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Cuon alpinusdhole

By Raquel Chacon

Ge­o­graphic Range

From the Altai Moun­tains in Manchuria in Cen­tral and East­ern Asia, its range spreads south­wards through the for­est tracts of India, Burma, and the Malayan Arch­i­pel­ago. Three races of the dhole exist in India alone

(Trans-Hi­malayan, Hi­malayan, and Penin­su­lar).

Habi­tat

Dholes like open spaces and can often be found on jun­gle roads, river beds, jun­gle clear­ings, and paths, where they rest dur­ing the day. Their hunt­ing range is about 40sq km (15sq mi). The dhole can also be found in dense for­est steppes, and the thick jun­gles of the plains as well as the hills. They are never found in the open plains and deserts.

Phys­i­cal De­scrip­tion

The dhole is an av­er­age size ca­nine with head/body length 90cm (35"), tail length 40-45cm (16"-18"), and shoul­der height 50cm (20"). The dhole is set apart from other canids in that it has an un­usu­ally thick muz­zle and one less molar tooth on each side of its lower jaw. Other mem­bers of the fam­ily Canidae have a total of 42 teeth. The adult dhole is char­ac­ter­ized by a rusty red coat with a pale un­der­side; de­pend­ing on the re­gion, pelage may vary from light brown­ish gray to a uni­form red coat. A dhole is born with a sooty brown color, ac­quir­ing an adult color at three months of age. Dholes also have dark, al­most al­ways black, bushy tails.

  • Range mass
    17 to 21 kg
    37.44 to 46.26 lb

Re­pro­duc­tion

Each pack con­tains a dom­i­nant monog­a­mous pair. Sub­or­di­nate pack mem­bers help care for the young of the dom­i­nant pair.

The dhole's ges­ta­tion pe­riod is 60-62 days. The mother usu­ally gives birth to eight pups at a time. The pups reach sex­ual ma­tu­rity at about a year. Pups are born through­out the end of fall, win­ter, and the first spring months ( No­vem­ber - March ). Fe­male dhole can have up to 16 mam­mae, sug­gest­ing their abil­ity to take care of large lit­ters. Dens are con­structed near streambeds or among rocks. After a fe­male dhole has given birth, a few other adults take part in feed­ing the mother as well as the pups. The pups, as early as the ten­der age of three weeks, and the mother are fed re­gur­gi­tated meat.

  • Key Reproductive Features
  • gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)
  • sexual
  • Range number of offspring
    2 to 6
  • Average number of offspring
    3.5
  • Average number of offspring
    5
    AnAge
  • Range gestation period
    60 to 63 days
  • Average weaning age
    58 days
  • Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)
    Sex: female
    365 days
    AnAge
  • Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)
    Sex: male
    365 days
    AnAge
  • Parental Investment
  • altricial
  • post-independence association with parents
  • extended period of juvenile learning

Lifes­pan/Longevity

Be­hav­ior

Dholes live in packs rang­ing from 5 - 12. They in­ter­act with other dholes out­side of their own group, but the orig­i­nal pack rarely ex­ceeds 20. They are sim­i­lar to the African Wild Dog in that they en­gage in co­op­er­a­tive group hunt­ing and group care of young. Dholes are very fond of water. After meals they race to a water site, and some­times, if the water is near their kill, dholes will leave their food for a small drink of water. They have also been spot­ted sit­ting in shal­low pools of water re­gard­less of the tem­per­a­ture. Just as do­mes­tic dogs, dholes wag their tails. There is rarely any ev­i­dence of ag­gres­sive­ness among pack mem­bers ( ex­cept for the cubs, who like to play fight) and there is al­most never any bul­ly­ing.

