Three endangered African wild dog brothers have completed the longest recorded dispersal journey of any African mammal, travelling 4,126 kilometres (approximately 2,500 miles) over eight months across Zambia to establish new territory. The siblings — members of the Mayukuyuku Pack from Kafue National Park in western Zambia, a large protected area in the country's centre — navigated bushmeat snares, major highways, crocodile-filled rivers, and the edges of industrial cities before arriving in the Luangwa Valley in eastern Zambia. Researchers say they appear to have found mates, as their restless movement has ceased. Their findings have been published in the journal Ecology.

The journey surpasses the previous record of 2,418 kilometres, set in 2012 by African wild dogs moving between northern Tanzania and southern Kenya, and far exceeds Africa's longest known seasonal wildlife migrations — the blue wildebeest at 650 kilometres and Burchell's zebra at 588 kilometres. Crucially, this was a one-way dispersal, the biological process by which young wild dogs that have come of age leave their birth pack, which cannot interbreed with them, to find unrelated mates and start new family groups. From start to finish in a straight line, the brothers covered 546 kilometres — also a record for point-to-point dispersal distance. The research was conducted by scientists at the Zambian Carnivore Programme (ZCP), who have tracked more than 500 wild dogs across over 50 packs using GPS collars over 16 years.

The brothers' journey was not without tragedy. Seven young dogs — the three brothers and four sisters — left the Mayukuyuku Pack within two weeks of each other. The two groups skirted Zambia's Copperbelt, a heavily industrialised mining region home to major cities including Kitwe and Ndola, before turning back. In a poignant encounter, the two sibling groups met again about 75 kilometres from the cities after each had already covered more than 1,000 kilometres. They spent time together before parting permanently — wild dogs must avoid breeding with relatives. At least two of the sisters later died, likely caught in wire snares set by bushmeat hunters, a danger the researchers say kills more than half of all dispersing dogs they track. Wild dogs cannot recognise snares and are reluctant to abandon injured packmates, meaning a single snare can kill multiple animals.

For conservationists, the record journey carries a mixed but ultimately hopeful message. African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) are classified as endangered, with only around 6,000 adults remaining across 39 populations on the continent. Several small populations — in the Serengeti, the Lower Zambezi, and Zambia's Liuwa Plain — have already vanished in recent decades. Because only an alpha male and alpha female breed in each pack, isolated populations are particularly fragile. The brothers' success demonstrates that ecological corridors connecting Zambia's major wildlife areas remain intact, even through landscapes heavily modified by humans. GPS tracking has now confirmed what genetic studies had long suggested: that wild dogs are actively linking populations across Zambia and into neighbouring Mozambique, Malawi, Zimbabwe, and beyond.