前　言

　　以下信息來(lái)自dholes.org 網(wǎng)站中的WHAT'S A DHOLE模塊的子模塊BEHAVIOR,BREED-ING AND HUNTING，主要介紹了豺的習(xí)性特點(diǎn)。

母模塊：

關(guān)于世界愛(ài)豺日（World?Dhole?Day）：

附離編譯局 2023年8月?

VOCALIZATIONS?叫聲

Dholes make a wide range of vocalizations that include whines, mews, yaps, squeaks, screams, growls, growl barks, and chatter calls; these are mainly used for short communications from dog to dog. They are also known to do a “huu-huu” type call, similar to the African painted dog (Fox 1974, Maisch, Ludwig). For long-distance communication, such as getting the pack together after a hunt or rising them from mid-day naps, they make a whistle. This whistle is how they got their nickname “the whistling dog” and where Fox got his title for his field book on dholes,?The Whistling Hunters. The whistle call is great for the dense forest environment, as it travels well at ground level due to the double frequency and structure of the whistle (Sillero-Zubiri etal. 2004).

　　豺可以發(fā)出吠聲、嗚咽聲、叫聲、尖叫聲、嚎叫聲、低吼聲、低吠聲以及啰啰叫等一系列不同的聲音，主要用于短程的豺與豺之間的交流。它們也會(huì)發(fā)出一種類(lèi)似非洲野犬的“呼-呼”聲（Fox 1974, Maisch, Ludwig）。在長(zhǎng)距離通訊方面，比如在狩獵之后將群體聚集起來(lái)或者從午睡中喚醒群落，豺會(huì)發(fā)出哨聲。正是這種哨聲讓它們得到了“口哨犬[ref：whistling dog]”的綽號(hào)，這也是Fox給他關(guān)于豺的作品《口哨獵手[ref：The Whistling Hunters]》取名的靈感來(lái)源。哨聲在茂密的森林環(huán)境中有很好的效果，由于這一聲的雙頻率特點(diǎn)和構(gòu)成，它能夠在地面上傳播很遠(yuǎn)（Sillero-Zubiri etal. 2004）。

PACK BEHAVIOR?族群行為

Before a hunt, dhole’s will do a pep-rally greeting. This can look like play or aggressive play and includes mock chasing, jumping and running (Acharya 2007).

　　在狩獵之前，豺會(huì)進(jìn)行一場(chǎng)鼓舞士氣式的問(wèn)候。這看起來(lái)像是游戲或者具有攻擊性的游戲，包括追逐、跳躍和奔跑（Acharya 2007）。

The pack will use one set latrine; here, the pack defecates communally. They are often located just off of paths, game trails, roads or intersections. Dhole latrines appear to functions as a home range marker, so not causing these sites to disappear is important to help maintain normalcy in the pack (Acharya 2007).?

　　豺群會(huì)使用一個(gè)共同的廁所；在這里，豺群共同排便。這通常位于小徑、動(dòng)物通道、道路或十字路口附近。豺的公共廁所似乎起到了標(biāo)志領(lǐng)地的作用，因此保護(hù)這些場(chǎng)所對(duì)于維持豺群正常狀態(tài)非常重要（Acharya 2007）。

PACK STRUCTURE?群落結(jié)構(gòu)

The pack population tends to go on a boom-and-bust system. The pack size will often fluctuate greatly due to disease and dispersal (Karanth 1999). Other causes for this fluctuation include dholes immigrating into a new pack, individual migrations, pups being born or not being born for a year (Johnsingh 1983). This immigration and dispersal patterns does cause a skewing in the gender ration to have packs more male-heavy (Johnsingh 1982 and Venkataraman 1998). ?Even with fluctuating numbers, it’s been figured that the average pack of 14 dholes would still need 60 to 70 square kilometers to be sustainable (Acharya 2007).

