Editing Canidae (section)

==Life history==
===Social behavior===
{{multiple image|perrow=1|image1=2012-bandipur-dhole-sambar.jpg|caption1=[[Dhole]]s attacking a [[Sambar deer|sambar]], [[Bandipur National Park]]|
|image2=Sri Lankan jackals (Canis aureus naria) male and pregnant female 5.jpg|caption2=Sri Lankan jackals [[social grooming|grooming each other]]}}
{{See also|Wolf#Behaviour|Dog behavior|Red fox#Behaviour|African wild dog#Behaviour}}
Almost all canids are social animals and live together in groups. In general, they are territorial or have a home range and sleep in the open, using their dens only for breeding and sometimes in bad weather.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Harris |first1=Stephen |last2=Yalden |first2=Derek |title=Mammals of the British Isles|publisher=Mammal Society|edition=4th revised |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-906282-65-6 |page=413 }}</ref> In most foxes, and in many of the true dogs, a [[breeding pair|male and female pair]] work together to hunt and to raise their young. Gray wolves and some of the other larger canids live in larger groups called [[pack (canine)|packs]]. African wild dogs have packs which may consist of 20 to 40 animals and packs of fewer than about seven individuals may be incapable of successful reproduction.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.patriciamcconnell.com/theotherendoftheleash/comparative-canid-behavior |title=Comparative canid behaviour |author=McConnell, Patricia B. |date=31 August 2009 |work=The other end of the leash |access-date=12 June 2014}}</ref> Hunting in packs has the advantage that larger prey items can be tackled. Some species form packs or live in small family groups depending on the circumstances, including the type of available food. In most species, some individuals live on their own. Within a canid pack, there is a system of dominance so that the strongest, most experienced animals lead the pack. In most cases, the dominant male and female are the only pack members to breed.<ref name=ADW>{{cite web | title = Canidae: Coyotes, dogs, foxes, jackals, and wolves | work = Animal Diversity Web | publisher =University of Michigan| url = http://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Canidae/ | access-date = 13 June 2014}}</ref>

=== Communication ===
{{see also|Dog communication|Wolf communication}}
[[File:Red_Fox_(Vulpes_vulpes)_(W1CDR0001529_BD12).ogg|left|thumb|Red foxes barking in Pinbury Park, Gloucestershire, England.]]
Canids communicate with each other by [[Territory (animal)|scent signals]], by visual clues and gestures, and by vocalizations such as growls, barks, and [[Howl (sound)|howls]]. In most cases, groups have a home territory from which they drive out other [[conspecific]]s. Canids use [[Urine marking|urine scent marks]]<ref>{{Cite book |last=Doty |first=Richard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PWwCnplyxYYC&pg=PA284 |title=Mammalian Olfaction, Reproductive Processes, and Behavior |date=2012-12-02 |publisher=Elsevier |isbn=978-0-323-15450-5 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Estes |first=Richard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g977LsZHpcsC&dq=canid&pg=PA387 |title=The Behavior Guide to African Mammals: Including Hoofed Mammals, Carnivores, Primates |date=1991 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-08085-0 |language=en}}</ref> to mark their [[Cache (biology)|food cache]]s<ref>{{Cite book |last=Muller-Schwarze |first=Dietland |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HaaFlUw4goIC&pg=PA167 |title=Chemical Ecology of Vertebrates |date=2006-09-07 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-139-45730-9 |language=en}}</ref> or warn trespassing individuals.<ref>Nowak, R. M.; Paradiso, J. L. 1983. ''Walker's Mammals of the World''. Baltimore, Maryland: The Johns Hopkins University Press. {{ISBN|0-8018-2525-3}}.</ref> Social behavior is also mediated by secretions from glands on the upper surface of the tail near its root and from the [[anal gland]]s,<ref name=ADW/> [[preputial gland]]s,<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Mech |first1=L. David |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_mXHuSSbiGgC&pg=PA82 |title=Wolves: Behavior, Ecology, and Conservation |last2=Boitani |first2=Luigi |date=2010-10-01 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-226-51698-1 |language=en}}</ref><ref>Van Heerden, Joseph. "[https://repository.up.ac.za/bitstream/handle/2263/51834/5vanheerden1981.pdf?sequence=1 The role of integumental glands in the social and mating behaviour of the hunting dog Lycaon pictus (Temminck, 1820)]." (1981).</ref> and [[supracaudal gland]]s.<ref>Fox, Michael W., and James A. Cohen. "[https://publish.iupress.indiana.edu/read/how-animals-communicate/section/d60e31a7-f9c0-4f0d-b569-7a922f64e0c1 Canid communication]." How animals communicate (1977): 728-748.</ref>


