A pack of three male African wild dogs has completed a 2,485-mile (4,000km) journey across Zambia in search of a mate, the longest distance ever recorded for an African land mammal undertaking such a trip. Researchers say the feat offers cautious optimism that wildlife can still move across vast, human-altered landscapes, though the study also recorded other tracked dogs dying in illegal snares, highlighting the dangers such journeys pose. The findings, published in the journal Ecology, suggest wild dog populations across eastern and southern Africa may be more connected than conservationists had believed.

African wild dogs, of which only around 6,000 remain in the wild, must leave their birth pack to breed, typically setting off aged two or three on one-way "dispersal" journeys rather than seasonal migrations. The three brothers travelled roughly 260 miles in a straight line over eight months but covered nearly ten times that distance zigzagging around obstacles including the capital, Lusaka, and industrial areas. A separate trio of sisters nearly matched the feat before one was caught in a snare; two of the three females in that group died. Researchers, including lead author Professor Scott Creel and co-author Bruce Ellender of The Nature Conservancy, say the results strengthen calls for wildlife corridors linking protected areas, warning that poaching remains a serious threat despite the encouraging signs of landscape connectivity.