Dholes (Cuon alpinus)

[paul cooper]

"Leopard and dhole had low rates of co-occurrence with tiger, indicating fine-scale spatial avoidance, and their detection probabilities were 47–52 per cent lower in tiger-occupied open grasslands (despite suitable prey there) compared to closed forest. Tigers were active mostly at night, whereas leopard and dhole were mainly diurnal, suggesting some temporal avoidance as well."

"Tiger and dhole distributions in Kuiburi were strikingly divergent: dhole occupancy was 3 times higher than tiger in the north, where tigers and prey were scarce, but 4 times lower than tiger in the centre, where Kuiburi’s remaining tigers and prey were concentrated. This pattern is suggestive of mesopredator release—the release of smaller predators from top-down control on abundance and distribution after the decline of an apex predator. It is a common phenomenon around the world concurrent with the global decline of apex predators, but has not been documented before in Southeast Asia."

"In sum, tiger distribution was driven solely by prey availability, whereas leopard and dhole were influenced by a trade-off between prey availability and avoidance of tigers, mediated by habitat structure." 


http://wwf.panda.org/wwf_news/?209907/Co...ional-Park Reply