　　豺群規(guī)模有繁榮與衰敗交替的現(xiàn)象。由于疾病和擴(kuò)散，豺群的大小通常會(huì)有很大的波動(dòng)（Karanth 1999）。造成這種波動(dòng)的其他原因包括豺加入到新的群體、個(gè)體遷移、幼崽出生或一年內(nèi)未有幼崽出生（Johnsingh 1983）。這種移民現(xiàn)象和分散的生存模式導(dǎo)致了性別比例的傾斜，使豺群中的雄性更多（Johnsingh 1982和Venkataraman 1998）。即使數(shù)量不穩(wěn)定，據(jù)估計(jì)，平均14豺仍需要60至70平方公里才能維持生存（Acharya，2007年）。?

Who is included in a pack tends to be a nuclear family and possibly non-reproductive siblings of the adult breeding pair (Acharya 2007). The largest pack that has been confirmed is 40 individual dholes; this did include pups (Davidar 1975). It’s thought that these larger packs are not a single pack but rather a group of smaller packs that ban together for one reason or another and disperse once breeding season comes around. These large gatherings are sometimes called clans, and this concentration of dholes and then dispersal has been dubbed a fusion-fission system (Johnsingh 1982). When the packs are separate, they may live close enough together that their territories overlap but not the internal core areas (Johnsingh 1983).?

　　一個(gè)豺群中的成員往往是核心家庭成員以及成年繁殖對(duì)后代中沒(méi)有生育能力的兄弟姐妹（Acharya 2007）。已確認(rèn)的最大規(guī)模的豺群有40只豺；包括幼崽（Davidar 1975）。人們認(rèn)為，這些較大的豺群不是一個(gè)單獨(dú)的豺群，而是由較小的豺群組成，它們?nèi)舾稍蚓墼谝黄?，一旦繁殖季?jié)到來(lái)就會(huì)分散開(kāi)來(lái)。這些大的集合有時(shí)被稱(chēng)為氏族[ref：clans]，豺的這種集結(jié)然后散開(kāi)機(jī)制被稱(chēng)為聚變-裂變系統(tǒng)[ref：fusion-fission system]（Johnsingh 1982）。當(dāng)豺群分開(kāi)時(shí)，它們可能住得很近以至于它們的領(lǐng)土重疊，但內(nèi)部核心區(qū)域不會(huì)重疊（Johnsingh 1983）。

BREEDING AND PUPS?養(yǎng)育幼崽?

Dholes are capable of reproducing at as young as one and a half of years, but three years of age is more typical of wild dholes (Venkataraman 1998), with females being reproductively viable up to ten years of age (Madhavan 2013). The breeding season varies widely depending on what latitude they are found and the dry and wet seasons. In European zoos, breeding season was observed to be December to February and pups were born March to May after a 63-day gestation.?

　　豺在一歲半時(shí)就能繁殖，但一般的繁殖年齡是三歲（Venkataraman 1998），雌性豺的繁殖能力維持到十歲（Madhavan 2013）。繁殖季節(jié)的差異很大，這取決于它們所處的緯度和干濕季時(shí)間。在歐洲動(dòng)物園，繁殖季節(jié)為12月至2月，幼崽在63天的妊娠期后于3月至5月出生。

When it comes to breeding, it’s normally the alpha male and alpha female that breed. This has led to the development of a gender separate hierarchy where the alpha male is dominant over the males in the pack but not the females and vice versa (Ludwig 2004). Breeding time is really the only time that dhole packs get aggressive, with the alpha female suppressing the other females to prevent them from breeding (Volodina 2004). Most of the time, it’s only the alpha male that breeds, but sub males in the pack do show sexual interest in the alpha female and may contribute to the paternity of the litter. It’s interesting to note that once the pups are up and running with the rest of the pack, there is little behavior or aggression to indicate the hierarchy of the pack (Macisch 2006).