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion and Per­cep­tion

Food Habits

The dhole eats wild berries, in­sects, and lizards. Packs of dholes feast on mam­mals rang­ing from ro­dents to deer. Some of the dhole's fa­vorites in­clude wild pigs, hares, wild goats, sheep, and oc­ca­sion­ally a mon­key. Un­like many other "dogs," the dhole sel­dom kills by bit­ing the throat. Larger mam­mals are at­tacked from the rear, while smaller ones are caught by any part of the bod­ies. The smaller mam­mals are killed by a swift blow to the head; the larger mam­mals are im­me­di­ately dis­em­bowled. Dholes com­pete for the food, not by fight­ing, but by how fast they can eat. An adult dhole can eat up to 4kg (8.8lbs) of meat in one hour. Two to three dholes can kill a 50kg (110 lb) deer in less than two min­utes, and they begin to feed on it be­fore it is dead. The larger prey rarely die from the at­tack it­self, but from blood loss and shock as their in­testines, heart, liver, and eyes are feasted upon.

  • Animal Foods
  • mammals
  • reptiles
  • insects
  • Plant Foods
  • fruit

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Pos­i­tive

Dholes have be­come an in­di­rect food source for the res­i­dents of the jun­gles. Dholes do not at­tack human be­ings, and they usu­ally re­treat at the sight of a per­son. Human res­i­dents of the jun­gle fol­low dholes when they are hunt­ing. When the dhole ccom­pletes its kill, the human hunters scare it away and steal its kill.

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Neg­a­tive

Al­though this oc­curs on rare oc­ca­sions, dholes can at­tack live­stock at the cost of the owner.

Con­ser­va­tion Sta­tus

There are 10 sub­species of the dhole rang­ing in color and size. Two of the sub­species are listed as en­dan­gered by the IUCN (east asian dhole and the west in­dian dhole). Two other sub­species are on the verge of ex­tinc­tion ( C.a. pri­maerus, and the C.a. laniger).

Con­trib­u­tors

Raquel Cha­con (au­thor), Uni­ver­sity of Michi­gan-Ann Arbor.

Glossary

Palearctic

living in the northern part of the Old World. In otherwords, Europe and Asia and northern Africa.

World Map

altricial

young are born in a relatively underdeveloped state; they are unable to feed or care for themselves or locomote independently for a period of time after birth/hatching. In birds, naked and helpless after hatching.

bilateral symmetry

having body symmetry such that the animal can be divided in one plane into two mirror-image halves. Animals with bilateral symmetry have dorsal and ventral sides, as well as anterior and posterior ends. Synapomorphy of the Bilateria.

chemical

uses smells or other chemicals to communicate

cooperative breeder

helpers provide assistance in raising young that are not their own

dominance hierarchies

ranking system or pecking order among members of a long-term social group, where dominance status affects access to resources or mates

endothermic

animals that use metabolically generated heat to regulate body temperature independently of ambient temperature. Endothermy is a synapomorphy of the Mammalia, although it may have arisen in a (now extinct) synapsid ancestor; the fossil record does not distinguish these possibilities. Convergent in birds.

forest

forest biomes are dominated by trees, otherwise forest biomes can vary widely in amount of precipitation and seasonality.

monogamous

Having one mate at a time.

motile

having the capacity to move from one place to another.

native range

the area in which the animal is naturally found, the region in which it is endemic.

omnivore

an animal that mainly eats all kinds of things, including plants and animals

oriental

found in the oriental region of the world. In other words, India and southeast Asia.

World Map

rainforest

rainforests, both temperate and tropical, are dominated by trees often forming a closed canopy with little light reaching the ground. Epiphytes and climbing plants are also abundant. Precipitation is typically not limiting, but may be somewhat seasonal.

scrub forest

scrub forests develop in areas that experience dry seasons.

sexual

reproduction that includes combining the genetic contribution of two individuals, a male and a female

social

associates with others of its species; forms social groups.

tactile

uses touch to communicate

Ref­er­ences

Fox, Michael W. The Whistling Hunters: Field Stud­ies Of The Asi­atic Wild Dog

State Uni­ver­sity of New York Al­bany c1984

Durbin, L. 2000. "Dhole Home Page" (On-line). Ac­cessed 17 May 2000 at http://​www.​dcpbase.​demon.​co.​uk/​dcp/​.

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Classification

  • Kingdom Animalia animals
  • Phylum Chordata chordates
  • Subphylum Vertebrata vertebrates
  • Class Mammalia mammals
  • Order Carnivora carnivores
  • Family Canidae coyotes, dogs, foxes, jackals, and wolves
  • Genus Cuon dhole
  • Species Cuon alpinus dhole