(By: Bhabana Thapa)

Classification

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Canidae
Genus: Canis
Species: C. himalayensis

Description

• Light tan in color and grey.
• White or black around the face and along the chest.
• Thick fur.
• Weight up to 62 kg.

Distribution

• Found in the Himalayan regions like Shey-Phoksundo National Park of Nepal.
• India, Nepal, China, Mongolia and globally in other parts.

Social behavior

• Tendency of having small packs.
• Six or eight members in a pack.
• Decent size of territory; several hundred miles long.
• Don’t seem to be as aggressive when it comes to protect the territory.
• Territory maintained through howling, scent-marking and direct killing.

Diet/ Feeding

• Diet is mainly small or medium sized animals.
• Rodents and rabbits.
• Sometimes take down young of larger sized preys.
• They are skilled hunters.

Forage behavior

• In winter, they hunt in packs but they hunt singly during summer.
• Chases ranging from 100 m to more than 5 km are the rule.
• Average daily food consumption rate varies from 2.5 kg to 6.3 kg.

Damage to livestock and crop

• Wolves sometimes come into conflict with the farmers.

Reproduction

• Considered to be mature when reaches two years old.
• Many of them leave the pack when they reach 1 ½ years.
• They want to establish a territory and find a mate before the breeding season.
• Females will have four or six pups.
• Parental care is found in the first couple of months.

Conservation

• Critically endangered species.
• Their population is in reduced number.
• With such a low population, it is very hard to increase their numbers.
• Breeding program is being conducted in India and future aims to release them in the wild.