　　在繁殖方面，通常是雄性領(lǐng)袖和雌性領(lǐng)袖交配。這導(dǎo)致了一種性別分離的等級(jí)制度的發(fā)展，在這種等級(jí)制度中，雄性領(lǐng)袖在群體中統(tǒng)治雄性，雌性領(lǐng)袖在群體中統(tǒng)治雌性（Ludwig?2004）。繁殖期是豺群攻擊性明顯的唯一時(shí)期，雌性首領(lǐng)會(huì)壓制其他雌性以阻止它們繁殖（Volodina 2004）。大多數(shù)情況下，只有雄性首領(lǐng)繁殖后代，但族群中的次級(jí)雄性確實(shí)對(duì)雌性首領(lǐng)表現(xiàn)出了性興趣，并可能因此生產(chǎn)后代。有趣的是，一旦幼崽們開(kāi)始和豺群的其他成員一起奔跑，就很少有攻擊行為來(lái)表明豺群的等級(jí)制度。

Dholes need the support of the pack to help raise pups. Subordinate females and larger packs had a better success rate than smaller packs (Pandey 2013). Lone females breeding outside the group have little or no success in raising the litter (Johnsingh 1982). The non-breeding females might also produce a litter, and it will be up to the alpha female if the litter survives and is raised with the rest of her litter (Fox 1974). There have also been notes of multiple lactating females in a pack; they all tend to nurse the pups (Davidar 1974). It’s also important for lower-ranking dholes to help raise pups, as it helps increase the likelihood of success when raising their own future litters (Masich 2003).

　　豺需要豺群的支持來(lái)?yè)狃B(yǎng)幼崽。從屬雌性和較大的群體比較小的群體成功率更高（Pandey 2013）。在群體外單獨(dú)繁殖的雌性在撫養(yǎng)幼崽方面很少或根本不會(huì)成功（Johnsingh 1982）。被禁止繁殖的雌性也可能產(chǎn)下一窩幼崽，這一窩能否存活，并與其他幼崽一起被撫養(yǎng)，就取決于雌性首領(lǐng)了（Fox 1974）。也有記錄顯示，一個(gè)豺群中有多只哺乳期雌性；它們都傾向于哺育幼崽（Davidar 1974）。對(duì)于低級(jí)別的豺來(lái)說(shuō)，幫助撫養(yǎng)幼崽也很重要，因?yàn)檫@有助于增加得以撫養(yǎng)自己未來(lái)幼崽的可能性（Masich 2003）。

Dholes will either dig their own den or utilize and modify a hole that another animal has made. These dens can be simple single entrance and chamber dens to multi-chamber and entry networks. These dens are often used year after year and sometimes for generations (Fox 1974). These dens need to be close to water and hunting areas (Fox 1974). If at any time the pack feels the den is threatened or compromised, the whole pack will help in relocating the pups and move them to a safe new location (Johnsingh 1982).

　　豺要么自己挖窩洞，要么利用和改造其他動(dòng)物挖的洞。這些洞穴可以是簡(jiǎn)單的單口單室洞到復(fù)雜的多口多室網(wǎng)絡(luò)。這些洞穴經(jīng)常會(huì)被年復(fù)一年地使用，有時(shí)是幾代人共同使用（Fox 1974）。這些洞穴需要靠近水源和狩獵區(qū)（Fox 1974）。如果在任何時(shí)候豺群感到洞穴受到威脅，整個(gè)豺群都會(huì)幫助重新安置幼崽，并將它們轉(zhuǎn)移到一個(gè)新的安全的地方（Johnsingh 1982）。

The time after pups are born and restricted to the den is called the denning period. Denning causes the dhole pack to localize close to the den. A pack that might use 75 square kilometers during the regular part of the year the average being 30 to 60. When the breeding female is nursing a litter that range shrinks to just its core and smallest area at 15 to 20 square kilometers. Once the pups are older or?post?denning dholes from earlier litters will disperse, this causes the pack’s territory to expand to its largest sometimes swelling to larger than 100 square kilometers (Acharya 2007). During the denning time, other pack members will bring meat back to the den both for the pups and the nursing female. The meat is carried back in the stomach and is then regurgitated for the pups and mom (Sillero-Zubiri 2004). Once the mother is out hunting with the pack, she will often monopolize small kills for herself (Johnsing 1982).

