Distribution and status of dhole Cuon alpinus Pallas, 1811

in South Asia

by AJ.T. JOHNSINGH

Bombay Natural History Society, Harnbill House,

Shahid Bhagatsingh Road, Bombay 23, India

Dans beaucoup de leurs anciens habitats on ne voit plus de dholes. Sur les cinq
sous-especes d'Asie du sud, seuls Cuon alpinus dukhunensis, C. a. infuscus et C. a. adjus-
tus sont encore ropandus. L'abandon des habitats oü les proies ne manquent pas peut
etre du ä des maladies. La creation en Inde de plusieurs reserves de tigres au sud du
Gange, ainsi que le projet d'etablir en Birmanie plusieurs roserves de faune, peuvent
assurer pendant quelque temps encore la survie des trois sous-especes mentionne'es ci-
dessus.

INTRODUCTION

The dhole Cuon alpinus Pallas, 1811 has a wide distribution extending from
Saghalien Amurland and the Altai mountains (about latitude 50° north) over conti-
nental Asia (roughly east of longitude 70° E) and occurs on the islands of Sumatra
and Java but not in Japan, Sri Lanka or Borneo (Pocock 1936). The fossil remains
of dhole from the mid and early Pleistocene found in Europe, the Far East and
South East Asia indicate that the species was once more widely distributed (The-
nius 1954).
Of the nine subspecies recognized by Ellennan and Morrison-Scott (1951) five
subspecies have been recorded in South Asia (Pocok 1941). They are Cuon alpinus
laniger in Kashmir and Lhasa, C. a. primaevus in Kumaon, Nepal, Sikkim and
Bhutan, C. a. dukhunensis south of Ganges, C. a. infuscus form from South Burma
and C. a. adjustus from North Burma. This report gives the distribution and sta-
tus of the dhole in South Asia.

METHODS

As part of an intensive study on the ecology and behaviour of dholes in Ban-

dipur Tiger Reserve, South India, a questionnaire survey was conducted in August
1978 to assess the status of dhole in South Asia. I contacted persons interested in

Mammalia, t. 49, n° 2, 1985.

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204 MAMMALIA

wildlife studies and conservation and collected additional information from publi-
cations.
The first questionnaire included difficult questions such as "what is the home
range of the pack?" and "what is the age and sex composition of the pack?".
Only 23 % (n = 43) of these questionnaires were returned, many with incomplete
answers. Ten replies gave details of the occurrence of the dhole but did not use
the questionnaire. A more simple questionnaire which only requested information
on occurrence was then circulated to 12 more people and all replied.
The distribution of the 55 persons contacted was Burma 1, Bangladesh 1,
Pakistan 1, Nepal 1, Himachal Pradesh 1, Uttar Pradesh 4, Assam 6, Project Tiger
Office Delhi 2, Madhya Pradesh 3, West Bengal 7, Bihar 2, Rajasthan 3, Maharash-
tra 5, Gujarat 2, Orissa 3, Andhra Pradesh 2, Karnataka 1, Kerala 4 and Tamil
Nadu 7. When I visited Chitawan National Park (Nepal), Corbett National Park
(Uttar Pradesh) and Kanha National Park (Madhya Pradesh) during December
1981 and February 1983 and Arunachal Pradesh during November 1982 and January
1983 further information on dhole occurrence was collected. No information could
be collected from Kashmir and Lhasa.

RESULTS

Classification of the areas covered by the questionnaire and literature survey

are as follows.

a) AREAS WHERE DHOLES ARE NOT REPORTED

Although Roberts (1977) reports of the possibility of dholes occasionally ente-

ring Baltistan in Pakistan from the bordering Uzbekistan and Turkestan areas of
USSR, Z.B. Mirza (pers. comm.) reports that dholes have never been reported in
Pakistan.

b) AREAS WHERE DHOLES HAVE BECOME VERY RARE

M.A. Rezakhan (pers. comm.) states that in Bangladesh dholes now occur only
in the hill districts of Chittagong and Sylhet. In Eastern India in Mizorum, Tri-
pura, Manipur, Nagaland, Meghalaya and Assam dholes occur very rarely. About
10 years ago a pack was seen in the Goalpara district near the Bhutan-Assam
boundary. In 1953 a pack was reportedly seen by forest labourers in Garampani
Wildlife Sanctuary in Assam (R.M. Das, pers. comm.). In the Garo hills of Megha-
laya dholes are still common (R.M. Das and S.R. Banerjee, pers. comm.). In the
forests of Arunachal Pradesh dholes possibly C. alpinus adjustus are reportedly
common in Namdabha Tiger Reserve but rare in other areas (A.K. Sen, pers.
comm.). Dholes are seldom seen in the hill tracts of Nagaland (S.R. Banerjee,
pers. comm.) and the Bombay Natural History Society has not received skins
from Nagaland after June 1931 (J.C. Daniel, pers. comm.).
In West Bengal dholes are occasionally seen in Mahanadi Wildlife Sanctuary,

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 THE DHOLE IN SOUTH ASIA 205

