First photographic record of the Dhole Cuon alpinus (Mammalia: Carnivora: Canidae) from the Sirumalai Hills in Tamil Nadu, India

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The Asiatic Wild Dog or Dhole has a wide global range covering central, southern and southeastern Asia (Kamler et al. 2015). It has been recorded over most of the Indian subcontinent except for the deserts of western India and Eastern Ghats of Tamil Nadu. Though it has been observed in the Western Ghats of Karnataka (Johnsingh 1983;Karanth & Sunquist 1995;Kumara et al. 2012), Kerala (Nair et al. 1985;Rice 1986;Jayson & Ramachandran 1996;Jayson 1998;Vishnu 2012;Narasimen et al. 2013;Shahid & Jamal 2016;), Tamil Nadu (Johnsingh 2001;Kumaraguru et al. 2011;Naresh 2012;Ramesh et al. 2012;Srinivas et al. 2013;Varsha 2018), and both Eastern Ghats of Andhra Pradesh (Behera & Borah 2010;Jhala et al. 2015) and Telangana (Sudhakar Reddy et al. 2019) (Figure 1), it has not been reported from Eastern Ghats of Tamil Nadu. In fact, extant numbers of individuals vary from report to report. The Canid Specialist Group (www.wildcanids.net) report that 2,500 mature individuals remain in the wild on the global scale and the declining trend is expected to continue. Kamler et al. (2015) estimate a total population of 4,500-10,500 animals of which 949-2,215 are mature individuals and most, if not all current subpopulations of Dholes are relatively small and isolated, and often exhibit extreme fluctuation in numbers.
Among the sub-populations of Dhole in southern Asia, Johnsingh (1985) reported that it is frequently seen in many of the protected areas south of the Ganga River, with the central Indian highland forests having the largest population of Dhole, followed by the Western Ghats of southern India. In Western Ghats, Bandipur National Park was presumed to have had the largest subpopulations of Dhole four decades back, a total population of 207-304 individuals and estimated 44-64 mature individuals (20-29 alpha males and 20-29 alpha females with 4-6 sub-dominant breeders (Johnsingh 1982). Dhole density in southern India over the last four decades vary between 14-100 /km 2 ; e.g., 31/100 km 2 (Venkataraman et. al. 1995) to 43/100 km 2 at Mudumalai (Ramesh 2010), 35-90/100 km 2 at Bandipur (Johnsingh 1983), and 14/100 km 2 at Nagarhole (Karanth 1993). Nevertheless, any new sight records from the lesser explored sites, contribute in understanding their occurrence and possible further exploration of its population status. We report one such sight record from Sirumalai Hills in Tamil Nadu.

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The Sirumalai Hills (10.194 0 N & 77.996 0 E) are a low range of hills situated 25km from Dindigul and 96.8km from Kodaikanal in Tamil Nadu and has an altitude of 1,600m. Khandige Estate or Namaste Estate is spread over 4.04km 2 in the Sirumalai Hills with two perennial streams flowing through it before reaching the plains. The estate is surrounded by reserve forest on three sides without any fences. Except for approximately 0.20 km 2 of cultivated area (Chayote Sechium edule, Lemon Citrus limon, and Banana Musa sp.), the rest is almost forest.
We, hereby, provide photographic evidence of the Dhole Cuon alpinus from Khandige Estate in Sirumalai (photographs were taken on 09 December 2017 & 05 January 2019; Image 1). Since the establishment of the estate, plantation workers and staff have been sighting these canids on and off and they are under the impression that not more than four individuals exist. The photographs were taken at the open areas of the Khandige Estate. The nearest area to the Sirumalai Hills with Dholes is Upper Palani plateau which lies c. 68km away from Sirumalai's west side. Davidar (1975)  Sirumalai Hills have been considered a broken chain of Palani Hills, separated from the latter by anthropogenically modified plains (Vijayakumar et al. 2002). But it is on record that "at their southern end, the Eastern Ghats form several ranges of low hills. The southernmost of the Eastern Ghats are the low Sirumalai and Karanthamalai hills of southern Tamil Nadu (Jayakumar et al. 2008;Sankar et al. 2009). Another anomaly is that the Sirumalai receives most of its rainfall (1,200-1,320 mm) in the months of October-December (North-east or Winter Monsoon) which is very similar to coastal Tamil Nadu (Blasco & Legris 1972;Mehr-Homji 1974). Uniquely, Kodaikanal which is only 96.8km from Sirumalai receives the bulk of its rainfall during the south-west or summer monsoon in July.
If established literature and climate are to be taken as essential parameters for the occurrence of Cuon alpinus then it is definitely first photographic evidence of the species in the Eastern Ghats of Tamil Nadu. www.threatenedtaxa.org The Journal of Threatened Taxa (JoTT) is dedicated to building evidence for conservation globally by publishing peer-reviewed articles online every month at a reasonably rapid rate at www.threatenedtaxa.org. All articles published in JoTT are registered under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License unless otherwise mentioned. JoTT allows allows unrestricted use, reproduction, and distribution of articles in any medium by providing adequate credit to the author(s) and the source of publication. Length-weight relationships of two conservation-concern mahseers (Teleostei: Cyprinidae: