Dhole (Asiatic Wild Dog)

Dhole (Asiatic Wild Dog)

Part of: GS Prelims and Mains III – Environment

In News: Karnataka, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh rank high in the conservation of dhole in India, according to a new study.

Dhole

• The dhole is a canid native to Central, South, East Asia, and Southeast Asia.
• India perhaps supports the largest number of dholes, with key populations found in three landscapes — Western Ghats, Central India and Northeast India.
• IUCN Status: Endangered 
• Dholes play an important role as apex predators in forest ecosystems.
• Besides the tiger, the dhole is the only large carnivore in India that is under IUCN’s ‘endangered’ category.
• Factors contributing to this decline include habitat loss, loss of prey, competition with other species, persecution due to livestock predation and disease transfer from domestic dogs.

Do You Know?

• In 2014, the Indian government sanctioned its first dhole conservation breeding centre at the Indira Gandhi Zoological Park (IGZP) in Visakhapatnam.
• In India, the dhole is protected under Schedule 2 of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.