New year’s dogs
01 Jan 2012 2 Comments
in Northern Trail Tags: dholes
I got a new camera for Christmas, the zoo just added a new species of wild dog on the Northern Trail, and now it’s a new year. The moment for my dhole post has arrived!
Two female Asian wild dogs, or dholes (rhymes with “holes”), came here from a zoo in Hungary and officially went public Friday in the former Mexican wolf exhibit. Unofficially, they were out there for a few hours Thursday, trotting around their new home, sniffing and making little squeaking noises. I hiked out to look at them — first from the cozy interior of the former wolf gazebo (now redesigned to resemble an Asian yurt), then from a new trailside viewing platform at the exhibit’s opposite edge.
Several guests stopped on the platform to check out the new canines. A child or two asked me if the dholes were foxes, which they clearly resemble. With their lean 45-pound frames and their springy gaits, these two girls remind me of my own petite female Belgian Malinois shepherd dog, who also weighs about 45 pounds, with a black and mahogany coat, and who frequently gets compared to a fox. But instead of the Malinois’ black face and ears, these canids have a bushy black tail– in fact, the puppies are entirely black at birth.
And puppies are part of the plan for this species, endangered throughout its range in Thailand, China, India and Russia. Two males are coming from a zoo in Sweden and will be introduced gradually to the girls, who turn 3 years old in the spring. Dholes have litters of up to 12 pups, so if even just one pair mates, family life in this exhibit could get very interesting.
Jan 02, 2012 @ 16:55:45
What happened to the Mexican Grey Wolves?
Jan 02, 2012 @ 23:33:37
The Mexican grays were transferred awhile ago to different facilities where each was a good fit with the wolves already there. Species Survival Plans help decide which animals go to which zoos; the species that are most endangered are the highest priority for breeding, and of course zoos want to avoid breeding related animals to keep the gene pool healthy and diverse. Dholes are very endangered, while Mexican grays are being introduced back into the wild and are doing better as a species these days. Thanks for the question!