before separating.
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Tragic Fates and Record-Breaking Trek to Luangwa Valley
While the brothers continued eastward, the sisters’ journey met a grim end. Scientists suspect a hunting snare claimed the life of one packmate, and the female wearing the collar likely met a comparable destiny. All the while, the male dogs continued their journey.
As the males traveled east out of Kafue’s protected woodlands, they navigated heavy traffic on roads, swam across major rivers or skirted their edges, and repeatedly scaled and descended the escarpment of the Great Rift Valley. By April 2026, they reached a game management area in eastern Zambia’s Luangwa Valley, logging a cumulative 2,564 miles over more than 2,500 miles total across eight months.
We think they’ve actually established a [territorial] range, but we haven’t quantified who they’re with and how many dogs there are.
Matthew Becker, chief executive of the Zambian Carnivore Program
Landscape Connectivity and Conservation Stakes
Conservationists note that the brothers’ trek demonstrates that wildlife corridors between fragmented habitats still function, though human development poses severe risks. According to Dr Matt Becker, chief executive of the Zambian Carnivore Programme, these results highlight the importance of funding connected habitats instead of depending only on fenced sanctuaries, while emphasizing that the canids prove ecological connectivity remains functional and demands enhanced safeguarding and reinforcement.
It’s a fantastic story,
remarks Sarah Durant, a conservation scientist at the Zoological Society of London who was not involved with the study, in an interview with Phie Jacobs at Science.
We can’t see these protected areas as islands and expect them to be functional in the long term; we need to think much broader than that,
remarks Bruce Ellender, a study co-author and a conservation director at the Nature Conservancy in Zambia, in an interview with Helen Briggs at BBC News.