Photo of the Day 54

African Wild Dog Pups, Botswana, 1999

Photograph by Chris Johns

A trio of young African wild dog pups plays near a den in Botswana's Okavango Delta. Thought to be domesticated dogs gone feral, wild dogs have borne the brunt of extensive extermination programs. Today there are fewer than 5,000 wild dogs alive, which make them Africa's most endangered large carnivore.

(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Africa's Wild Dogs," May 1999, National Geographic magazine)