the 'Dhole'

[X99Lynx at aol.com]

In a message dated 6/25/2001 3:01:34 PM, dlwhite at texas.net replied to the
following post:

<<Your question is very interesting: why have wolves not penetrated south
India or SW Asia? It can't be just the heat - north India (where there ARE
wolves) can be as hot as any place on this earth in the summer,... Maybe it's
the humidity they don't like, or there are carnivores who thrive better than
wolves in the year-round humid heat.>>

<<Yes, dholes do.  Why is unclear.  They are not tropical animals,
being known to occur as far north as the so-called Siberia of Siberian
tigers.>>

Dholes (aka "red dog of India" (Kipling)) are found in dense forests.  Wolves
as a general rule and apparently especially in southern Asia are found in
open habitats.  There has been some small marginal crossover noted.

<<But they are an older lineage than wolves (with smaller brains, for
example), and have perhaps had longer to adapt, however they have, to
year-round humid heat. >>

It may well be the other way around.  Wolves and dholes evolved from a common
ancestor and it looks like it's the dholes that carry more innovations.
"Smaller brains" are no indication of evolutionary age or time - the all-time
champion brain size-to-weight ratio goes to a South American fish that
developed a much longer time ago.  I don't know the numbers, but brain size
probably has nothing to do with either intelligence or primitiveness in this
case.

<<They used to occur in Europe, but were in the long run unable to compete
with wolves there. So it is odd: wolves out-compete dholes in Europe, but
dholes out-compete wolves in south/east Asia. >>

Much more likely, the dhole lost its habitat in the deforestation that turned
most of Europe into a savannah in the early Holocene.  There appears to be
very little competition between wolves and dholes where they share common
ground.  Dholes are generally considered to compete with the big cats and
other big predators - but mainly with man - where they occur.  (See, e.g.,
Venkataraman, A. "Do dholes (Cuon alpinus) live in packs in response to
competition with or predation by large cats." Current
Science,1995,11:934-36.)  Large packs of dholes are reputed in folk reports
capable of taking on tigers, though this is definitely (and wisely) not how
they make their living.  Dholes also seem to be vulnerable to disease because
of their social behavior.

Dholes exhibit a relatively high degree of social behavior - more so than the
wolf - and their need to cohabit in much larger colonies may also have made
them more vulnerable to "persecution" by man.  These large social units also
place a heavy burden on food resources, as the dhole appears to be an
ultracarnivore rather than an omnivore like the dog or bear.  Tropical
forests would offer them a better bet at finding a high enough ratio of prey
concentration to subsist on.

<< Well, the obvious possibility is that is refers to dholes, and that
somewhere along the line somebody screwed up in saying that it means 'wolf'.>>

Or that it applied to wolves and was later applied to "dholes".  Common names
given to the dhole have been reported as (these are referenced as from Burton
1940). :

English: dhole, red dog, asiatic wild dog, Indian wild dog, Indian hunting dog
Hindi: adivi-kuta, son-kuta, sona-kuta, rasa-kuta.
Assamese: kuang-kukur, rang-kukur.
Bengali: ban Kutta, ban-kukur.
Bhutanese: phara.
Burmese: tan-kwe.
Canarese: ken-nai, chen-nai.
Chenchu: reis-kukul.
Chinese: nyar
Gujiarati: earam-naiko.
Gurkhali: ban-kukur.
Hindustani: jungli-kuta, rwn-kuta, ban-kuta.
Kachin: kyi-kwa-lam.
Kashmiri: jungli-kuta, ram-hun, ban-kuta, bhansa.
Korku: bun-secta.
Lepcha: sa-tun.
Malay: sirgala Aijing-kutar.
Malayalam: hahmasai-kuta, kotsun, kolsa, kolarsi.
Nepali: bwaso.
Tibetan: phara.
Tamil: chen-nai.
Telegu: vanna-kooka.
Thai: maa paa.

A Javanese/Sumatran source gives:
[DOG:] anjing; wasua (Kanikeh, Seram).
[DHOLE:] ajag; anjing hutan.

Another more recent source gives
Hindi: dhole
Tamil: chen nai, kattu nai
Telugu: reza kutta
Kannada: kadunai

Possibly British or Hindi speakers applied the original or generic wolf name
to the "Cuon alpinus" (dhole), relatively recently.

The taxonomic name has now changed back again I believe to "Canis alpinus."
The dhole is hardly ever called a wolf in European literature, except in
Romance languages ("lobo alpino").  The original classification of the dhole
(by Pallas 1811) was as a dog - Canis.

The obvious reason is that the dhole looks like a dog, much more so than a
wolf does.  There are photos on the web and in some the dhole looks just like
"Old Yeller".

Although dholes are relatively close relatives of wolves and dogs, in the
times before close comparative anatomy and DNA, they were totally associated
with dogs.  It is much more likely it would seem that a dhole would have been
called a dog than a wolf before the 20th century.  Two 19th century entries
on the dhole illustrate:

This is from an American Natural History series of the late 1800's:
"Buansuah.
 This is the native name of the wild dog of Nepal and northern India, an
 animal whose special interest to us lies in the fact that it is supposed by
 naturalists to be the original type of the dog tribe, although the honor of
 such a supposition is shared with the Dhole of British India. The Nepal
 claimant is certainly a dog in the rough, without the refining influences of
 association with the human race.

 It is of a reddish color, pale underneath, with a bushy, pendulous tail, and
 in size is between that of the wolf and the jackal, but with very stout
 limbs. It hunts in packs of eight or twelve, and follows game mostly by the
 nose instead of the eye, as it possesses exquisite powers of scent. It is
 shy, and never willingly permits itself to be seen, but is capable of being
 tamed to a certain degree, and when captured young, can be trained to hunt.
 It is of the most assistance in chasing the wild boar, as its wolf-like
 attack of sudden snap is more destructive to its prey than the bite of an
 ordinary hound, but for other game it is not at all trustworthy, and will
 often give up the chase at the critical moment, and turn its attention to a
 tame sheep or goat which happens to be grazing in its pathway. The difference
 between the habits of this animal and those of the faithful and trusted
 'friend of man,' is a remarkable illustration of development."

This is translated from a Danish book on dogs printed in 1880:

"The DHOL - a wild dog in India, resembling a sighthound
 The Indian Wild Dog or the Dhol lives wild in India. Form and size mostly
 resembles a small sighthound. Slimmer and with a more pointed nose than the
 Dingo, whom it resembles in color and in the form of the pointed upright
 ears, the Dhol is lighter in construction and possess more power and
 endurance.  It also have a bushier tail...
 Most of the Dhols live in the highlands of Dekan at the Koromandel coast, but
 they are not numerous anywhere. It is also very shy and prefer the big
 jungles.  When hunting, the Dhol are often seen in packs of 50 - 60
 individuals and they persue all kind of prey.  They are said to be an
 important factor to stop the spread of the tiger. Dhol packs don't hesitate to
 attack tigers or bears. Even if 10 or more are killed, the others keep
 attacking the prey very fervently until it is exhausted.  The Dhol is known
 to be very independant."

The principle commercial value of the dhole (as with the wolf) has long been
its fur.  As it has some seasonal coat variation, its confusion with the wolf
could have easily occurred not in the jungle - where it was rarely seen by
most folks - but at the marketplace, where its fur would have been traded
along with the wolf's.

Regards,
Steve Long