Dhole (Asiatic Wild Dog)

  • IASbaba
  • August 4, 2020
  • 0
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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.

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