Canidae

The Dhole Cuon alpinus used to be the meso carnivore of the forests throughout Indian subcontinent; however, habitat loss, low prey biomass, and human disturbance exterminated the species from India’s 60% historic range, and the numbers are less than 1,500 individuals in wild.  Following the same shrinking trend, Dholes were extirpated from Gujarat.  A few doubtful sightings and inevident reportings generated ambiguity of Dhole presence in Gujarat.  We conducted a study in Vansda National Park with 15,660 trap nights at 30 trap locations, and have confirmed the rediscovery of Dholes in Gujarat after 70 years.  We estimated the Dhole’s minimum home range as 13.7km2 and also analyzed relative abundance index of other mammals.  The future retention of Dholes requires detailed range, diet, and adaption studies along with conservational efforts to reduce re-extinction probabilities.


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Dhole Cuon alpinus (Pallas, 1981) is a pack hunting, highly social canid and the only species of this genus (Pocock 1936;Cohen et al. 1978;Johnsingh 1982;Alfred 2000). Dholes are also known as Wild Dogs or Whistling Dogs, but the terms are misnomers since they are taxonomically more closely related to jackals than wolves and correctly termed as Dhole -the Asian origin term meaning recklessness and daring (Mivart 1890). In the past, Dholes were the most widely spread canids in the oriental region, distributed from around 50 o N and 70 o E over the continental Asia (Pocock 1936;Ellerman & Morrison-Scott 1966;Johnsingh & Acharya 2013;Selvan et al. 2013). Due to loss of forests and thereby the prey base (Gopi et al. 2010;FAO 2020), Dholes were extirpated from more than 75% of their global historic range with the remaining estimate of 949 to 2,215 individuals (Kamler et al. 2015). Looking to this scattering trend, IUCN categorized Dholes from Vulnerable to Endangered (Kamler et al. 2015), and are placed in Schedule II of Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972, and in Appendix II of CITES (2019).
India lost around 60% of Dholes in the last 100 years (Karanth et al. 2010) and less than 1,500 individuals are left in Indian forests (Johnsingh & Acharya 2013;Kamler et al. 2015), surviving majorly in Western and Eastern Ghats, Terai, Kumaon, Himalayan region, northeastern states, and relatively larger population in central India (Srivastava & Singh 2003;Durbin et al. 2004;Iyengar et al. 2005;Jhala et al. 2008;Karanth et al. 2009;Gopi et al. 2010;Johnsingh & Acharya 2013;Kamler et al. 2015). Although the population disappeared from former range (Johnsingh 1985;Kamler et al. 2015), the recent rediscoveries in newer areas have raised the hope in Sikkim (Bashir et al. 2014), western Himalaya (Pal et al. 2018), Tso Kar, Ladakh (Kamler et al. 2015), and in different parts of Nepal (Khatiwada et al. 2011;Thapa et al. 2013;Lamichhane et al. 2018;Yadav et al. 2019). These discoveries indicate that the species is moving out to ensure fewer competition and less disturbance, which in future may foster resilience and expand its range.
In Gujarat, many claim to have sighted dhole in Dangs, Shoolparneshwar, Bharuch, Surat, Ratanmahal, and even in northern Gujarat (Singh 1998(Singh , 2001(Singh , 2013Alfred 2000;GFD 2013;Kumar & Pathan 2016); however, no authentic evidence could ever be produced to ensure the certainty of the species in these areas, and therefore, the literatures endorsed Dhole as an exterminated species J TT from Gujarat (Johnsingh 1985;Ginsberg & Macdonald 1990;Singh 1998Singh , 2001Singh , 2013GFD 2013;Kumar & Pathan 2016). In the Bharuch District Gazette (GoI 1961) Wild Dogs were reported from Dediapada, Sagbara, and Gora range. The then Maharaja of Vansda State Shri Digveerendrasinhji Solanki states to have observed Dhole packs in Vansda National Park (VNP) in 1970 (Singh 2013). Authentic sighting records from 1949 and 1970 are known, but without confirmed presence thereafter (Jayveerendrasinhji Solanki pers. comm. 2020). In the middle of all the ambiguity on Dhole's historic presence, the only reliable source is Digveerendrasinhji's photo of 4 October 1949 from Vansda forest of present day Vansda National Park. This is the only historic sighting record of Dhole from Gujarat (Image 1).
To confirm the presence of Dhole, from January-May 2020 camera traps were laid at 30 sampling locations in VNP along the select trails, waterpoints and crossings where Dhole movements were anticipated (Table 1). GPS coordinates, elevation, and habitat type were recorded at each sampling location. Camera trap photo/video J TT Table 1 (Figure 1). We recorded 11 other mammals during the study and calculated their relative abundance index (RAI). The maximum photographed species was Rhesus Macaque Macaca mulatta (RAI= 29.52), followed by Chital Axis axis (RAI= 25.52). The minimum was for Indian Grey Mongoose Herpestes edwardsii (RAI= 0.05). The RAI of Leopard and Dhole were 0.67 and 0.43, respectively ( Figure 2).
We confirm the reoccurrence of Dhole from Gujarat after 70 years in Vansda National Park. We recommend concerted management efforts in the area to ensure long term survival and conservation of the species in the Park and initiation of scientific studies on species ecology and population for effective management and conservation planning.