===Reproduction===
{{See also|Canine reproduction}}
{{image frame|border=no|content={{photo montage|size=220
|photo1a=Korean wolves mating (cropped).jpg
|photo1b=Red foxes mating (2).jpg
|border=0
|color=transparent
|text=Mating [[Korean wolf|Korean wolves]] and [[red fox]]es
}}
{{photo montage|size=220
|photo1a=Wilde huendin am stillen.jpg
|border=0
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|text=A feral dog from Sri Lanka nursing her pups
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Canids as a group exhibit several reproductive traits that are uncommon among mammals as a whole. They are typically [[Monogamy in animals|monogamous]], provide paternal care to their offspring, have reproductive cycles with lengthy [[Estrous cycle#Proestrus|proestral]] and [[Estrous cycle#Metestrus or diestrus|dioestral]] phases and have a copulatory tie during mating. They also retain adult offspring in the social group, suppressing the ability of these to breed while making use of the [[alloparent]]al care they can provide to help raise the next generation.<ref name=Asa>{{cite book |title=A review of Small Canid Reproduction: in The Swift Fox: Ecology and Conservation of Swift Foxes in a Changing World |editor-last=Asa |editor-first=Cheryl S. |editor2-last=Valdespino|editor2-first=Carolina|editor3-last=Carbyn|editor3-first=Ludwig N.|editor4-last= Sovada|editor4-first=Marsha Ann |year=2003 |publisher=University of Regina Press |isbn=978-0-88977-154-3 |pages=117–123 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Er1di1OqnlAC&pg=PA117}}</ref> Most canid species are spontaneous ovulators,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dixson |first=Alan F. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=whcvEAAAQBAJ&q=canid |title=Mammalian Sexuality: The Act of Mating and the Evolution of Reproduction |date=2021-06-03 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-108-69949-5 |language=en}}</ref> though [[maned wolves]] are [[induced ovulation (animals)|induced ovulators]].<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Consorte-McCrea |first1=Adriana G. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zT3SBQAAQBAJ&dq=canid+%22induced%22+ovulation&pg=PA106 |title=Ecology and Conservation of the Maned Wolf: Multidisciplinary Perspectives |last2=Santos |first2=Eliana Ferraz |date=2013-10-24 |publisher=CRC Press |isbn=978-1-4665-1260-3 |language=en}}</ref> 

During the proestral period, increased levels of [[estradiol]] make the female attractive to the male. There is a rise in [[progesterone]] during the estral phase when female is receptive. Following this, the level of estradiol fluctuates and there is a lengthy dioestrous phase during which the female is pregnant. [[Pseudo-pregnancy]] often occurs in canids that have ovulated but failed to conceive. A period of [[Estrous cycle#Anestrus|anestrus]] follows pregnancy or pseudo-pregnancy, there being only one oestral period during each breeding season. Small and medium-sized canids mostly have a [[gestation]] of 50 to 60 days, while larger species average 60 to 65 days. The time of year in which the breeding season occurs is related to the length of day, as has been shown for several species that have been moved across the equator and experiences a six-month shift of phase. Domestic dogs and certain small canids in captivity may come into oestrus more often, perhaps because the [[photoperiod]] stimulus breaks down under conditions of artificial lighting.<ref name=Asa/> Canids have an oestrus period of 1 to 20 days, lasting one week in most species.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Solomon |first1=Nancy G. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6_brrHFGmEcC&pg=PA139 |title=Cooperative Breeding in Mammals |last2=French |first2=Jeffrey A. |date=1997-03-13 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-45491-9 |language=en}}</ref>

The size of a litter varies, with from one to 16 or more pups being born. The young are born small, blind and helpless and require a long period of parental care. They are kept in a den, most often dug into the ground, for warmth and protection.<ref name=Mivart/> When the young begin eating solid food, both parents, and often other pack members, bring food back for them from the hunt. This is most often vomited up from the adult's stomach. Where such pack involvement in the feeding of the litter occurs, the breeding success rate is higher than is the case where females split from the group and rear their pups in isolation.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Behavioural Biology of Dogs |editor-last=Jensen |editor-first=Per |year=2007 |publisher=CABI |isbn=978-1-84593-188-9 |pages=158–159 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SpkSd__EdKYC&pg=PA3 }}</ref> Young canids may take a year to mature and learn the skills they need to survive.<ref>Voelker, W. 1986. ''The Natural History of Living Mammals''. Medford, New Jersey: Plexus Publishing. {{ISBN|0-937548-08-1}}</ref> In some species, such as the African wild dog, male offspring usually remain in the natal pack, while females disperse as a group and join another small group of the opposite sex to form a new pack.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.animalinfo.org/species/carnivor/lycapict.htm |title=''Lycaon pictus'' |date=26 November 2005 |work=Animal Info: Endangered animals of the world |access-date=11 June 2014}}</ref>