Context: A new study has found that overlapping prey availability or habitat suitability could dictate a positive association between dholes and tigers, facilitating coexistence or even cooperative behaviours between the two species of carnivores.

Key findings and conclusions of a study

• To assess the relative abundance index, habitat use and factors (space and time) influencing dhole co-existence with other sympatric carnivores in Manas National Park.

• The global population of adult dholes is estimated to be between 949 and 2,215 individuals, scattered in localized areas of India and Thailand. 

• Diurnal activity of the dholes had the highest temporal overlap with leopards and the lowest with clouded leopards. 

• The dhole or Asiatic wild dog (Cuon alpinus) is the only endangered wild pack-living canid in the tropical Indian forests and is considered at high risk of extinction.

• Factors such as habitat loss, declining prey availability, persecution, disease, and interspecific competition have contributed to the ongoing fragmentation of dhole’s populations.    

Significance of this study

• The study highlights the importance of good habitats and forests, such as Manas National Park, as wildlife mega-cities or hotspots that provide various niches and possibilities.

• Any disruption to such ecological balance could have far-reaching consequences.

Asiatic Wild Dog or Dhole (Cuon alpinus)

• Dhole is a member of the dog or canid family that also includes wolves, foxes, coyotes, jackals and domestic dogs. 

Geographical Spread

• Global: Historically, dholes purportedly occurred throughout southern Russia, all across central Asia, south Asia and southeast Asia.

• India: Western and Eastern Ghats, central Indian landscape and North East India.

Conservation Status

• IUCN List of Threatened Species: Endangered

• Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES): Appendix II

• Wildlife Protection Act, 1972: Schedule II