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Carnivorous and Omnivores Animals, Excluding Felids
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Canids (Canidae) & Hyaenids (Hyaenidae)
Dholes (Cuon alpinus)
Dholes (Cuon alpinus)
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Dholes (Cuon alpinus)
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 (03-26-2019, 01:45 PM)Lycaon Wrote: It always feels satisfying seeing canids taking down prey quickly. Like in the video.But I do like to see more dhole taking down adult prime bull gaur in its fittest and healthiest condition being eaten alive by a clan of 25 dogs. It's even exiciting to see them eating elephants and rhinos though by hunting on their own. 
It would be interesting if someone has knowledge about background of this photo:
https://www.alamy.com/indian-wild-dogs-ona-gaur-kill-at-tadoba-tiger-reserve-maharashtraindia-image242076468.html  (04-17-2019, 10:37 AM)Shadow Wrote: It would be interesting if someone has knowledge about background of this photo: It was taken by Amit Rane in 2015 it says, maybe he remembers.  *This image is copyright of its original author
Don't ignore the video as cartoon show.
Wild Kratt episodes are pretty "informative, factual and educative" via cartoon representation to entertain and as well as thought waking the future generation (children) towards conservation. Dhole Episode. Dhole and Tiger Interaction. See whole episode. Don't skip.
Will dhole packs continue roaming the forests of the Western Ghats?
 *This image is copyright of its original author Photo by Ismail Shariff. Carnivores of the wild have always fascinated the human race. Worldwide, extensive efforts have been made and large fortunes spent to revive the number of some of the top predators in their natural habitat. But not all these efforts have borne fruit. Several species of carnivores have been witnessing a global population decline. The Asiatic wild dog, also known as dhole (Cuon alpinus), has been added to the list. It is declared as Endangered in the IUCN Red List. A recent study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, examined the distribution and population dynamics of dholes across 37,000 square km of the Western Ghats, first in 2006-7 and subsequently in 2014-15. From 62 percent, the occupancy (the area over which dhole signs were recorded) dipped to 54 percent. “Dholes are among the most threatened yet under-studied species in India and across the world. Quote:"They are apex predators with fascinating social lives, and quite unique in that they are among the very few carnivores that are both forest-dependent and group-living", said study author Arjun Srivathsa from Wildlife Conservation Society-India and the University of Florida. “We know little about their populations and there is a critical need to better understand their ecology so that they can be conserved using strategies backed by science,” he added. Making sense of spoors The study was done based on indirect sign surveys using dhole scats and spoors (animal signs like pugmarks and movement signs). While 267 dhole signs were observed in the 2007 survey in selected grids across dhole habitat in the Ghats, the number dropped to 251 in the 2015 survey. Dholes in the Western Ghats form a ‘metapopulation’ – a group of populations of the same species separated in space. The dhole metapopulation in the Western Ghats of Karnataka is constituted by smaller subpopulations found in Sharavati, Kudremukh, Nagarhole, MM Hills and so on. The current study inspected movement between the subpopulations and examined local extinctions. Colonisation, as per the study, is a location that did not have dholes in 2007 but has been occupied by dholes in 2015; local extinction implies a location that had dholes in 2007, but no longer had any as of 2015. The study concluded that while the colonisation rate of the dhole population was higher than the extinction rate, taken together and considering the entire landscape, the total area where dholes went locally extinct was greater than the areas where they colonised.  *This image is copyright of its original author The study area in Karnataka, India. Inset: location of Karnataka State in India. Protected reserves: (1) Bhimgad, (2) Kali, (3) Sharavati, (4) Mookambika, (5) Someshwara, (6) Kudremukh, (7) Shettihalli, (8) Bhadra, (9) Pushpagiri, (10) Talakaveri, (11) Brahmagiri, (12) Nagarahole, (13) Bandipur, (14) Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple, (15) Cauvery-MM Hills, (16) Bannerghatta. Map adapted from the study. The researchers discovered that colonisation took place mostly in locations within and around protected areas in a clustered, restricted manner and thus concluded that buffer zones around the protected areas play an important role in revival of the dhole population. “While the interiors of protected areas might have stable forest cover and prey densities, the locations adjoining protected areas require management intervention. These locations are sensitive to colonisation of dhole population and thus should be safeguarded,” said Srivathsa. Increased protection in reserves in the Western Ghats has enabled population recovery of tigers and leopards but, according to the study, the dhole population has not benefited. “Tigers and leopards are more resilient than dholes. Leopards survive and thrive in a wide range of habitats. Tigers do need forest cover but they are also able to disperse long distances through mixed landscapes with forests and human-use areas,” said Srivathsa. “Dholes are perhaps a lot more sensitive to forest cover and therefore require more nuanced approaches for population recovery. Competition and disease threat from stray/feral [domestic] dogs  are very likely compounding the issue but we do not know enough about these dynamics yet,” he added.The dhole is on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Endangered Species and is protected under Schedule II of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 in India. Globally, dholes have disappeared from approximately 82 percent of their former range. Quote:The Western Ghats perhaps supports the largest dhole population in the world and is therefore a critical conservation landscape for the species.Understanding changes in their distribution is important for prioritising and implementing conservation strategies, write the authors.  *This image is copyright of its original author Dhole occupancy in Karnataka’s Western Ghats reduced by 13% between 2007 and 2015. Photo by Ramki Sreenivasan.What ails the dhole population in the Western Ghats? Massive infrastructural initiatives in the area, human intrusion in protected zones, change in land-use pattern, forest fragmentation and loss of forest cover are some of the reasons that researchers attribute to the decline in dhole occupancy in the Western Ghats. According to the study, the cumulative impact of all these factors has been impeding the range expansion of dholes in the region. The presence of semi-feral, free-ranging domestic dogs in unprotected forest areas might be another reason for the decline in dhole occupancy, says the study. Free-ranging dogs affect dholes as they compete with dholes for similar resources like prey animals. Moreover, these dogs often carry lethal and non-lethal disease pathogens that could result in the spread of diseases in the dhole population.“Local hunters sometimes use domestic dogs to chase dholes away from their kill. Although we could not test the interaction between the two species, we suspect that dogs continue to pose a latent threat to dholes outside reserves,” said Srivathsa. The study made use of the relative abundance of livestock as a metric to characterise disturbance in the study area and concluded that the presence of livestock in and around the protected areas is detrimental to the dhole populations. The problem with livestock presence in forest habitats is two-fold, explain the authors in the paper. Large herds of cattle, often accompanied by herders and their domestic dogs, pose a direct disturbance to dholes, who generally avoid areas with high human activity. At the same time, livestock compete with wild herbivores for forage and end up driving away animals that make for prey for dholes. The consequent decrease in prey density due to lack of resources indirectly affects the quality of potential dhole habitats, says the study. The authors suggest that reduction or total removal  of livestock grazing from protected areas can be crucial for the recovery and sustenance of dhole populations.The researchers also opine that a rich forest cover is of utmost importance for dholes because it maintains good densities of herbivore prey species. “It is not enough that we only focus on dholes within protected areas because populations across a landscape need forest connectivity. Massive forest clearances outside reserves hamper connectivity for dholes and can, therefore, be detrimental for the species,” Srivathsa explained. According to the study, geographic and demographic isolation too plays an important role in maintaining dhole populations. Isolated populations of large carnivores have higher chances of becoming locally extinct. Moreover, with no new individuals coming into the population, it can also lead to inbreeding, making the animals more vulnerable to diseases.  *This image is copyright of its original author Infrastructure projects, human intrusion and overgrazing pose a threat to the dhole’s habitat and its prey species. Domestic dogs (ferals/stays) are a threat too. Photo by Kalyan Varma.Suggestions to arrest the decline Researchers feel that for any forest-dependent wildlife species, including dholes, ‘eco-sensitive zones’ that buffer the boundaries of protected reserves across the country can function like breathing rooms and, thus, should be given due importance. According to Srivathsa, areas abutting protected reserves should support the spill-over of animals and help maintain connectivity with other protected areas. “By reducing the amount of area under eco-sensitive zones and clearing forests for other commercial purposes, we put forest-dependent wildlife species in a zoo-like situation with no habitat beyond the confines of reserve boundary (situation of gir is even worse),” he said, stressing on the importance of wildlife-permeable land use. Creating coffee and tea plantations and fruit orchards in some parts of the Ghats (outside reserves) and carrying out afforestation activities around already established protected areas might work. Quote: Researchers are of the view that instead of reducing eco-sensitive zones for destructive infrastructure projects, coffee or tea plantations, which act as secondary habitats for dhole as well as prey species, would be more beneficial to the dhole populations.  *This image is copyright of its original author Experts suggest the formation of eco-sensitive zones to buffer protected areas could help maintain a healthy population of dholes. Photo by Davidvraju/Wikimedia Commons.CITATION Srivathsa, A., Karanth, K. U., Kumar, N. S., & Oli, M. K. (2019). Insights from distribution dynamics inform strategies to conserve a dhole Cuon alpinus metapopulation in India. Scientific reports, 9(1), 3081 Quote:A friend of mine recently have been in Java, Baron V Goldinger, where he took these following pictures of Dholes, wild water buffalo and wild banteng. -- Luis Almeida  *This image is copyright of its original author Cuon alpinus sumatrensis or Cuon alpinus javanicus in grasslands.  *This image is copyright of its original author Sumatran (/malayan/javan) dholes live in scrublands, grasslands, plains, tropical forests and rainforests  *This image is copyright of its original author His prey wild water buffalo herd.  *This image is copyright of its original author And Banteng. 
