Indian Wild dogs - Dhole is one of the main carnivorous species found in Indian forests. A member of Canidae family of carnivores its scientific name is Cuon Alpinus. India has 3 sub-species of Dholes out of 10 found globally. It has more rounded ears and extremely high power of smell, hearing and sturdy set of legs. It has rich, reddish coat and a bushy black tipped tail with grey and white hairs.
Dholes live in social groups called clans with 5 to 20 members and they lead a highly structured social life. A wild dog has average weight of 18 kgs in males and 13 kgs in females. A female gives birth to 4 - 6 cubs after a gestation period of approximately 60 days. It breeds communally with most pack members helping to feed or guard the pups. They are also known as whistling hunters since they do not bark instead communicate by whistling, screaming or mewing.
Indian Wild Dogs are extremely successful hunters and their success rate is better than Tiger and other big cats since they attack on a prey in a group and in a very organized manner. The prey is pushed to exhaustion and ultimately surrenders or is chased by one party of the pack to an area where it is ambushed by another party which keeps a watch and waits for right moment. They start eating the kill immediately without waiting for it to die which is a sad part of the killing. Dholes prey upon the animals like chital, sambar, swamp deer, Indian hares, langurs and more and if they get a chance, they try to kill young of big animals like Gaur or Blue Bull.
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| Dholes are also known as whistling hunters |
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| Indian Wild Dogs are very agile and work in a group |
All photographs by Navneet Maheshwari, the author of this article. He can be contacted on nature.luv@gmail.com.
Navneet Maheshwari
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| Dholes are social animals - Photograph at Kanha National Park |
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| India Wild Dogs - Dholes at Kanha National Park |
