A Dog That Whistles

The dhole is India’s wild dog — a lithe, fox-red canid with a pale throat and belly, rounded bear-like ears, and a bushy, black-tipped tail. It is rarely seen alone, and never for long.

It lives and hunts in tight-knit packs, and it is a formidable hunter — cooperative and tireless, running down deer many times its size. To hold the clan together in dense forest, dholes call to one another with an eerie, carrying whistle, the trait that earns them their other name: the whistling dog. Once widespread across Asia, they are now Endangered, and the forests of Kabini are among the surer places left to find them.

We saw this chap, out on the forest track, standing square to hold our gaze — jaws parted, ears up, the rest of the pack nowhere in sight.