Scientists have recorded images of a dhole, also known as the Asiatic wild dog (Cuon alpinus), in Vietnam for the first time in more than two decades, according to the management board of the Pu Hoat Nature Reserve in the central province of Nghe An.
Nguyen Van Sinh, Director of the reserve, said on May 14 that the rare predator was captured by a camera trap system installed in the reserve’s natural forest.
The images were verified by Germany’s Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (IZW), and the findings were later published in a scientific journal of University of Cambridge.
The recorded individual was an adult dhole spotted alone at an altitude of 1,590 meters in humid evergreen forest, about 4.3 kilometers from the Laos border.
Prior to the discovery, researchers had deployed 45 camera-trap stations across the reserve over a four-month period, collecting data equivalent to 6,084 trap nights.
The dhole is listed as endangered on the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Its wild population has declined by more than 80 percent over the past three decades due to habitat loss and hunting, placing the species at very high risk of extinction.
In Vietnam, the species has rarely appeared in field surveys in recent years. Previous records suggested possible distribution in several localities, including Dien Bien, Thanh Hoa, Quang Binh, Quang Tri and Nghe An.
According to the reserve’s management board, the rediscovery of the species is a positive sign for biodiversity conservation efforts and highlights the ecological value of the area’s primary forest ecosystem.