58* 96'

— INTERNATIONAL BOUNOARV

35'- .... INTERSTATE BOUNDARY

n —35'

r
—25*

/S'-

HICOOM
ISLANDS

5t-

7?* 96*

Fig. 1. — Distribution of dhole in South Asia. Each + represents the forest tract where
dholes are reported.

the Jhalda-Baghmundi Matha Zone of the Prulia forest division and in the Cooch
Bihar Forest Division (B. Pal and A. Bose, pers. comm.). Dholes are not reported
in Sundarbans Tiger Reserve (K. Chakrabarti, pers. comm.).
In the Himalayas the status of the dhole seems to be much more precarious.
The last skin received from Sikkim by Bombay Natural History Society was in
1931 (J.C. Daniel, pers. comm.). In recent years H. Khajuria (pers. comm.) has not
recorded the presence of dholes in Himachal Pradesh. Ten years ago Arjan Singh
(pers. comm.) saw a pack of eight in the forests around Dudwa in Uttar Pradesh
but there have been no further sightings since then. In other parts of Uttar Pra-
desh dholes are seldom seen (Ashoc Kumar, pers. comm.). Although tiger is fairly
common in Chitawan in Nepal dholes are very rare (C. McDougal, pers. comm.).
During a one year survey in Langtang National Park, Nepal, dholes were seen only
once (Green 1981).

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206 MAMMALIA

In the Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve Rajasthan the last dhole was seen in
1966 (Mathur Rajan, pers. comm.) and in other parts of Rajasthan dholes do not
occur (I. Sharma, pers. comm.).

c) AREAS WHERE DHOLES ARE STILL COMMON

H.G. Hundley (pers. comm.) reports that dholes are still common in most of
the forested tracts of Burma but the geographical line dividing the range of two
subspecies is not known. Dholes occur in the following divisions: Bhamo, Nawlaik,
Thayetmyo, Myitkyina, Katha, Monywa, Minbu, Pyinmana, Toungoo, Pegu, Thaton,
Pa-an, Tavoy, Shwebo, Maymyo, Pakokku, Prome and Zigon.
In Bihar in the forests of Champaran, Hazariabah, Singhbhum and Palamur
dholes are fairly common (R.C. Sahay and J.N. Sinha, pers. comm.). The Central
Indian Highlands in the state of Madhya Pradesh along the Eastern Ghats of Orissa
and the Vidarba region of Maharashtra appear to have the largest population of
dholes. The districts in Madhya Pradesh where dholes seen are: Balaghat, Bastar,
Betal, Bilaspur, Chindwara, Damoh, Dewas, Durg, Hoshangabad, Khandwa, Man-
dla, Narsingpur, Raigah, Rajanandgaon, Sagar, Seoni, Shahdol, Sidhi and Surguja
(JJ. Dutta, pers. comm.). In Orissa Angul, Baripada, Bolangir, Paralakhemudhi and
Rahiakhol Forest Divisions have dholes (S.R. Choudhury and L.N. Acharjyo, pers.
comm.).
Adams (1949) shot six dholes to the west of Pune in Maharashtra and dholes
were sighted in the Keyna valley in Satra districts as recently as four years ago
(M. Gadgil, pers. comm.). In Maharashtra dholes now occur in the districts of Ama-
rawati, Bhandaara, Buldhana, Chandrapur, Nagpur and Yawatwal (M.B. Chitam-
palli, pers. comm.).
In the Southern states the standing of the dhole is as good as in the Central
Indian Highlands. In Andhra Pradesh dholes have been sighted in the forest areas
of Adilabad, East Godavari, Khamman, Kurnool, Mahabudnagar, Srikakulam, Visha-
khapatnam and Warangal districts (Pushpkumar, pers. comm.).
The dhole is the most common predator in Bandipur and Nagerhole Wildlife
Sanctuaries in Karnataka. Other places where dholes are occasionally seen are the
Badra wildlife Sanctuary, Biligirirangan hills, Dandeli wildlife Sanctuary and some
isolated pockets of Coorg and Shimoga districts (Prasad et al. 1978).
S.S. Nair and P.V.K. Nair (pers. comm.) report that in Kerala occasional packs
could be seen in the Wynad Sanctuary, the Nilambur Valley, Silent Valley, the Eli-
val mountain range, the Sirvani mountain range, Nelliampathi hills, the Goodrikal
forest range and in the upper reaches of the Neyyaar Wildlife Sanctuary. They
also indicate that dholes are common in Eravikulam National Park, the Parambi-
kulam Wildlife Sanctuary and the Periyar Tiger Reserve.
In Tamil Nadu dholes are seen in the Kalakadu — Mundanthurai Wildlife
Sanctuary (M. Johnson and S. Ramanathan, pers. comm. and pers. observ.), the
Anaimalai Wildlife Sanctuary (pers. observ.), the upper Nilgiri Plateau and the
Mudumalai-Sigur forest (John Joseph, pers. comm. and pers. observ.). Other forest
areas in Tamil Nadu where dholes occur are Tongumalai areas and Ponnayar
Reserve Forest in North Arcot districts and the Chitteri and Kottampatti areas
in Dharmapuri districts (Thyagarajan, pers. comm.).

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 THE DHOLE IN SOUTH ASIA 207

DISCUSSION

This account of present distribution of the dhole (Fig. 1) suggest that subspe-
cies C. a. dukhunensis, C. a. infuscus and C. a. adjustus are fairly common in South
Asia. C. a. primaevus is very rare and no information is available on C. a. laniger.
Creation of many Tiger Reserves South of Ganges such as Kanha, Simlipal,
Melghat, Nagarjunasagar, Bandipur and Periyar may protect C. a. dukhunensis
temporarily. Similarly John Blowers' project for the establishment of a number
of wildlife parks and an environmental educational center in Burma may aid the
survival of C. a. infuscus and C. a. adjustus (H.G. Hundley, pers. comm.).
My field observations suggest that five principal components of the habitat
(prey abundance, water, scrub interspersed with openlands with short grass,
absence of human disturbance and densities either in the form of rock crevices
or porcupine burrows) determine the quality of dhole habitat. In Chitawan and
Corbett Parks, the best habitats in C. a. primaevus range, only the third compo-
nent is lacking. This, alone, however, would not make dholes very rare because
Reserves like Kalakadu and Namdapha where openlands are absent do have
dholes. Possibly in Chitawan and Corbett a form of virulent distemper or rabies
or both, which probably do not eliminate jackals, periodically wipe out dholes.
History in Kanha indicates that the dhole population fluctuates. Dholes were
once so common in Kanha that in 1947 the Forest Department placed a bounty on
them because they were suspected of killing too many deer (Schaller 1967). Kha-
juria (1963) and Gee (1964) describe encounters with dholes in Kanha. For unex-
plained reasons, however, the dhole population declined and during the period
Schaller studied wildlife in Kanha he neither saw dholes nor any sign of them.
However, around 1973 dholes became common (Keller 1973) and on both the days
I stayed in Kanha during February 1983 dholes were seen. All these imply further
understanding of dhole biology and conservation requires longterm studies in
contrasting biomes.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Field work in Bandipur was supported by World Wildlife Fund Indian and Interna-
tional Appeals, Center for Theoretical Studies, Indian Institute of Science Bangalore,
Fauna and Flora Preservation Society, Bombay Natural History Society and by Mr.
M.K.S. Ranjit Singh.
I am most grateful to Dr. Michael Fox and encouraging me to do the questionnaire
survey, to Drs. D.G. Kleiman, D. MacDonald, and J. Seidensticker, for having made many
improvements in the manuscript. I thank Dr. D. MacDonald for the French summary. All
individuals who provided information on the occurrence of dholes in South Asia are also
gratefully acknowledged.

SUMMARY

Dholes have disappeared from many of their former habitats and of the five subspe-
cies in South Asia only C. a. dukhunensis, C. a. infuscus and C. a. adjustus are reporte-
dly common. It is hypothetized that disappearance from a habitat well stocked with

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208 MAMMALIA

prey may be because of disease. Creation of many Tiger Reserves south of Ganges in
India and the proposal to establish many Wildlife parks in Burma may ensure the sur-
vival of the above mentioned three subspecies temporarily.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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ELLERMAN, J., and T.C.S. MORRISON-SCOTT, 1951. — Checklist of Palearctic and Indian mam-
mals, 1758 to 1946. British Museum.
GEE, E.P., 1964. — The Wildlife of India. Collins, London.
GREEN, M.J.B., 1981. — A check list and some notes concerning the mammals of the Lang-
tang National Park, Nepal. /. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 78: 77-87.
KELLER, R., 1973. — Einige Beobachtungen zum Verhalten des Dekkan Rothundes Cuon
alpinus dukhunensis (Sykes) in Kanha National Park. Vierteljahrsschrift der
Naturforschenden Geseüschafts in Zürich, 118: 129-135.
KHAJURIA, H., 1963. —- The wild dog Cuon alpinus (Pallas) and the tiger Panthera tigris
(Linn.). J. Bombay nat. Hist. Soc., 60: 448449.
POCOCK, R.I., 1936. — The Asiatic wilddog or Dhole (Cuon javanicus). Proc. Zoo/. Soc. Lon-
don : 33-55.
POCOCK, R.I., 1941. — The fauna of British India including Ceylon and Burma. Taylor and
Francis Ltd., London.
PRASAD, S.N., P.V.K. NAIR, H.C. SHARATCHAEDRA, and M. GADOIL, 1978. — On factors gover-
ning the distribution of wild mammals in Karnataka. /. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc.,
75: 718-743.
ROBERTS, T.J., 1977. — The mammals of Pakistan, Ernest Benn Ltd., London.
SCHALLER, G.B., 1967. — The deer and the tiger. The Chicago University Press, Chicago.
THENIUS, E., 1954. — On the origins of the dhole. Osterr. Zool Z., 5: 377-388.

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