It is hard to guess what a Dhole weights. But we have the answer:
An adult Dhole (Cuon alpinus) on average weights 15.85 kg (34.94 lbs).
The Dhole is from the family Canidae (genus: Cuon). It is usually born with about 275 grams (0.61 lbs). They can live for up to 16 years. When reaching adult age, they grow up to 98.8 cm (3′ 3″). Usually, Dholes have 4 babies per litter.
As a reference: An average human weights in at 62 kg (137 lbs) and reaches an average size of 1.65m (5′ 5″). Humans spend 280 days (40 weeks) in the womb of their mother and reach around 75 years of age.
The dhole (Cuon alpinus) is a canid native to Central, South, East Asia, and Southeast Asia. Other English names for the species include Asian wild dog, Asiatic wild dog, Indian wild dog, whistling dog, red dog, and mountain wolf. It is genetically close to species within the genus Canis, but distinct in several anatomical aspects: its skull is convex rather than concave in profile, it lacks a third lower molar and the upper molars sport only a single cusp as opposed to between two and four. During the Pleistocene, the dhole ranged throughout Asia, Europe, and North America but became restricted to its historical range 12,000–18,000 years ago.The dhole is a highly social animal, living in large clans without rigid dominance hierarchies and containing multiple breeding females. Such clans usually consist of 12 individuals, but groups of over 40 are known. It is a diurnal pack hunter which preferentially targets medium- and large-sized ungulates. In tropical forests, the dhole competes with tiger and leopard, targeting somewhat different prey species, but still with substantial dietary overlap.It is listed as Endangered by the IUCN as populations are decreasing and are estimated at fewer than 2,500 adults. Factors contributing to this decline include habitat loss, loss of prey, competition with other species, persecution due to livestock predation and disease transfer from domestic dogs.
Animals of the same family as a Dhole
We found other animals of the Canidae family:
- Red wolf bringing 26.7 kilos (58.86 lbs) to the scale
- Pampas fox bringing 4.54 kilos (10.01 lbs) to the scale
- Culpeo bringing 8.62 kilos (19 lbs) to the scale
- Fennec fox bringing 1.32 kilos (2.91 lbs) to the scale
- Kit fox bringing 4.5 kilos (9.92 lbs) to the scale
- Maned wolf bringing 23.31 kilos (51.39 lbs) to the scale
- Raccoon dog bringing 4.22 kilos (9.3 lbs) to the scale
- Blanford’s fox with a weight of 994 grams
- Pale fox bringing 2.8 kilos (6.17 lbs) to the scale
- Sechuran fox bringing 4.23 kilos (9.33 lbs) to the scale
Animals with the same weight as a Dhole
As a comparison, here are some other animals that weight as much as the Cuon alpinus:
- Dorcas gazelle with a weight of 15.57 kilos (34.33 lbs)
- Cape porcupine with a weight of 14.92 kilos (32.89 lbs)
- Saudi gazelle with a weight of 16 kilos (35.27 lbs)
- Gray brocket with a weight of 16.63 kilos (36.66 lbs)
- White-bellied duiker with a weight of 13.1 kilos (28.88 lbs)
- North American beaver with a weight of 18.11 kilos (39.93 lbs)
- Black musk deer with a weight of 13.6 kilos (29.98 lbs)
- Ruwenzori duiker with a weight of 15 kilos (33.07 lbs)
- Golden snub-nosed monkey with a weight of 13.5 kilos (29.76 lbs)
- Arabian gazelle with a weight of 18.06 kilos (39.82 lbs)
Animals with the same size as a Dhole
Not that size really matters, but it makes things comparable. So here are a couple of animals that are as big as Dhole:
- Wolf with a size of 1.06 meter (3′ 6″)
- Malabar large-spotted civet with a size of 84.5 cm (2′ 10″)
- Common wombat with a size of 98.6 cm (3′ 3″)
- Proserpine rock-wallaby with a size of 100 cm (3′ 4″)
- Coyote with a size of 87.5 cm (2′ 11″)
- Cameroon clawless otter with a size of 83.7 cm (2′ 9″)
- Red wolf with a size of 1.08 meter (3′ 7″)
- Buru babirusa with a size of 95 cm (3′ 2″)
- Steenbok with a size of 82.4 cm (2′ 9″)
- Saiga antelope with a size of 1.16 meter (3′ 10″)
Animals with the same litter size as a Dhole
Here is a list of animals that have the same number of babies per litter (4) as a Dhole:
- Beach vole
- Darwin’s leaf-eared mouse
- Sand cat
- Golden jackal
- California vole
- Hodgson’s brown-toothed shrew
- New Holland mouse
- Tien Shan red-backed vole
- Giant forest hog
- Brown four-eyed opossum
Animals with the same life expectancy as a Dhole
Completely different animals, but becoming as old as a Dhole:
- Jentink’s duiker with an average maximal age of 17.5 years
- Common marmoset with an average maximal age of 16.75 years
- Lowland paca with an average maximal age of 16 years
- Fringed myotis with an average maximal age of 18.25 years
- Tayra with an average maximal age of 18 years
- Suni with an average maximal age of 14 years
- Snow leopard with an average maximal age of 18 years
- Urial with an average maximal age of 13.75 years
- Nile lechwe with an average maximal age of 18.67 years
- Thorold’s deer with an average maximal age of 18 years