What are Canids?
Canids are a family within order Carnivora and class Mammalia. The official name of the family is Canidae. It includes dogs, foxes, wolves, dingoes, jackals, coyotes, and African Wild Dogs. Canids are distinguished by high intelligence, exclusive carnivory, complex social structures, relatively long legs and lithe bodies adapted for chasing prey, bushy tails, claws, sharp teeth, the classic canid skull, and elongated snout with a sensitive sense of smell. Canids can be broken down into two clades, Canini (dogs and relatives) and Vulpini (foxes). Canids evolved from primitive mammalian carnivores, miacids, in the late Eocene, about 40 million years ago. Rather than being ambush predators, a common predatory mode, canids are cursorial predators, pursuing their prey in long, open chases. Due to superior vision and smell, canids can detect prey as far as a mile away, or more. Their lithe bodies give them the stamina to travel long distances. When canids close in on their prey, they kill it
