This week's wild dog the Dhole

 

This week we are looking at the dhole, it 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.

It is a highly social animal, living in large clans without rigid dominance hierarchies and containing multiple breeding females.

This highly elusive and skilled jumper is classified with wolves, coyotes, jackals, and foxes in the taxonomic family Canidae. Dholes are unusual dogs for a few reasons. They don't fit neatly into any of the dog subfamilies (wolf and fox, for instance).

They are very social animals that live in packs of 5–12 members, but packs can be as large as 25 members. They can also be cooperative with a few splitting off from the pack to hunt together. They are apex predators that are highly skilled hunters, they are agile, strong, and can leap up to seven feet vertically and are also excellent swimmers and have high endurance. 

It is believed that they are one of the most talkative canid species, using a variety of vocalizations to communicate, including whistles, clucks, screams, growls, yaps, and squeaks. 

Since their territory is often shared with larger predators like tigers and leopards, the pack must be alert at all times.

They are a medium-sized wild dogs about the size of a border collie. They have a rusty red coat; they are born with a brownish colour which turns more reddish when around three months old. They can also have dark, almost black bushy tails.

They are not generally dangerous to humans and are usually docile and skittish and will typically retreat when they see a person. However, dholes can attack livestock, and humans may retaliate by poisoning the carcasses. This can lead to the deaths of entire packs of dholes, as well as other carnivores and scavengers.