John McNutt, known as Tico McNutt, started the Wild Dog Research Projec

in 1989. His research in that field has been supported in part by the

National Geographic Society The National Geographic Society (NGS), headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, is one of the largest non-profit scientific and educational organizations in the world. Founded in 1888, its interests include geography, archaeology, and ...

. He received a doctorate in animal behavior from the University of California in 1995. At the time, he founded the Botswana Wild Dog Research Project as little was known about the biology of the African wild dog (''

Lycaon pictus The African wild dog (''Lycaon pictus''), also called the painted dog or Cape hunting dog, is a wild canine which is a native species to sub-Saharan Africa. It is the largest wild canine in Africa, and the only extant member of the genus '' Lyc ...

''), though it was believed to be one of the most endangered canine species. Since then, Tico has followed many wild dog packs in

Botswana Botswana (, ), officially the Republic of Botswana ( tn, Lefatshe la Botswana, label=Setswana, ), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kalahar ...

’s

Okavango Delta The Okavango Delta (or Okavango Grassland; formerly spelled "Okovango" or "Okovanggo") in Botswana is a swampy inland delta formed where the Okavango River reaches a tectonic trough at an altitude of 930–1,000 m in the central part of the en ...

, eventually expanding his studies to include all major

predator Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill th ...

s in the region. McNutt is co-author of the book ''Running Wild: Dispelling the Myths of the African Wild Dog''

References

External links

Why do African wild dogs travel in packs?
article for BBC Wildlife Magazine by McNutt {{DEFAULTSORT:McNutt, Tico Living people American conservationists Year of birth missing (living people)