　　幼崽出生后到幼崽可以出洞穴之前的時(shí)間段被稱(chēng)為洞穴期[ref：denning period]。洞穴期期間整個(gè)豺群都只在洞穴周?chē)顒?dòng)。豺群在一年的正常時(shí)間里的活動(dòng)范圍約為75平方公里，平均為30到60平方公里。在繁殖期有雌性哺育幼仔時(shí)，活動(dòng)范圍會(huì)縮小到核心的小區(qū)域，大小15到20平方公里。一旦幼崽長(zhǎng)大或成年，洞穴期的約束便會(huì)消失，這導(dǎo)致豺群的領(lǐng)土?xí)U(kuò)大到最大，有時(shí)會(huì)擴(kuò)大到超過(guò)100平方公里（Acharya 2007）。在洞穴期期間，其他豺群成員會(huì)把肉帶回洞穴，給幼崽和哺乳的母豺吃。肉會(huì)被反芻給幼崽和豺媽媽?zhuān)⊿illero-Zubiri 2004）。一旦豺媽媽和豺群一起外出狩獵，她通常會(huì)獨(dú)吞一些小獵物（Johnsing 1982）。

The day after the pups are born is the first test; the alpha male will enter the den and pick up the pup and give a slight shake. If they pup whines or moves indicating it’s alive, it’s put back with the rest of the litter. For pups that are dead, they are removed from the den and consumed (Macisch 2006). Litter size varies from two up to twelve (Johnsingh 1982).

　　幼崽出生后的第二天是第一次考驗(yàn)；雄性首領(lǐng)會(huì)進(jìn)入洞穴，叼起幼崽，輕輕地?fù)u一搖。如果幼崽發(fā)出嗚咽或移動(dòng)，表明它還活著，它就會(huì)和其他幼崽一起被放回去。對(duì)于死亡的幼崽，它們會(huì)被移出洞穴并被吃掉（Macisch 2006）。產(chǎn)仔數(shù)從2到12不等（Johnsingh 1982）。

Pups weigh 200 to 350 grams when they are born and they are 25 to 27 centimeters long, but they don’t stay small for long; dhole pups can double in weight by ten days of age (Paulraj 1992). They are covered with a dark brown fluffy undercoat and a few long, dark guard hairs, no teeth and their eyes and ears are closed. By the time they are ten to twenty days old, their eyes start to open (Davidar 1975). Around this time, their upper and lower incisors come in (Shilo 1994). The next teeth to come in are the canines at around 20 days of age, molars around day 23 and last are the premolars around day 30 (Shilo, 1994, Sosnovkii 1967). For the first two months, the mother stays with the pups almost full-time, and she is fed by the pack (Johnsingh 1982). At five weeks, pups start to venture outside the den and are take meat from pack mates returning on the hunt (Davidar 1974); however, pups might take meat as young as 3 to 4 weeks of age (Sillero-Zubiri 2004). Dholes are fast to grow up and mature, and they have to be, because at 3 months of age, dhole pups are out from the den and following adults on hunts (Sillero-Zubiri 2004). It’s also around this time that the pups start to lose that brown fur color as it turns to the iconic red color (Paulraj 1992). Dhole pups are full-grown around nine to ten months of age (Shilo 2007), and around a year of age is when they get their mature coloring (Paulraj 1992).?

