Saving the dhole: The forgotten 'badass' Asian dog more endangered than tigers

Little-known by scientists and largely ignored by conservationists, the wild Asian dog - or dhole - faces widespread deforestation, poisonings, lack of prey and disease. Can a few dhole champions save this tough predator?

Let's start at the beginning: what's a dhole? It's not a giant fruit corporation. It's not Homer Simpson's catch phrase. It's not welfare payment by a government.

Dholes are actually wild canids, efficient predators and communal pack hunters. These rust-coloured carnivores roam the jungles and montane forests of Central and East Asia filling the humid air with whistles, howls and screeches that chill the heart of any sambar deer or wild boar. There have even been reports of dhole packs hounding - and, maybe even, killing - tigers.