The pups were born at Taronga Western Plains Zoo on August 25 to mother Kimanda and father Guban.

It’s the second litter for the breeding pair, and while it sounds like a large number of pups, keeper Jordan Michelmore said the African wild dogs could have up to 18 young born at a time.

“I guess the idea is the bigger the pack the more successful it’s going to be. The average is about nine to 10 puppies at a time,” Ms Michelmore said.

The puppies are nine weeks old and are already participating in feedings.

“It’s not a simple feeding and it’s done, it goes on for 20 or 30 minutes, there’s so much activity going on,” Ms Michelmore said.

“For us as keepers it’s been really fun not only because we’re able to tell the ind apart it’s been fun watching particularly the pups from last year who are now just over a year old, watching them develop and really help mum out with babysitting.”

Raising the pups is a team effort, the keeper said.

“That’s one of my favourite things about the African wild dogs, they’re so family orientated, and such a team,” Ms Michelmore said. 

For example, in the wild if a dog has to stay behind to look after the puppies, or they’ve broken their leg so they’ll stay behind, the other dogs will go out and hunt for them, bring them something back. Any other animal would probably let them die,” she said.

For now the pups will remain in Dubbo.

“Usually what happens in the wild is the sibling sexes will disperse. We try and do the same thing here at the zoo. When they’re old enough the sisters will all go off as a group and the brothers will go off as a group to another zoo somewhere where they’ll form a pack.”

African wild dogs are endangered in the wild. They’re the most endangered large carnivore in Africa.

Current estimates have the population at just 6,600 adults in the wild.

And while she admits she’s biased, Ms Michelmore said the dogs were one of the best animals at the zoo.