Gray Dhole, also known as the Myanmar gray wild dog, is an unrecognized canid species from Myanmar, reported especially from the Pidaung Game Sanctuary near the Irrawaddy River in Myitkyina Forest Division, and Thayagon in the Bago Division. It is described as having a short dark gray coat, a black muzzle, and short, round ears. The Burmans say there are two kinds of the wild dog in Myanmar, the large and small.
This member of the dog family is nearly unknown to the western world. It is rather dog-like in its outward appearance and was once (however fleetingly) thought to be the ancestor of the domesticated dog. In reality, some of the features of its skull and dentition are so different from those of Canis familiaris that it is unlikely that the Asiatic Wild Dog played any role in the evolution of the domestic dog. At present, it is accorded the status of an independent single-species genus. In the early 19th century, when the first reports and descriptions appeared in print, the Dhole was so common and numerous in India that it was considered vermin and was persecuted mercilessly. From 1912 to 1972, there was an Indian government program that offered a bounty for killed dholes. (see ‘Dhole in Danger’) Today, the drastically reduced Dhole populations are legally protected everywhere.
