Endangered Asiatic Wild Dog ‘Dhole’ Returns To Assam's Kaziranga-Karbi Anglong Landscape

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Thursday (3 July) said that the Asiatic wild dog, commonly known as the 'dhole', a species previously believed to have been locally exterminated, was found in the Kaziranga-Karbi Anglong Landscape (KKAL) in Assam.

Sarma wrote on X, “Behind Every Scientific Breakthrough Is Years of Hard Work. In the Kaziranga-Karbi Anglong landscape, after 3 years of extensive studies, researchers have confirmed the presence of Dhole (Cuon Alpinus), a whistling hunter which can take down prey 8 times its body weight!”

The Asiatic wild dog has made a confirmed comeback to the KKAL in Assam, according to a recent study published by the Journal of Threatened Taxa.

The elusive carnivore was photo-captured six times in the Amguri corridor (Sivasagar district), marking a significant milestone in wildlife monitoring.

This marks the first-ever camera trap evidence of the endangered dhole in this part of Assam.

All six photographs captured during the survey showed a single Dhole, spotted just 375 metres from National Highway 37 and around 270 metres from the nearest human settlement.

Known for their social behaviour, dhole typically move in packs but may hunt in smaller groups depending on prey availability.

Listed as ‘Endangered’ on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List and protected under Schedule I of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, the dhole once ranged widely across Central, East, and Southeast Asia, from the Russian Altai mountains to India and Southeast Asia. 

Today, its distribution is much more fragmented, with confirmed populations in parts of India, Nepal, Bhutan, China, Myanmar, and Southeast Asia.

While India has been the focus of several ecological and genetic studies on dholes, research in the northeastern states remains limited.

Historical records have documented the species in states like Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, and West Bengal.

However, the last confirmed sighting in the Northeast was in 2011, when birdwatchers observed a pack in Nagaland.

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