Order: Carnivora

Family: Canidae

 

Size: up to 132 cm in length ( head to tail)

 

Key Features: The dark, V-shaped stripe over the shoulders is much more pronounced than in northern wolves. The under-parts and legs are more or less white.

 

Voice: - While the Indian Wolf is able to howl just like other species, it rarely does. This is puzzling to experts. However, it is believed that they don’t feel as territorial about their range as other species.

 

Breeding: mating process often takes place in October which is very different from other species of wolves.

 

Diet: includes rodents, rabbits, and raccoons.

 

Habitat: found on the open lands of India and they are able to survive in areas that are considered to be desert like in nature. 

 

Habits: Indian wolves do not form large packs like northern wolves, though they have been shown to better tolerate crowding conditions in captivity. Their social structure is more similar to that of dingoes and coyotes than northern wolves. Packs typically consist of a nuclear family of six to eight animals, though pairs are more common.

 

Conservation Status: Least Concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

 

Distribution in the GoK: reported along the coast of Gulf of Kachchh.

 

 

 

 

 

References:

Sterndale, Richard A. (1884). "Canis Pallipes No. 245 The Indian Wolf (Jerdon's No. 135).". Natural History of the Mammalia of India and Ceylon (Bombay, London:Thacker, Spink and Co) (245). at Project Gutenberg.

 

Mivart, S. G. J. (1900). "The Common Wolf". Dogs, jackals, wolves, and foxes: a monograph of the Canidae (London: R.H. Porter): 3–17. 

 

Linnaeus, Carl (1758). Grey Wolf Canis lupus (PDF). canids.org. Retrieved on November 11, 2014.

 

Yadvendradev, V. Jhala (December 1993). "Predation on Blackbuck by Wolves in Velavadar National Park, Gujarat, India". Conservation Biology (Wiley & Sons) 7 (4): 874–881.

 

Photo Courtesy

Pavan Kunder, Licensed under CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons