AnimalvsAnimal
Dhole(Asiatic wild dog)🐕

Photo: Davidvraju · CC BY-SA 4.0

SpeciesCarnivoraCanidae
Carnivores

🐕Dhole

Cuon alpinus (Pallas, 1811)

The dhole is a canid native to South, East and Southeast Asia. The sole member of the genus Cuon, it is anatomically distinguished from members of the genus Canis in several aspects: its skull is convex rather than concave in profile, it lacks a third lower molar, and the upper molars possess only a single cusp as opposed to between two and four. During the Pleistocene, the dhole ranged throughout Asia, with its range also extending into Europe but became restricted to its historical range 12,000–18,000 years ago. It is now extinct in Central Asia, parts of Southeast Asia, and possibly the Korean peninsula and Russia.

Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Videos
22
Photos
6
Measurements
14
vs you
≈ 1/4th of your weight
Also called
Red Dog, Asiatic Wild Dog, Indian Wild Dog
Conservation status
ENEndangered

IUCN Red List assessment, 2015.

Population trendDecreasing
Key measurements
Body mass
16 kg
Body length
1.06 m
Shoulder height
0.46 m
Top speed
not recorded
Bite force
not recorded
Maximum lifespan
16 years
All measurements ↓
Facts and figures

Everything we know about the Dhole

Typical adult figures. Where a value is an estimate rather than a measurement, it says so.

Body mass
16 kg
COMBINE
Other figures ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Figures vary

  • 16 kgAnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: acceptable
Body length
1.06 m
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Shoulder height
0.46 m0.42–0.5 m · typical rangenot stated
Details ↓

'Length of head and body is 88 to 113 cm, length of tail, 41 to 50 cm, height, 42 to 50 cm.' The account says 'height' in a body-measurement series, i.e. height at shoulder. Midpoint of the published range. Verified against the account PDF (OCR of p. 1).

Source: Cohen 1978, Cuon alpinus, Mammalian Species 100:1-3, p. 1, https://www.science.smith.edu/departments/Biology/VHAYSSEN/msi/pdf/i0076-3519-100-01-0001.pdf · see citation

Brain mass
98 g
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Maximum lifespan
16 years
COMBINE
Other figures ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Figures vary

  • 16 yearsAnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: acceptable
Generation length
5.59 years
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Age at maturity
1.0 years
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Gestation
62 days
COMBINE
Other figures ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Figures vary

  • 61 daysAnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: acceptable
Litter size
about 4
COMBINE
Other figures ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Figures vary

  • 5AnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: acceptable
Trophic level
Carnivore
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Activity cycle
Crepuscular / mixed
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Home range
34 km²
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Population density
0.32 per km²
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Volume l
16 Laverage
Details ↓

Body mass at ~1.0 kg/L, the density of vertebrate tissue.

average = a mean across sexes or species in a group.

Not recorded for Dhole yet: top speed, bite force.

Where it sits

Family tree

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. ›phylumChordata
  3. ›classMammalia
  4. ›orderCarnivora
  5. ›familyCanidae
  6. ›genusCuon
  7. ›speciesCuon alpinus
Full lineage
  1. classMammals · Mammalia
  2. orderCarnivorans · Carnivora
  3. familyCanidae
  4. genusCuon
All 14 branches ↓
  1. kingdomMetazoa
  2. phylumChordata
  3. subphylumCraniata
  4. subphylumVertebrata
  5. superclassGnathostomata
  6. superclassSarcopterygii
  7. superclassTetrapoda
  8. classMammals · Mammalia
  9. subclassTheria
  10. superorderLaurasiatheria
  11. orderCarnivorans · Carnivora
  12. suborderCaniformia
  13. familyCanidae
  14. genusCuon
More

More about the Dhole

Closest relative on this site
🐺 Ethiopian wolf — last shared an ancestor ≈ 3.5 million years ago.
What it eats
warm-blooded animals90%
carrion10%
In other languages
豺 (zh), ドール (ja), азиатско диво куче (bg), Dhoul (cs), Dhole (da), Asiatischer Wildhund (de) … and 27 more languages
More photos
Dhole(Asiatic wild dog)Dhole (Cuon alpinus)Dhole (Cuon alpinus)
All 6 photos in the gallery →

Animals caught on camera

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Tree of life

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