ON THE EDGE OF EXTINCTION - A - THE TIGER (Panthera tigris)

[Jimmy]

(01-16-2019, 08:52 PM)Shadow Wrote:

(01-16-2019, 04:00 PM)Jimmy Wrote: Could it also be that dholes are in a sort of irreversible stage now a days in some of their realm, for example it could be that once they reach certain size of pack members they could be more vulnerable for tiger attack because they will be more readily get noticed and pack is still small enough (lets say its hard to make 30+ in todays world concerning rether limited food and space) to be vulnerable to tigers. Maybe smaller pack now a days may be making more sense lessening detection and becoming more elusive, scurrying undetected through forest floor, We never know what ecological imbalance may have created  against forming large packs. Barring South India dhole appear in pretty small packs behaving like golden jackals like limiting themselves to a pair or more which would be more successful in quick and sustained attack on smaller prey like barking deer, ghorals etc, killing and eating quickly and then going unnoticed, this I am thinking because I have not seen huge packs like south-india's in South East Asia and Nepal, they may have changed their pack Dynamics a little. I am really beggining to think it is very possible in a jungle environment they live in unlike savannah where this option might not work well. Here is the one and probably only footage from Chitwan

Looks like also, that these dholes might have been feeling disturbed by people there. Watch that documentary in dhole thread. There is said, that dholes stop kill if seeing humans nearby. I am not sure if that was local phenomenon in that area or more common behavior. It was based to it, that people have often followed dholes and taken prey animal from them after kill, which leaded to situation, that dholes have learned to let it be if noticing people. In this video one dhole is looking many times straigth to camera and not participating to hunt even when prey is in water. Look what happens when 2 dholes run towards water and immedieately after it. Other looks at camera and chase ends there for it.

Yeah here they were clearly disturbed by people on boat, they still wanted to attack but the boat made them suspicious! like I said before, large packs like 30 or 40 will make them directly compete and confront with tiger,  pack this size will have to occupy prime areas densly populated by herbivores, kill often, make loud noise during the hunt, therefore are readily visible, heard or detectable and of course they have to counter this by being bold enough to defend, attack or at least threaten other predators- tigers on a regular basis, in this scenario it looks like there can be just one dominant predator either dholes or tiger in that particular forest patch since the frequency of encounter thus risk between two species is high and it leads to displacement of one. Intermediate packs like 8-12 individuals are neither best at becoming elusive nor fully aggressive with tiger, they have to occupy prime areas to sustain the pack members but will have to abandon their space or kill to tigers, they have to watch their backs constantly, looks like the worst option to me. So the only option now is to  remain in small packs say of 5-6 individuals, scare off leopards or bears but remain elusive enough to avoid detection by tigers, the pack this small may venture into less productive areas that corresponds to small prey and therefore less tiger activity and sustain easily by hunting small prey like barking deer and ghorals. Most dhole pack now I see enjoy the last option cuz even if they want totincrease the pack size they have to first go through intermidiate stage which will be the worst option and real test as i have shown, of course it is just my observation but I think that is what is happening in majority of places. Reply