Journal of Threatened
Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 June 2025 | 17(6): 27125–27130
ISSN 0974-7907 (Online)
| ISSN 0974-7893 (Print)
https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.9677.17.6.27125-27130
#9677 | Received 11
February 2025 | Final received 12 March 2025 | Finally accepted 06 June 2025
First
camera-trap evidence of Dhole Cuon alpinus Pallas, 1811 (Carnivora: Canidae) from the Kaziranga-Karbi Anglong
landscape, Assam, India
Mujahid Ahamad 1 , Jyotish Ranjan Deka
2, Priyanka Borah 3, Umar Saeed 4, Ruchi Badola 5 &
Syed Ainul Hussain 6
1-6 Wildlife Institute
of India, Chandrabani PO Box #18, Dehradun,
Uttarakhand 248001, India.
1 syedmujahidahmad@gmail.com
(corresponding author), 2 jyotishdeka6@gmail.com, 3 priyankaborah1996@gmail.com,
4 umar2673@gmail.com, 5
ruchi@wii.gov.in, 6 ainulhussain@gmail.com
Editor:
H.N. Kumara, SACON, Coimbatore, India. Date
of publication: 26 June 2025 (online & print)
Citation: Ahamad, M., J.R. Deka, P. Borah,
U. Saeed, R. Badola & S.A. Hussain (2025).
First camera-trap evidence of Dhole Cuon alpinus Pallas, 1811 (Carnivora: Canidae) from the Kaziranga-Karbi-Anglong landscape, Assam, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa
17(6):
27125–27130. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.9677.17.6.27125-27130
Copyright: © Ahamad et al. 2025. Creative Commons
Attribution 4.0 International License. JoTT allows
unrestricted use, reproduction, and distribution of this article in any medium
by providing adequate credit to the author(s) and the source of publication.
Funding: National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change, Government of India through the project “Connecting the dots: Finding dispersal corridors for Tiger in Kaziranga-Karbi Anglong Landscape, Assam”, Grant No.
F.No.5-3/2018- NTCA.
Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.
Author details: Mujahid Ahamad is a PhD candidate at the Forest Research Institute, Dehradun, and a research associate at the Wildlife Institute of India. His research focuses on mammal assemblages in the Kaziranga-Karbi Anglong Landscape. Jyotish Ranjan Deka is a PhD student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, studying the corridor ecology of tigers in Northeast India. Priyanka Borah is a PhD student at the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment, focusing on the ecology and distribution of Golden Jackals in northeastern India. Umar Saeed is a PhD candidate at Graphic Era Deemed to be University, Dehradun, and a research associate at the Wildlife Institute of India. His research examines plant invasions in floodplain grasslands. Ruchi Badola is scientist-G and dean at the Wildlife Institute of India. Syed Ainul Hussain is a project manager and former scientist-G at the Wildlife Institute of India.
Author contributions: MA—data collection, methodology, writing-original draft. jrd—Data collection, methodology, writing-review & editing. PB—Data collection, methodology, writing-review & editing. US—Writing-review & editing. RB—Funding acquisition, supervision, reviewing & editing. SAH—Funding acquisition, supervision, reviewing & editing.
Acknowledgements: We are thanking to the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India for funding support to carry out this study. We thank to the chief wildlife warden, Government of Assam, and field
director, Kaziranga Tiger Reserve for providing necessary permission and facilities for the research work. We are also thankful to the director and Dean, Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun for logistic support.
Abstract: India is experiencing
a decline in wildlife species due to habitat loss, deforestation, and climate
change. Species once thought to be extirpated from certain areas are being
rediscovered, offering hope for conservation efforts. The Dhole Cuon alpinus is
listed as ‘Endangered’ on the IUCN Red List and under Schedule I of the Indian
Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. The Kaziranga-Karbi Anglong landscape is located in the Indo-Burma biodiversity
hotspot. Photographic evidence of a Dhole from the Kaziranga-Karbi-Anglong
landscape, Assam, is reported, where the species was previously extirpated.
Reconnaissance surveys were conducted in four identified corridors: Panbari, Haldhibari, Kanchanjuri, and Amguri. Based on
these findings, camera traps were deployed. The identified corridor between Kaziranga and Karbi Anglong is crucial for wildlife movement, particularly
during floods. Both large and small animals utilize these corridors to disperse
to Karbi-Anglong when water levels rise. As
floodwaters recede, some animals return to their original habitats, while
others disperse to new areas. A total of six photographs of a single Dhole were
captured in the Amguri Corridor, highlighting the
critical role of wildlife corridors in supporting the movement and survival of
elusive carnivores like Dholes in fragmented, non-protected landscapes.
