Organization
Researchers have observed packs to maintain 5 to 10 dogs (Malcolm, 2004), 5 to 12 (Alderton, 1994), or 13 to 18 (Johnsingh, 1982). (In the deciduous forest of the Bandipur Tiger Reserve in Karnataka, India, Johnsingh (1982) observed five to eleven adults in a pack over the course of his two year study not including eight pups born the first year and nine born the second.) These varying pack sizes are probably due to similarly varying food distribution and abundance. See THE BASICS. Most dogs in a pack are related to one another. These packs may group to form clans of 40 to 100 but will dissolve during females’ estrus between September and February. Within a pack, dholes maintain a generally uncontested dominance hierarchy and demonstrate a 2:1::male:female ratio. (Alderton, 1994) The male-biased adult sex ratio is not a product of the sex ratio in a litter but rather a function of males’ delaying dispersal or remaining with the pack relative to females’. See COOPERATION. A larger pack allows for capturing larger prey. However, too many mouths to feed in a group would lessen the benefits of remaining with one’s natal pack. (Venkataraman, 1998)
Genetic variability within a pack is low because the dominant male is often (though not necessarily) the only one who mates with the dominant female. He protects her from mating with others during the breeding season. Some extra-pair copulations (EPC’s) do occur and some matings occur among the subordinate adults. The average tenure for each dhole in the dominant position was 2 years for males and 6 for females (though researchers collected few samples). A male benefits from remaining with his natal pack because the dominant male often leaves when the dominant female no longer produces large litters. The subordinate male then has a chance to reproduce with the dominant female that may provide greater perpetuation of his genes than searching for another female. A dominant male tolerates the young males who remain in the pack because they help cooperatively with the pack’s interests including raising the pups (whose paternity may be unclear anyway due to EPC’s). See COOPERATION. Males who form new packs tend to be older than their female counterparts so that the females will produce large litters or simply because the younger females are the ones who disperse earlier from their natal packs. (Venkataraman, 1998)
OF NOTE
Karanth & Sunquist (2000) researched the factors governing the coexistence of tigers, leopards, and dholes in Nagarahole, India. They concluded that in contrast to the inter-species dominance hierarchy of the savannah, these predators in the tropical forest with plentiful prey and dense cover have less inter-species social dominance. Thus, their coexistence depends more upon the activity patterns of their prey than on the each other’s activity patterns (although they observed some cleptoparasitism). These three species do share prey: chital, sambar, muntjac, gaur, wild pig and hanuman langur. Chital, which are most active in the mornings, are dholes’ primary prey in this region. See THE BASICS.
This website was completed in partial fulfillment of the requirements for Biology 323, Animal Behavior, at Davidson College in the Spring Semester 2007.