Dhole Dog

Facts about Dhole Dog. "Scientific name for Dhole Dog is cuon alpinus". The Dhole is an Asian wild dog. Unlike the wolf or domesticated dog, the Dhole is endangered. The Dhole is also called the Red Dog, Chennai, Red Wolf, Mountain Wolf, Whistling Wolf, Indian Wild Dog, and other names. The Dhole Dog is an Asian species, separate from the African wild dog, Lycaon pictus. Dholes are called cuon d’asie and Chien sauvage d’asie in French. In Spanish, Dholes are called perro salvaje asiatico, essentially Asian wild dog. There are eleven subspecies of Dholes.

Appearance of Dhole Dogs

Dhole Dog in the southern end of their range have darker, shorter hair than those in the north. All Dhole Dog have red or rust colored coats with white on the stomach, chest, and feet. The Dhole Dog's tail is black. The Dhole Dog's fur tends to be brighter in the winter, and then they molt in the spring.
Dhole Dog Puppies are born all black or gray until turning rust around three months of age.
This canine looks like the red wolf and is sometimes called the Red Wolf, but that species’ name is Canis rufus.

Physical Description of Dhole Dog

The Dhole Dog has a thicker muzzle and one less molar than the modern dog. Dhole Dogs are around three feet long, a foot and a half tall at the shoulder. The males weigh thirty to forty pounds fully grown, females twenty to thirty pounds.
Dhole Dogs live in packs of five to fifteen. Unlike wolves, Dhole Dog packs consist of several breeding females and related animals. There is no one dominant breeding female. Females have three to five young around two months after going into heat. The Dhole Dog can call the pack together with a distinctive whistle call compared to the calls of Red Foxes. Like African Wild Dogs, they have a “communal stomach”, regurgitating food for the puppies to eat.
Dhole Dogs mark their territory with communal latrine sites at the perimeter of their range and trail intersections.
The Dhole Dog of diurnal are most active in early morning and in the evening.

Habitat of Dhole Dog

The Dhole Dog species once ranged across India, Korea, China, and Russia. Dhole Dogs are mostly found in central and southern India. The most common subspecies of Dhole Dog is the Cuon alpinus dukhunensis, the subspecies in southern India.
The Dhole Dog is a wild dog that prefer to live in dense forests and jungles, though some live in alpine forests and a few in the mountains bordering major deserts. For example, the Tien Shan dhole lives in the Tien Shan mountains surrounding the Tarim basin and takla makan desert. The Dhole Dog that live in forests compete with tigers and leopards for prey.
Dhole Dogs need meadows and other areas in which they can dig burrows to have their puppies; they abandon the burrow after having the litter.
Dholes eat deer, sheep, pigs, reindeer, akhar, ibexes, maral and other prey they can catch, though they rarely attack humans. A pack of Dholes can take down an animal ten times their size. The greatest threat to this species is habitat loss; Dhole Dogs were once hunted for their pelts and to protect livestock. Hunting of the Dhole Dog has been illegal in Russia since 1971 and since 1972 in India. Diseases from domestic dogs like rabies and distemper are also a threat.

Trivia about Dhole Dog

The Dhole Dog is considered endangered according to the IUCN. Only a few thousand are estimated to remain in the wild.