African Painted Dog by artists Gillie and Marc
LOCATIONS
EDITION 1 - SINGAPORE - 19 May 2023 - 18 May 2024
Gardens By The Bay, 18 Marina Gardens Dr, Singapore 018953
Visit the sculpture, click for map >
__________________
CLICK HERE TO DONATE DIRECTLY TO WWF >
NAME
Mhumhi
TITLE
Love The African Painted Dog
GENDER
Male
AGE
5
FOUND
Africa
CONSERVATION STATUS
Critically Endangered
At 5 years-old this Painted Dog has lived many wonderful years with his pack. He loves being a part of it, going on hunts and seeing little white spots popping up as they sneak along, play-fighting in the grass and relaxing in the sun. But it’s starting to get harder to find enough space to play. The humans are everywhere, their prey is scarce, and there aren’t as many new females joining their pack. He hopes the humans stop expanding soon; surely they have enough space now!
The Painted Dog is one of the world’s most endangered mammals. It has a beautiful patchy, colourful coat, large ears, and a big bushy tail with a little white tip, perfect for letting the pack know where you are when hunting. Each dog has unique markings making it very easy to tell them apart.
They have very strong social bonds and live in packs of between 10-40 dogs, hunting for medium-sized prey like gazelle. There are separate hierarchies for males and females and, same-sex siblings from one pack will eventually leave to join up with those of the opposite sex from another pack, forming a family of their own.
Spending most of their time together, they make sure to take care of one another’s pups. Their first priority is to protect their pack; pups get first feed after a kill, ‘aunties’ act as pup-sitters for other mothers, and if a painted dog becomes ill or injured, their pack-mates rally round to care for them.
A female will give birth to a litter of 6-16 pups. Because of these large litters only the dominant female can give birth otherwise it would be impossible to feed everybody. She is very protective of her pups, keeping the other members of the pack away until the babies are old enough to eat solids, this takes place around 3-4 weeks old. The pups are weaned around 5 weeks where they are fed regurgitated meat by the pack. At 10 weeks they are nice and strong and the pack can move away from the den.
Some of the biggest threats to the Painted Dogs are being killed, both accidentally and on purpose, by humans, diseases such as rabies, habitat loss, and competing for prey with larger animals such as lions. With humans expanding their settlements, and roads, the dogs lose the space they were once able to roam freely, forcing them into dangerous conflicts with humans. Searching for alternative food, they have no choice but to turn to livestock, but If they kill the livestock, they are shot or poisoned by farmers. They are often blamed even when it was the fault of leopards or hyenas. It is estimated that only 6,600 individuals are left and their population is still decreasing.
HOW TO HELP
Inspired by animals that Gillie and Marc met on their travels, we invite the public to discover and interact with these beautiful creatures up close and personal – this allows audiences to connect, take photographs and share their favourite species with friends and family.
With more exposure comes more awareness and builds on the love we already have for animals around the world. With love comes a greater sense of urgency to create a change and save all endangered animals.
The sculpture will be aligned with the hashtag #LoveTheLast to raise unparalleled awareness about the sculpture’s cause across the globe.
To help protect these animals, please donate to the WWF: https://www.wwf.sg/
WWF is one of the world’s largest and most respected independent conservation organisations. WWF’s mission is to stop the degradation of the earth’s natural environment and to build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature. As one of WWF’s international hubs, WWF-Singapore supports a global network spanning over 100 countries. We work to meet key conservation goals, such as deforestation, haze pollution, food security, sustainable finance, sustainable consumption and illegal wildlife trade.
ABOUT GILLIE AND MARC
Gillie and Marc’s highly coveted public artworks can be found worldwide including in New York, London, Singapore, Shanghai, and Sydney. They are Archibald Prize finalists, won the Chianciano Biennale in Italy, took out the Allens People’s Choice Award in 2016 and 2018 and Kids’ Choice Award in the 2016 Sculpture by the Sea and received the Bayside Arts Festival People's Choice Award in 2019 in Sydney.
The husband-and-wife duo are on a mission to make art for a better tomorrow. They are best known for their beloved characters, Rabbitwoman and Dogman, who tell the autobiographical tale of two opposites coming together as best friends and soul mates.
Gillie and Marc are also passionate eco-warriors and have dedicated their lives to protecting nature.
Gillie grew up with the wildlife in Zambia and Marc studied chimpanzees in Tanzania as a young man. Over time, the artists developed a deep appreciation for all living things and a desire to preserve the magnificence of the natural world.
Gillie and Marc’s mission is to save species from extinction. Through their practices, they are transforming passive audiences into passionate advocates for animal conservation, spreading awareness about endangered species and leading to change.
Their art has raised hundreds of thousands in donations for the many wildlife charities and causes they support through their project Love The Last.
Please follow @gillieandmarcart
If you are interested in buying art related to the Love the Last March, you will also be directly helping real animals in the wild, with 30% of sales going to WWF to continue their fantastic work for animal conservation. Click here to browse art > https://gillieandmarc.com/collections/love-the-last-march
Painted Dog Conservation Incorporated - www.pdcinc.org.au
The Painted Dog is Africa’s most persecuted carnivore, with only approximately 7000 left in the wild. We at Painted Dog Conservation Incorporated, are a non-profit organisation, established in Australia in 2003. Our mission is to provide resources and facilities to support research, threat prevention and rehabilitation of Painted Dogs and to support community education and development initiatives. In doing so, this contributes towards an increase in the population and range state of the species.
We provide funding, equipment and on ground support to our partnered frontline projects in Zimbabwe, Zambia and South Africa, which are actively conserving the highly endangered Painted Dog. To date we have raised over $2 million dollars to support these conservation initiatives. Any donations made over $2 within Australia are tax deductable, and we also offer Annual and Life Memberships, and Pack Adoptions of Painted Dogs from the field. To find out more, please visit our website at www.pdcinc.org.au