In 2018, the DNA of all members of the genus "Canis" (except for the black-backed jackal and side-striped jackal), the dhole and the African wild dog were compared. It was discovered that long ago, dholes and African wild dogs bred with each other. Today, these species live very far from each other. Thus, the study suggests that dholes may have once lived in the Middle East, where African wild dogs in North Africa came and bred with the dholes. However, no fossils of dholes have been discovered in either the Middle East or North Africa yet.source?
In the past, ten subspecies of the dholes were recognised. However, since 2005, only three subspecies of dholes have been recognised:
However, studies on the dhole's DNA show little genetic difference between the subspecies. Dholes in Sumatra and Java may have been brough there by humans.
Dholes have been described as looking like a mixture between a gray wolf and a red fox. They are also "cat-like" because of their slender back and legs, and its head has a shape like a hyena's due to the short snout. Dholes have six molars on their lower jaw, unlike other canids which have seven. Dholes have special teeth which help them to eat the meat from their prey quickly, preventing other animals from stealing their food.
Adult female dholes can weigh from 10 to 17 kg (22 to 37 lb), while adult male dholes may weigh from 15 to 21 kg (33 to 46 lb). Dholes are 43 to 50 cm (17 to 22 in) tall at the shoulder and are 91 cm (3 ft) long, not including the tail. Dholes have oval-shaped ears.
Dholes are usually reddish, and they may become brighter red in winter. The throat, chest, flanks, and belly and the upper parts of the legs are yellowish. The lower parts of the legs are whitish, with dark brownish bands on the front legs. The tail is very fluffy and black. Dholes have shorter and rougher fur in summer. Dholes may moult (shed their fur to grow new fur) from March to May.
Dholes can whistle, although how they whistle is unknown. They whistle to communicate with the rest of the pack while travelling through thick forest. When attacking prey, they emit screaming KaKaKaKAA sounds. Other sounds include whines, growls, screams, chatterings and yapping cries. Unlike wolves, dholes do not howl or bark.
In Central Asia, dholes mainly live in mountainous areas. Dholes which live to the west are mainly found in meadows and steppes, while dholes which live to the east mainly live in the taiga. Dholes may also go to the seashore. In India, Myanmar, Indochina (Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam), Indonesia and China, dholes mainly live in forests in mountains, although they may sometimes live in grasslands.
The dhole might continue to live in the Tunkinsky National Park in southern Siberia near Lake Baikal. Dholes may still live in the Primorsky Krai province in far eastern Russia, where it was considered a rare and endangered species in 2004. There are unconfirmed sightings of dholes in the Pikthsa-Tigrovy Dom protected forest area. Elsewhere in Russia, no sightings of dholes have been reported since the late 1970s.
Dholes are likely extinct in Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
In recent years, one dhole was caught in southern China's Jiangxi district. In 2011 to 2013, local government officials and herders reported the presence of several packs of dholes living in high mountains in the Karakoram region of the Xinjiang Autonomous Region. Dholes have also recently been seen in the Altun Mountains near Tibet. Dholes occur in small numbers in Gansu Province, with sightings of several packs in 2006 and again in 2013-2014.
Dholes still live in Tibet and possibly also in North Korea.
Dholes live in most of India south of the Ganges River. In northeast India, it is present in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, and West Bengal and in the Indo-Gangetic Plain's Terai region. There are very few dholes in the Himalayas and northwest India. In 2011, dhole packs were recorded by camera traps in the Chitwan National Park.
In Bhutan, dholes were poisoned in the 1970s to protect livestock, but the campaign stopped and the population of dholes increased there in the 1990s.
Dholes still live in northeastern and southeastern Bangladesh. However, most sightings of dholes in Bangladesh are of small groups or single dholes, and the dholes in Bangladesh may not continue to breed for long.
The presence of dholes in Myanmar was confirmed by camera-trapping in 11 areas. In 2015, dholes and tigers were recorded by camera-traps for the first time in the hill forests of Karen State.
There are few large packs of dholes in the Malaysian Peninsula, Sumatra, Java, Vietnam and Thailand. In 2014, camera-trap videos in the rainforests on mountains in Sumatra showed dholes continue to live there.
In the 1990s, two Turkish scientists claimed to have seen dholes in northeastern Turkey. Some scientists believe they were true, but others question this claim. Also, one dhole may have been shot in the Caucasus Mountains in 2013; its remains (including a skull) were studied by a biologist in May 2015, who decided the skull was from a dhole. In August 2015, researchers from from Sofia, Bulgaria tried to find this population of dholes in Turkey. On October 12, 2015, this research team concluded that there is no clear evidence of dholes continuing to live in Turkey or the Caucasus Mountains.
Dholes were first described in European literature in 1794 by a Russian traveller named Pesterev, who saw dholes during his travels in far eastern Russia. He said that dholes regularly hunt Alpine ibexes in packs, and that it looks like the golden jackal.
Tibetan Fox
The Tibetan Sand Fox ("Vulpes ferrilata") is a species of true fox. It is endemic to the high Tibetan Plateau in Nepal, China, and Kashmir, up to altitudes of about 5300 metres. It is sometimes referred to as the Tibetan Fox, or simply as the Sand Fox, but this terminology is confusing because the Corsac Fox (Vulpes corsac), which lives in arid environments north and west of the Tibetan Plateau, is often called the "Sand Fox" as well.
Rüppell's fox
Rüppell's Fox ("Vulpes rueppelli"), also spelled "Rueppell's Fox" and also called the Sand Fox, is a species of fox.
It lives in North Africa and the Greater Middle East region, from Morocco to Pakistan. It is named after the German collector Eduard Rüppell. It has an average life expectancy of up to 6 or 7 years in the wild, but can live much longer in captivity.
Fraser's dolphin
Fraser's dolphin ("Lagenodelphis hosei"), also known as the Sarawak dolphin, is a cetacean in the oceanic dolphin family (Delphinidae).
It is found in deep waters in the Pacific Ocean and to a lesser extent in the Indian Ocean and Atlantic Oceans.
Egyptian fruit bat
The Egyptian fruit bat ("Rousettus aegyptiacus") is a species of Old World fruit bat.
It is found throughout Africa, except in the desert regions of the Sahara, and throughout the Middle East, as far east as Pakistan and northern Republic of India.
Goitered gazelle
The goitered gazelle, black-tailed gazelle or Persian gazelle ("Gazella subgutturosa") is an antelope. It can run at high speed, without the leaping and bounding seen in other gazelles.
It is found in a large area of Central Asia, including part of Iran and southern west Pakistan in the western end of the range, as well as the Gobi Desert. The specific name means "full below the throat" and refers to the male having an enlargement of the neck and throat during the mating season.
Great gerbil
The great gerbil ("Rhombomys opimus") is a large gerbil. It is found throughout much of Central Asia.
Himalayan goral
The Himalayan goral ("Naemorhedus goral"), also known as the gray goral, is a member of the Caprinae subfamily. It is a small, rough-haired, cylindrical-horned ruminant native to the Himalayas. In the past, it was also known as "Urotragus goral".
Hog deer