Keywords: Asiatic Wild Dog,
biodiversity hotspots, Brahmaputra floodplain, corridors, distribution,
endangered species, fragmentation, northeastern India, trail camera, world
heritage sites.
Introduction
The Dhole Cuon alpinus (Pallas,
1811), also known as the Asiatic Wild Dog, is a social canid (Pocock 1936; Johnsingh
1982; Habib et al. 2021) and a communal hunter, occasionally forming packs of
up to 30 individuals (Fox 1984). Depending on prey availability, they may also
hunt alone or in pairs (Cohen et al. 1978; Venkataraman et al. 1995). The Dhole
is listed as ‘Endangered’ on the IUCN Red List (Kamler
et al. 2015) and as a Schedule I species under the Indian Wildlife (Protection)
Act, 1972. Historically, the Dhole’s distribution ranged from the Tian Shan and
Altai mountains (in the Russian Federation), Mongolia, and Kazakhstan (Thenius 1954) southwards through China, Tibet, Nepal,
India, and Indochina (Selvan et al. 2013). Currently, the Dhole’s distribution
is confined to central & eastern Asia, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh,
China, Myanmar, Indonesia, Thailand, and Malaysia (Johnsingh
1985; Kamler et al. 2015; Srivathsa
et al. 2019; Kao et al. 2020). Understanding the distribution of Dhole is
therefore crucial for guiding effective conservation strategies and ensuring
the species’ long-term persistence across its range.
Although Dholes have been extensively
studied in India, much of the research has primarily focused on their feeding
ecology, genetics, and demography (Cohen 1978; Johnsingh
1982, 1985, 1992; Venkataraman 1995; Karanth & Sunquist 2000; Acharya 2007; Borah et al. 2009; Pal et al.
2018; Ghaskadbi et al. 2022; Modi et al. 2021 &
2022). But studies in northeastern India remain relatively limited (Babu & Venkataraman 2001; Gopi et al. 2010, 2012; Lyngdoh et al. 2014). The Dhole has been recorded in
northeastern states such as Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram,
Nagaland, & Sikkim and in the eastern state of West Bengal (Choudhury 1998, 2006;
Durbin et al. 2008; Bashir et al. 2014; Singh et al. 2020). In Nagaland, a pack
of Dholes was observed by birdwatchers on 21 May 2011, far from the Myanmar
border, and this sighting was confirmed by the Nagaland Forest Department
(Conservation India 2011).
The distribution range of the species has
reduced to less than 25% of its former global range due to threats such as
retaliatory killing, habitat loss, and prey depletion (Wolf & Ripple 2017; Ghimirey et al. 2024). Previous global assessments in 1990
reported that Dhole presence was confined only to the northern bank of the
Brahmaputra River and have undergone extirpation in the south (Ginsberg &
Macdonald 1990; Singh et al. 2020). Recent records of Dholes from Dampa Tiger Reserve in Mizoram and other areas of northeastern
India, including non-protected regions, provide evidence of the species’
persistence in the region (Singh et al. 2020). Here, the photographic record of the species in Kaziranga-Karbi Anglong landscape
(KKAL), Assam, India is reported.
Study area
The KKAL of Assam spreads over 25,000 km2,
touching the neighbouring states of Meghalaya and
Nagaland in northeastern India. The landscape is a complex mosaic of protected
and non-protected areas. It comprises the Karbi
plateau in Karbi Anglong,
located on the southern side of the Brahmaputra River in Assam, with Kaziranga Tiger Reserve situated at the foothills of the Karbi Anglong District (Image 1).
The landscape is severely fragmented with patches of protected areas that
support globally threatened wildlife species. The landscape is connected with
nearby protected areas such as Nameri Tiger Reserve
(Assam) and Pakke Tiger Reserve (Arunachal Pradesh)
to the northern side, Laokhowa Burhachapori
Wildlife Sanctuary (Assam) to the western side, Nambor
Wildlife Sanctuary (Assam), and Ntanki National Park
(Nagaland) to the southern side through several corridors. Thus, understanding
wildlife presence and corridor usage is important for better management of
corridor functionality in the landscape. The four primary corridors connecting
KKAL with the protected areas to the southern side are Panbari
(92.20 km²), Haldhibari (117.24 km²), Kanchanjuri (109.83 km²), and Amguri
(49.83 km²).
Methods
A
reconnaissance survey was conducted across these corridors, and based on the
findings, camera traps were strategically deployed to monitor the mammalian
species present. Camera traps were systematically placed along animal trails to
maximize the chances of detecting wildlife species. A pair of camera traps was
deployed within each 2 × 2 km² grid, ensuring at least one camera trap station
in every grid. Infrared and White flash Cuddeback
(H1453 IR and C1 model) camera traps were used during the study. A total of 83
camera traps were deployed across an area of 276 km2 covering the
four corridors of the KKAL. The study was conducted from February 2021 to
December 2022, with continuous monitoring of animal movements, spanning a total
of 15,278 camera-trap days. The primary aim of this study was to determine the
structural and functional connectivity of wildlife corridors within the
landscape. While the study focused on broader connectivity patterns for
multiple species, it also sought to assess habitat use, and movement of
mammals.