　　幼崽出生時(shí)重200g-350g，身長(zhǎng)25cm-27cm，但它們的體型不會(huì)保持太久；幼崽在10天大的時(shí)候體重可以翻倍（Paulraj 1992）。它們被一層深棕色的絨毛和幾根長(zhǎng)長(zhǎng)的深色護(hù)毛覆蓋，沒(méi)有牙齒，眼睛和耳朵是閉著的。當(dāng)他們出生10到20天的時(shí)候，他們的眼睛開(kāi)始睜開(kāi)（Davidar 1975）。大約在這個(gè)時(shí)候，他們的上門(mén)牙和下門(mén)牙長(zhǎng)出來(lái)（Shilo 1994）。下一個(gè)長(zhǎng)出來(lái)的牙齒是犬齒，大約在20天左右，磨牙大約在23天左右，最后是前磨牙，大約在30天左右（Shilo, 1994, Sosnovkii 1967）。在最初的兩個(gè)月里，母豺幾乎全職看護(hù)幼崽，由豺群進(jìn)行喂養(yǎng)（Johnsingh 1982）。在五周大的時(shí)候，幼崽們開(kāi)始在洞穴外探索，從捕獵歸來(lái)的同伴那里搶肉（Davidar 1974）；然而，幼崽可能在3至4周齡時(shí)就開(kāi)始自己吃肉（Sillero-Zubiri 2004）。豺的成長(zhǎng)和成熟速度很快，而且它們必須這樣，因?yàn)樵?個(gè)月大的時(shí)候，小豺就會(huì)從洞里出來(lái)，跟隨成年豺去狩獵（Sillero-Zubiri 2004）。也是在這個(gè)時(shí)候，幼崽開(kāi)始褪去棕色的皮毛顏色，變成標(biāo)志性的紅色（Paulraj 1992）。豺崽在9到10個(gè)月大的時(shí)候就完全長(zhǎng)大了（Shilo 2007），大約1歲的時(shí)候它們的皮毛顏色就與成熟個(gè)體無(wú)異了（Paulraj 1992）。

HUNTING?捕獵

Dholes are like other large pack canines and are hyper-carnivores, meaning their diet consists of over 70% meat. It’s thought that prey availability is one of the largest restriction for dholes in terms of habitat and pack-size restriction (Johnsingh 1985).

　　豺和其他大型群居犬一樣，是超級(jí)食肉動(dòng)物，這意味著它們的飲食中有70%以上是肉。一般認(rèn)為，就棲息地和族群大小的限制而言，獵物是最大限制之一（Johnsingh 1985）。

PREY SELECTION?擇食

Prey choice in dholes has been well studied in many areas of its home range. It appears that two ungulate species in particular play an important role in dhole diets: sambar deer and chital deer. In many studies, these deer are the top two prey items taken by dholes. In most cases, it appears that dholes target male chital deer and fawns, and also targeted sambar sub-adults and fawns (Acharya 2007, Johnsingh 1908, Karanth 1999). The male deer might be targeted due the fact they have antlers when they are hunted. Male deer are known to range more wildly during the rut period; they are often alone and no longer have the benefit of the herd for early detection of predators (Patel 1992). It was also noted that the male deer that were taken with antlers tended to have a larger set of antlers. It’s been thought that the larger antler set might make it harder for the male deer to escape, considering the dense vegetation (Johnsingh 1983). In areas where chital and sambar are not available, dholes will turn to other medium- or even small-size game (Jenks 2012). Nepal gives a great example of an area that had dholes but no sambar or chital; the dholes there rely on a few different prey items with wild boar being the top taken food item followed by barking deer, musk deer, blue sheep and goral (Aryal 2015). In Malaysia, dholes again took wild pigs, but only occasionally; instead the main diet for dholes was mouse deer (Kawanishi 2008) In Loas, it appears that dholes didn’t favor a single prey item (Kamler 2012). Sadly, when their native prey is not available or is in low numbers, dholes will take livestock. This puts them into direct conflict with humans (Aryal 2015). In Nepal, it was noted that livestock makes up to 13% of a dhole’s diet (Aryal 2015).

　　在其活動(dòng)范圍的許多地區(qū)，人們對(duì)豺的獵物選擇進(jìn)行了很細(xì)致的研究。似乎有兩種有蹄類(lèi)動(dòng)物在豺的飲食中起著特別重要的作用：水鹿[Rusa unicolor]和白斑鹿[Axis axis]。在許多研究中，這些鹿是豺的前兩大獵物。在大多數(shù)情況下，豺以雄性白斑鹿及白斑鹿幼崽為捕食對(duì)象，同時(shí)也捕食亞成年水鹿和水鹿幼崽（Acharya 2007, Johnsingh 1908, Karanth 1999）。雄鹿更可能成為獵捕對(duì)象，因?yàn)樗鼈冇新菇?。雄鹿在發(fā)情期的活動(dòng)范圍更廣；它們通常是單獨(dú)的，避免了在捕獵時(shí)被鹿群發(fā)現(xiàn)的弊端（Patel 1992）。人們還注意到，被捕食的雄鹿往往有更大的鹿角。人們認(rèn)為，考慮到茂密的植被，較大的鹿角可能會(huì)使雄鹿更難逃脫（Johnsingh 1983）。在沒(méi)有水鹿和白斑鹿的地區(qū)，豺會(huì)捕食其他中型甚至小型動(dòng)物（Jenks 2012）。尼泊爾就是一個(gè)很好的例子，那里有豺，但沒(méi)有水鹿或白斑鹿；那里的豺捕食其他的獵物，野豬是最常見(jiàn)的食物，其次是吠鹿、麝、藍(lán)羊和喜馬拉雅斑羚（Aryal 2015）。在馬來(lái)西亞，野豬也被豺捕食，但只是偶爾；相反，豺的主要食物是鼠鹿（Kawanishi 2008）。在老撾，豺似乎不喜歡單一的獵物（Kamler 2012）?？杀氖牵?dāng)沒(méi)有原生獵物或數(shù)量很少時(shí)，豺就會(huì)捕食牲畜。這使它們與人類(lèi)發(fā)生直接沖突（Aryal 2015）。在尼泊爾，人們注意到牲畜占豺食物的13%（Aryal 2015）。

Dholes appear to be opportunistic when it comes to prey choice. They do seem to have a preference for medium-size (26 – 100kg) ungulates. In areas where their preferred prey live, dholes take down prey averaging 55.3kg (Acharya 2007).?

　　在選擇獵物時(shí)，豺似乎是機(jī)會(huì)主義者[總想投機(jī)取巧]。他們似乎更喜歡中等大小（26-100公斤）的有蹄類(lèi)動(dòng)物。在它們喜歡的獵物生活的地方，豺平均能捕獲55.3公斤的獵物（Acharya 2007）。?

THE HUNT　捕獵

Hunting with dholes is a family affair, and almost all dholes in the pack help with the hunt. With each dhole estimated to eat 340kg of food a year (Karanth 1988), hunting seems to be a priority for these hyper-carnivore canines. Dholes are almost entirely diurnal?and usually hunt during mornings and evenings. There are a few accounts of dholes hunting on full moons, but they tend to avoid the heat of mid-day (Johnsingh 1983, Acharya 2007). Unlike the wolf or the African painted dog, Dholes are more of an ambush predator chasing their prey down over a short distance, normally less than 500m (Johnsingh 1983).

