dhole
Also known as Cuon alpinus, Asiatic wild dog, Asian wild dog, red dog, red wild dog
The dhole ( ; Cuon alpinus) is a canid native to South, East and Southeast Asia. It is anatomically distinguished from members of the genus Canis in several aspects: its skull is convex rather than concave in profile, it lacks a third lower molar, and the upper molars possess only a single cusp as opposed to between two and four. During the Pleistocene, the dhole ranged throughout Asia, with its range also extending into Europe (with a single putative, controversial record also reported from North America) but became restricted to its historical range 12,000–18,000 years ago. It is now ex
AI overview
The dhole is a wild dog native to South, East, and Southeast Asia that differs from other canids in distinctive ways, including having a convex skull, lacking a third lower molar, and having upper molars with only a single cusp. Once widespread across Asia and even parts of Europe during the Pleistocene, the dhole's range has significantly shrunk over the past 12,000 to 18,000 years to its present-day distribution.
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Species
Endangeredvia IUCN
Wikidata facts
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Article
23 sectionsContents
- Etymology and naming
- Taxonomy and evolution
- Admixture with the African wild dog
- Subspecies
- Characteristics
- Distribution and habitat
- Ecology and behaviour
- Social and territorial behaviour
- Denning
- Reproduction and development
- Hunting behaviour
- Feeding ecology
- Enemies and competitors
- Diseases and parasites
- Threats
- Conservation
- In culture and literature
- Tameability
- See also
- Notes
- References
- Bibliography
- External links
The dhole ( ; Cuon alpinus) is a canid native to South, East and Southeast Asia. It is anatomically distinguished from members of the genus Canis in several aspects: its skull is convex rather than concave in profile, it lacks a third lower molar, and the upper molars possess only a single cusp as opposed to between two and four. During the Pleistocene, the dhole ranged throughout Asia, with its range also extending into Europe (with a single putative, controversial record also reported from North America) but became restricted to its historical range 12,000–18,000 years ago. It is now extinct in Central Asia, parts of Southeast Asia, and possibly the Korean peninsula and Russia.
The dhole is a highly social animal, living in large clans without rigid dominance hierarchies and containing multiple breeding females. Such clans usually consist of about 12 individuals, but groups of over 40 are known. It is a diurnal pack hunter which preferentially targets large and medium-sized ungulates. In tropical forests, the dhole competes with the tiger (Panthera tigris) and the leopard (Panthera pardus), targeting somewhat different prey species, but still with substantial dietary overlap.