Results
A total of six photos were captured of a
single individual, with the first capture time on 31 October 2022, at 11:55:05
AM. The individual returned through the same route at 11:56:37 AM, and the
location (26.5620 N, 93.043330 E) was within the Amguri Corridor (Image 3). This was the only instance where
we captured a Dhole on camera in the landscape during the study period. The
location of the photo-captured Dhole was approximately 375 m from the National
Highway 37, with the nearest human settlement located at about 270 m. The
habitat consists of moist mixed deciduous forest, dominated by teak Tectona grandis
(Champion & Seth 1968).
Discussion
This study provides the first photo
evidence of Dholes by camera traps in KKAL, confirming the species’ occurrence
in this region. The southern region of the Brahmaputra River serves as a
critical habitat for Dholes, a species that was extirpated in the 1990s
(Ginsberg & Macdonald 1990). Recent sightings have been documented in
Mizoram, Meghalaya, Nagaland, and Assam (Singh et al. 2020). In Assam, evidence
on Dhole occurrence is limited. The most reliable record comes from Jeypore-Dihing Reserve Forest in Dibrugarh District, where Kashmira Kakati observed a Dhole
in 2010, as described by Singh et al. (2020). Although secondary sources
suggest occurrences in the Patharia Hills Reserve
Forest, Karimganj district, these accounts lack
reliability to confirm the species’ presence (Talukdar & Choudhury 2017).
The recent records of Dholes from Dampa Tiger Reserve
in Mizoram and other areas of northeastern India, including non-protected
regions, provide evidence of the species’ persistence in the region (Singh et
al. 2020). While the KKAL likely provides suitable habitat for Dholes due to
its forested and hilly terrain, large portions of Kaziranga’s
open grasslands are likely less suitable for the species (Durbin et al. 2008;
Bashir et al. 2014; Singh et al. 2020). This variability highlights the
heterogeneous nature of the landscape in terms of its suitability as a Dhole
habitat.
The persistence of the species in KKAL
highlights the possibility of nearby source populations. One such source
population is in Ntanki National Park in Nagaland (Srivathsa et al. 2020). Such dispersal is possible through
the fragmented habitats of the Karbi Anglong District, which may act as a corridor facilitating
movement between populations. Protected areas such as Morat
Longri, northern Karbi Anglong, and eastern Karbi Anglong serve as ideal habitat patches that could support
dispersal and provide stepping-stone habitats for wide-ranging species (Image
1). These protected areas and surrounding forests are likely to play a critical
role in maintaining the metapopulation dynamics of Dholes in the region. The
lack of recent sightings or reports from the area highlights the challenges
posed by habitat fragmentation and reduced connectivity. Therefore, it is
crucial to identify and conserve potential source and sink populations within
the larger landscape to ensure the persistence of Dholes.
The persistence of Dholes in this
landscape is threatened by habitat fragmentation, reduced prey base, and
retaliatory killings associated with Mithun
depredation in Nagaland (personal communication with local communities during
fieldwork December 2022). The fragmentation of corridors, particularly in the Karbi Anglong District, has
likely disrupted the connectivity between source populations.This disruption may result in the
isolation of small, vulnerable groups or even solitary dispersing individuals,
thereby increasing their susceptibility to extirpation (Ginsberg &
Macdonald 1990). While it is possible for a dispersing individual to establish
a breeding pair and contribute to population growth, the lack of landscape
connectivity poses a critical threat to long-term genetic viability.
Furthermore, a decline in the prey base due to hunting of ungulates and
competition with livestock has significantly reduced the availability of
natural prey for Dholes (Wolf & Ripple 2017). These compounded threats
highlight the urgent need for immediate policy intervention to address habitat
fragmentation and ensure the persistence of both Dholes and their prey.
This study highlights the critical role of
corridors in facilitating wildlife movement, ensuring habitat connectivity, and
supporting species dispersal, especially during seasonal changes and extreme
events like floods. In the absence of tigers and leopards, the Dhole assumes
the role of apex predator in the ecosystem (Johnsingh
1992). Dholes are essential for regulating prey populations, and their
persistence indicates the connectivity of the landscape. To ensure their
conservation, future research should focus on understanding the movement
ecology and connectivity of Dholes, as well as how corridor conservation benefits
other species (Singh et al. 2020; Rodrigues et al. 2021).
For
images - - click here for full PDF
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