　　一起打獵是豺的一項(xiàng)家庭活動(dòng)，幾乎豺群中所有的豺都能參與打獵。據(jù)估計(jì)，每只豺每年要吃掉340公斤的食物（Karanth 1988），狩獵似乎是這些超級(jí)食肉動(dòng)物的首要任務(wù)。豺幾乎完全在白天活動(dòng)，通常在早晨和晚上捕獵。有一些關(guān)于豺在滿(mǎn)月時(shí)狩獵的記載，但它們傾向于避開(kāi)炎熱的正午（Johnsingh 1983, Acharya 2007）。與狼或非洲野犬不同，豺更像是伏擊型捕食者，在短距離內(nèi)追捕獵物，通常不到500米(Johnsingh 1983)。

Dholes have evolved a unique strategy to tackling larger prey than themselves. Some believe the pack formation is for hunting large game, but Venkataraman (1995) showed that there was no correlation between pack size and body weight of prey killed. In fact, he showed that the larger the pack meant there was less food per dhole when a kill was made. And in areas were dholes take down smaller prey items, like in Malaysia, dholes form smaller packs as it might be more energetically advantageous to do so (Kawanishi and Sunquist 2004). Instead of large numbers, dholes use the terrain and geographical features of their landscape to aid in the hunt. In India, it was noted that dholes often killed their prey in or just around waterways. At first, it was thought to be due to the fact that prey will run downhill and into valleys to out-run predators; however, the kills happened so often that it didn’t appear random. Feral dogs hunting in the same area as packs never made kills in waterways (Peacock 1928). Dholes are more water-loving than most dog species, so it could also be safer to take large prey in water compared to land. The water both tires the prey quicker but also makes it harder for the prey to kick out and injure a dhole. Once the prey is tired and is back on land, or even when the prey is still in the water, the pack will start feeding on the animal even if it’s still alive. Most prey appear to die of shock from blood loss, not from a single killing bite, like a tiger inflicts. In some instances, the prey drowns (Karanth 1999).

　　豺已經(jīng)進(jìn)化出一種獨(dú)特的策略來(lái)對(duì)付比自己大的獵物。有些人認(rèn)為族群的形成是為了狩獵大型獵物，但Venkataraman（1995）表明族群的大小與被獵殺獵物的體重之間沒(méi)有相關(guān)性。事實(shí)上，他的研究表明，豺群越大，每只豺的食物就越少。在一些地區(qū)，豺會(huì)殺死較小的獵物，比如在馬來(lái)西亞，豺會(huì)形成較小的群體，因?yàn)檫@樣做可能更有能量?jī)?yōu)勢(shì)（Kawanishi和Sunquist 2004）。豺不利用更大的個(gè)體數(shù)，而是利用當(dāng)?shù)氐牡匦翁卣鱽?lái)幫助捕獵。在印度，人們注意到豺經(jīng)常在水道里或水道附近殺死獵物。起初，人們認(rèn)為這是因?yàn)楂C物會(huì)往下坡跑，跑進(jìn)山谷以躲避捕食者；然而，這一情況發(fā)生得如此頻繁，以至于不像是偶然的。與豺在同一地區(qū)狩獵的野狗從未在水道中殺死獵物（Peacock?1928）。豺比大多數(shù)狗更善水，所以對(duì)豺來(lái)說(shuō)在水中捕食大型獵物比在陸地上捕食更安全。水不僅使獵物更快地疲勞，而且使獵物更難以踢腿出并傷害豺。一旦獵物累了，回到陸地上，或者即使獵物還在水里，豺群也會(huì)開(kāi)始吞食獵物，即使它還活著。大多數(shù)獵物死于失血過(guò)多導(dǎo)致的休克，而不是像老虎的獵物那樣死于一次致命的咬傷。在某些情況下，獵物會(huì)被淹死（Karanth 1999）。

Once the prey is down, all pack members feed at the same time. Pups and adults eat together and there is little in-fighting amongst the pack. In large packs and on large kills, it’s not uncommon for a lone dhole to stand watch. Tigers, leopards and humans have all been noted to take a dhole’s kill even with dholes were feeding on it (Karanth and Sunquist 2000). To help prevent a theft of their meal, dholes will eat their prey quickly. The change in dentation may allow for dholes to eat and tear off meat more efficiently, oftentimes finishing off a carcass in ten minutes. Even the small pups will gorge themselves at meal time; it’s been observed that even a 4kg pup can eat up to 1kg of meat (Maisch 2006). Once they have their fill, the dhole will leave the kill site. They do not cache their food and will often leave the kill out in the open (Acharya 2007).

