Kanha National Park: Whistling predator

Friday, 9 November 2012

Sanjeev's Kanha

Mr. Sanjeev Kulhalli has spent more than 20 years at Kanha starting as Manager at a resorts. We had been requesting him to write down his experiences of Kanha National Park which we always hear, stories which make us jealous at times on his good luck to have spent a major part of his life at a place he loves so much. Finally here is something for all - one of his anecdote which I am sure all will cherish.

After spending close to two decades in Kanha I am frequently asked about exciting encounters or experiences with tigers or other wild animals, there have been so many that it would be impossible to pen down even a fraction of the entire collection in a single sitting. It was late in the morning after breaking our fast at Kanha museum we were on Schaller’s hide road when suddenly chital's alarm calls erupted from all over and from the circular road grasslands emerged a pack of 14 wild dogs who successfully brought down an adult chital hind, while all this was going on I was frantically trying to draw the attention of my clients who were near the barasingha enclosure in a another jeep, By the time they covered the intervening 800 meters there was nothing left of the deer ! gory! may be, brutal may be !BUT VERY REAL!!! Unfortunately that is how the wild dogs hunt.

Wild Animals at Kanha National Park. (Here we see Wild Dog, Peacock and Tiger, Photographs by Navneet Maheshwari.)

It was Christmas eve on 24th Dec. in the mid 1990'sand I was on link 7 road trying to escape the crowd as there was no restriction on the number of vehicles then, As I reached a cluster of the Indian Ghost tree ( sterculia urens) I stopped to explain the trees to my clients, When we restarted we had to cross a patch of van rahar ( a wild shrub ) and bamboo for a few hundred meters, as we turned a bend, I thought I glimpsed something streaking past at a distance I wasn’t sure what It was, the very alert guide Vinay kumar and my Jeep driver Ganesh not having reacted at all gave me the impression that perhaps I had imagined it, Never the less, I stopped the vehicle and after waiting and looking around for 2-3 minutes, I asked Ganesh to go another 20-30 metres and stop, All of us i.e. 4 clients, guide, driver and myself were trying to look beyond the bushes when with a fearful whisper Ganesh pointed from beside my right side and he was looking down and left and lo behold this tigress with a snarl on her face, her udder engorged with her belly facing us let out a thunderous roar and sprang about 3 meters vertically in the air when she landed back on the shrubs and leaves disappearing magically moaning loudly about the invasion on her privacy, We did feel guilty about disturbing her albeit unintentionally, the entire experience was exhilarating and unforgettable.

It has been a privilege working in one of the Best Tiger reserves in the country, may Kanha continue to excel in management, commitment, discipline and its glorious sightings of Fauna & flora. May it continue to lead the way in conservation.

Sanjeev Kulhalli

Mr. Sanjeev Kulhalli is presently stationed as Resident Director of Kanha Village Eco Resort at Kanha National Park.

Thursday, 10 February 2011

Indian Wild Dogs - Dholes, the whistling predator

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.

Dholes can easily be seen in Bhandavgarh, Bandipur, Kanha, Mudumalai, Melghat, and Periyar national parks and in isolated pockets in various parts of India.