The diet, prey selection, and activity of dholes (Cuon alpinus) in northern Laos
"Abstract Although Southeast Asia is one of the last strongholds of endangered dholes (Cuon alpinus), or Asiatic wild dogs, little is known about dhole ecology in this region. We used scat collections, prey surveys, and camera-trap data to determine the diet, prey selection, and activity of dholes in a national protected area in northern Laos. Results showed that dhole diets were dominated by ungulates (87% of biomass consumed), with additional prey including other carnivores (6%) and rodents < 1 kg (6%). Concerning individual prey species, only muntjac (Muntiacus, 45%) and sambar (Rusa unicolor, 33%) contributed >7% of biomass consumed. Dholes were not random in their consumption of ungulates, because muntjac (20–28 kg) and sambar (185 kg) were selectively consumed over medium-sized (75- to 85-kg) ungulates. Dholes were almost exclusively diurnal, and their activity pattern was significantly different (all P< 0.003) from that of all ungulate species except wild pigs (Sus scrofa). Overall, prey selection by dholes appeared to be more influenced by social behavior and terrain use of ungulates, rather than by body size or activity of ungulates. In tropical forests of northern Laos, dholes focused predation on relatively few species during diurnal hours, suggesting the management of muntjac and sambar may be important for conserving dhole populations in the region." https://academic.oup.com/jmammal/article/93/3/627/834260   *This image is copyright of its original author Prasad Takale-An unsuccessful attempt || Hanuman Langoor escaped from the deadly jaws of the Wild Dog. #ViewersChoice #ShareYourSafari Made this image around 2 years ago at Navegaon Nagzira Tiger Reserve. Removed one wild dog from the BG just to have a better view. — at Nagzira Wildlife Sanctuary.
One interesting article to read.
Also two quotes, which are in a way interesting. 1. I don´t remember seeing photos or videos about this kind of killing style. "For the sport hunters of British India, dholes were not valuable as trophies, nor did they serve as good ‘game’ species. Large packs of dholes were often observed hunting herbivores like deer and gaur, disembowelling and eating their quarry alive. This feeding tactic of the dhole, whose jaw strength is not as powerful as the tiger or the leopard to deliver a killing bite at the throat, furthered its negative reputation. Dholes were treated as ‘vermin’ and bounty-hunted in India until they were brought under protection in 1972 with the Wild Life Protection Act." 2. This might explain a bit of that first, but then again, hopefully situation would change in future. "Despite its precarious status, the dhole remains one of the least-studied large carnivores in the world. India perhaps supports the largest number of dholes, with key populations found in three landscapes — Western Ghats, Central India and Northeast India." https://www.downtoearth.org.in/blog/wildlife-biodiversity/are-dhole-packs-in-peril--63641?source=post_page---------------------------  *This image is copyright of its original author
Save Wildlife Thailand
Thai dhole not too happy ,sharing its meal with a varanus salvator.  *This image is copyright of its original author
The fear of the jungle. Red dog clan. A leopard had brought down a Sambhar deer the previous day. The next morning, the alpha male and female on a rock in the valley guarding a tree and barking up it occasionally at the leopard held hostage. The enlarged belly of the dholes indicated they had stolen and feasted on the sambhar kill. Later for 20 minutes was a highly charged escape attempt by the leopard. It tried coming down the tree again and again with growls only to turn back up into the safety of the branches when the dogs barred their teeth and jumped up the trunk. Finally using trickery, it came down the front of the tree and then suddenly turned and jumped off the back of the tree into the bushes and dashed off chased closely by the dholes. It found safety up on another tree a short distance away. This long drama continued, perhaps until the dholes lost interest and wandered off. Location: Biligirirangabetta or #brhills @samanvitha
สัตว์ป่า ดงพญาเย็น-เขาใหญ่ ภูเขียว ห้วยขาแข้ง
Thai dholes having fun.  *This image is copyright of its original author
Vasudevan Parthasarathy
Jaws of Death Kabini | Nov 2019  *This image is copyright of its original author
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