The Dhole or Asiatic Wild Dog (Cuon alpinus) is about the size of a border collie (12-18 kg), but looks quite different. The coat is usually a rusty red colour, but varies regionally from sandy yellow to dark grey. See our dhole map page for details of regional colour variation (frame-compliant browsers only). Usually it has a black bushy tail and white patches on its chest, paws and belly. Its ears are rounded, and its hooded amber eyes portray an intelligent nature. Within the canid family the dhole is something of an enigma. It doesn't fit neatly into any of the sub-families (i.e. the foxes or wolf-like dogs) and is classified in a genus of its own - Cuon. Among its unusual features is a strange whistle call which it uses to re-assemble the pack when animals become separated in dense forest. The dhole also has more teets than most other dogs and has a shorter jaw with one less molar on each side of its lower jaw.The Dhole is a pack animal, thus living in packs of about 8 or 9 dholes. Packs of up to 30 have been reported. They have a varied diet and will feed on insects, lizards, berries, rodents, hares, and many other food sources. A number of dhole will often hunt and bring down larger animals such as a deer.
The Dhole mates between Sept to Feb in Northern India, and shorter periods in warmer climates, around Sept to December. The gestation period is 60 to 62 days before 5 or 6 pups are born. The litter can range in size from anywhere between 2 to 9. Dholes do not attack humans, in fact if they spot a human they will run the other way.
Dhole
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Dhole
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