While all of us are familiar with the most common canid found in India – our very own domestic dog, only a few can name the eight species of wild canids also inhabiting the country. These are the dhole, golden jackal, Indian wolf, Tibetan wolf, Indian fox, red fox, desert fox, and Tibetan fox. Wild canids occur in a wide variety of habitats across India, from the lofty mountains of the Himalayas and vast deserts to the densely forested lowlands and even urban areas.
In the Himalayas, various species of wild canids inhabit a range of elevations from the forested foothills to the snow-covered peaks. While the Tibetan wolf and red fox are more exclusive to the region, the Tibetan sand fox is found to the immediate north in the Tibetan Plateau.
The dhole, Indian fox, and golden jackal, which have a more widespread distribution, are also found in the Himalayas, primarily in the foothill areas. While canids, in general, remain an ignored group of animals in the conservation world, Himalayan canids are even further away from the spotlight due to their occurrence in remote areas with rough climate and terrain. This article discusses the canids found in the Himalayan region and their conservation status:
Tibetan Wolf
In India, the Tibetan wolf (Canis lupus chanco), a subspecies (that could soon be recognized as a distinct wolf species) of the grey wolf with debated taxonomy, primarily occurs in the Trans-Himalayan region, with sightings also reported in the Greater Himalayas. The Transhimalayas is the mountain range bordering the Tibetan Plateau to the south and running west to east parallel to the main Himalayan range. In India, these wolves have been seen in the high mountains of Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh (Spiti and Lahaul), Uttarakhand, and northern Sikkim. Alpine meadows, open, dry regions and temperate forests are the preferred habitats of these wolves.
These animals also move long distances and often come in contact with pastoral communities sharing the same space. They are, unfortunately, heavily persecuted as they are considered a threat to the livestock owned by these communities. Cases of livestock depredation by wolves have often led to the killing of these wolves by the livestock owners.
In Ladakh, conical structures called shangdongs were built to capture wolves to kill them, but work done by NGOs to mitigate such human-wolf conflict situations has reduced such killings in recent times. Although the Himalayan wolf is a ‘Least Concern’ subspecies on the IUCN Red List, its future is at stake given the human-wildlife conflict, environmental degradation, and climate change-related alterations in these animals’ habitat. Furthermore, India’s poor grassland conservation measures are also a massive threat for most canid species.
Red Fox
The red fox is a highly adaptive species found across the world (except for Antarctica) in a wide range of habitats. It is an opportunistic feeder that feeds on anything from plant matter to animals to carrion and even garbage in human-dominated landscapes. There are several subspecies of the red fox, of which the Vulpes vulpes montana and Vulpes vulpes griffithii are found in the Himalayas and Trans-Himalayan region.
In these regions, these foxes hunt wild prey like hares and voles and also livestock like young ones of sheep and goats, and fowl raised by local pastoral communities. Thus, they often come in conflict with humans leading to their persecution. These foxes also face competition for food from the growing population of domestic dogs in their habitats. They also often come in contact with feral dogs while feeding on garbage, rendering them susceptible to diseases transmitted from dogs, like canine distemper and rabies. Changing climatic conditions and habitat loss in the Himalayas also threaten the red fox subspecies living in the region.
Tibetan Sand Fox
The Tibetan sand fox (Vulpes ferrilata) is primarily found in the steppes and semi-deserts of the Tibetan Plateau. In India, it is only found in the northernmost parts of Sikkim and Ladakh. It occupies grasslands, shrublands, rocky areas like mountain peaks and cliffs, and semidesert habitats within its range. These foxes prey on pikas and hence, occur in greater numbers in areas with high pika populations. They also feed on other small mammals and carrion. The biggest threat to these animals is the poisoning of pikas, which are often regarded as vermin. Wherever pika populations fall, the Tibetan sand fox numbers decline.
Other Canids In The Himalayas
As mentioned earlier, dholes (Cuon alpinus), Indian foxes, and golden jackals, which have a more widespread distribution in India, are also found in the country’s Himalayan region. In the Himalayan region, dholes were recently reported from Sikkim and Ladakh.
The dhole is an endangered species facing a plethora of threats, from habitat loss and persecution by humans to competition with other predators and disease transmission from feral dogs. The Bengal fox or Indian fox (Vulpes bengalensis) and the golden jackal (Canis aureus) are also found in the Himalayan region, primarily in the foothills. These canids, although in the ‘Least Concern’ species list of the Red List, face a range of threats to their survival.
Conclusion
The canids of the Himalayas are important to the ecosystems they occupy. As predators, they keep prey populations in check, and as scavengers, they ensure the cleanliness of the ecosystem. However, not much is known about the population trends of these canids in the Himalayas, but it is estimated that the populations of most of these species are decreasing, given the multitude of threats to their survival existing today. Hopefully, these animals and their conservation will receive greater attention in the future so that they continue to survive and perform their vital ecological roles to maintain nature’s balance.
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Written by: Dr. Oishimaya Sen Nag