In a breakthrough for wildlife conservation in Assam, a study by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) has confirmed the presence of dholes, or Asiatic wild dogs, in the Kaziranga Karbi Anglong Landscape (KKAL), a region where they were believed to be locally extinct since the 1990s.
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“A total of six photos were captured of a single individual on October 31, 2022,” said Ruchi Badola, Dean, WII and one of the authors of the June 2025 paper that documents the first photographic evidence of dholes in the landscape in decades.
The individual dhole was captured multiple times on the same route, located within the Amguri corridor, around 375 metres from the National Highway 37. The nearest human settlement is about 270 metres away. The camera record highlights the critical role of wildlife corridors in supporting the movement and survival of elusive carnivores like dholes in fragmented, non-protected landscapes, said the study.
“This was the only instance where we captured a dhole on camera in the landscape during the study period,” said Badola who conducted the study with co-authors Mujahid Ahamad, Jyotish Ranjan Deka, Priyanka Borah, Umar Saeed and Syed Ainul Hussain. The study, published in the Journal of Threatened Taxa, was funded by National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
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A dhole in Bandipur. The dhole is listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List and a Schedule II species in India. Its distribution is confined to parts of Asia. Image by UdayKiran28 via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Distribution of dholes
The dhole (Cuon alpinus) is listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List and a Schedule II species in the Indian Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972, where hunting or trade of dholes is prohibited and violations can attract penalties. Currently, the dhole’s distribution is confined to central and eastern Asia, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, China, Myanmar, Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia.
Although dholes have been extensively studied in India, studies in northeastern India remain relatively limited. Regarding their presence in the northeast, the paper noted, “The Dhole has been recorded in northeastern states such as Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Sikkim and in the eastern state of West Bengal. 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. Previous global assessments in 1990 reported that Dhole presence was confined only to the northern bank of the Brahmaputra River and has undergone extirpation in the south.”
“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. 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. Secondary sources suggest occurrences in the Patheria Hills Reserve Forest in Karimganj district,” added the paper.
Record of dhole could reveal more about source population
The presence of dholes in KKAL suggests there may be nearby source populations, said the paper. One such source population is in Ntanki National Park in Nagaland. 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,” the paper noted.
Kaziranga National Park. Camera records that found the presence of dholes in the park point to the importance of wildlife corridors in supporting the movement of the species in fragmented, non-protected landscapes. Image by Mike Prince via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0).
These protected areas and surrounding forests are likely important for dhole populations to survive and stay connected in the region, said the paper. “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,” it added. Dholes in this landscape are under threat from habitat fragmentation and reduced prey, said the paper. Anecdotal information also suggests that the dholes may be killed in retaliation for their attacks on the mithun in the bordering state of Nagaland.
Noted environmentalist Anwaruddin Choudhury, who has been a former bureaucrat has served as the Deputy Commissioner of Karbi Anglong, said, “Kaziranga National Park (KNP) is not a typical dhole habitat. There used to be some sightings of dholes in KNP before the 1980s. As vehicular movement increased in the highways in Kaziranga, the habitat of dholes got disturbed and they disappeared from the landscape. However, there has been a presence of dholes in the Reserve Forests of Karbi Anglong,” he told Mongabay India.
Speaking on whether there will be a population estimate of dholes in this landscape, Arun Vignesh, Divisional Forest Officer (DFO), Eastern Range of KNP told Mongabay India, “The presence of a dhole has just been confirmed from the study. However, it is too early to conduct a population estimate.”
On asked if there have been any sightings of the species in KNP, he said, “None of our forest staff has reported presence of any dhole in KNP during patrolling. However, there were some unconfirmed sighting reports from villagers in fringe areas.”
“KNP landscape is a mixture of grasslands, woodlands and wetlands and it should provide good habitat for dholes. Also, dholes hunt in packs and with the presence of other predators like tigers and leopards in KNP, it is to be seen what impact they have on the prey base in this region,” added Vignesh.
The news has been celebrated by wildlife enthusiasts of the region, including Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma who posted about it on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter).
This article originally appeared on Mongabay. Read the original article here