Page 12 - THE SLOUGHI REVIEW - ISSUE 13

T H E S L O U G H I R E V I E W 1 2

Thus, in the first variant, up to about 30 dogs can come together, but usually there are
about 10 to 12 dogs. Joseph Mangelsdorf describes hunting in north-western Algeria with
a pack of only one or two Bracken or Rateros as tracking dogs, the rest are Sloughis. He
says they both track, only the sniffer dogs help in denser bushes. He thinks the sniffer
dogs have a better sense of smell, besides, the Sloughis don't like undergrowth. The
terrain is the steppe, light mountainous and also scrubby. The hunting party goes off and
there is no pre-selection of targeted game. If foxes or jackals appear, the experienced

Sloughis go to the front. With such a large number of dogs, nothing remains of the
captured game until the hunters arrive.

Hunting with Sloughis today in North Africa is usually done on foot. Hunting on
horseback is probably due to the romantic idea of hunting gazelles in earlier days. But

gazelles have apparently become rare. The hunt in which the driver sits in a jeep and films
the hunting Salukis also only exists on the Arabian Peninsula.

As we have already mentioned several times (see Sloughi Review 6, 7, 9), the Sloughi hunts
the hare, the fox, the jackal/Golden wolf* and the gazelle since at least Roman times. We
had observed that the hunting of the gazelle on horseback was rather a preparation for
war, whereas the hunting of hare, fox and jackal/Golden wolf served to protect the crops

and the herds.

*Editor’ note: DNA studies shave shown that the Golden Jackal is in fact the African golden wolf.

Sloughi in the field with bushes, Senouci, Algeria, 2010 © Mangelsdorf