　　一旦獵物倒下，所有豺群成員都會(huì)開(kāi)始進(jìn)食。幼崽和成年豺一起進(jìn)食，豺群中很少發(fā)生內(nèi)訌。在大型豺群和大型捕獵中，一只豺獨(dú)自站崗是很常見(jiàn)的。老虎、豹子和人類(lèi)都曾被發(fā)現(xiàn)搶奪豺的獵物，即使有豺正在進(jìn)食（Karanth和Sunquist 2000）。為了防止獵物被偷走，豺會(huì)迅速吃掉獵物。齒形結(jié)構(gòu)的變化可能會(huì)讓豺更有效地撕扯和進(jìn)食食物，通常在十分鐘內(nèi)豺就能吃掉一具尸體。即使是小豺崽也會(huì)在吃飯的時(shí)候狼吞虎咽；據(jù)觀察，即使是4公斤的幼崽也能吃下1公斤的肉（Maisch 2006）。一旦他們吃飽了，他們就會(huì)離開(kāi)捕殺地點(diǎn)。它們不會(huì)把食物藏起來(lái)，通常會(huì)把獵物留在戶(hù)外（Acharya 2007）。

Dhole’s hunting success rate is about 20% (Keller 1973) or about 1 out of every 5 tries, which puts them at about average for carnivores. It hasn’t been studied much if a larger pack has a higher success rate than smaller packs. Due to the elusive nature and rugged environment dholes live in, it might be hard to figure this out (Venkataraman 1995). Dholes play a unique role in their ecosystem, both as an ecological indicator and as a regulator. Dholes, being a large predator, more due to their pack structure than individual size, require large numbers of prey to survive. They are highly sensitive to change in prey base and habitat quality (Acharya 2007). If an area has a healthy population of dholes, the area is most likely ecologically healthy. However, if an area’s dhole population declines, like they are across most of their range, it should be a warning there is something wrong in the ecosystem. It’s also thought that dholes play a role in prey regulation through trophic cascades?that aren’t filled by other carnivores in the area (Woodroffe and Ginsberg 2005).?

　　豺的狩獵成功率約為20%（Keller 1973），或者說(shuō)每5次捕獵中約有1次成功，這使它們?cè)谑橙鈩?dòng)物中處于中等地位。尚未有研究論證是否一個(gè)較大的群體比較小的群體狩獵成功率更高。由于豺難以捉摸的習(xí)性和所處環(huán)境的復(fù)雜，可能很難弄清楚這一點(diǎn)（Venkataraman 1995）。豺在其生態(tài)系統(tǒng)中扮演著獨(dú)特的角色，既是生態(tài)指示器，也是調(diào)節(jié)器。豺之所以是一種大型捕食者，更多的是由于它們的群體規(guī)模而不是個(gè)體大小，它們需要大量的獵物才能生存。它們對(duì)獵物數(shù)量和棲息地質(zhì)量的變化高度敏感（Acharya 2007）。如果一個(gè)地區(qū)有健康的豺群，那么這個(gè)地區(qū)的生態(tài)系統(tǒng)很可能是健康的。然而，如果一個(gè)地區(qū)的豺整體數(shù)量下降，就像它們的大部分活動(dòng)地區(qū)一樣，這便是一個(gè)警告，說(shuō)明生態(tài)系統(tǒng)出了問(wèn)題。人們還認(rèn)為，豺在通過(guò)營(yíng)養(yǎng)級(jí)聯(lián)調(diào)節(jié)獵物數(shù)量方面發(fā)揮作用，這是該地區(qū)其他食肉動(dòng)物無(wú)法充當(dāng)?shù)模╓oodroffe和Ginsberg 2005）。