''Wild Dog Diaries'' is a wildlife film portraying the behaviour of wild dogs (''
Cuon alpinus
The dhole (''Cuon alpinus''; ) is a canid native to Central, South, East and Southeast Asia. Other English names for the species include Asian wild dog, Asiatic wild dog, Indian wild dog, whistling dog, red dog, red wolf, and mountain wolf. It ...
'').
The film was directed by the photographer duo of
Krupakar-Senani
Krupakar and Senani are wildlife photographers from Karnataka, India. They have produced the wildlife film Wild Dog Diaries for National Geographic Channel.
For this documentary they won the following awards:
* Festival de l'Oiseau et de la Nature ...
and mainly filmed in the
Bandipur National Park
Bandipur National Park is a national park covering in Chamarajnagar district in the Indian state of Karnataka. It was established as a tiger reserve under Project Tiger in 1973.
It is part of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve since 1986.
History
...
and the
Mudumalai National Park of India.
Premise
The film centres around a pack of
dholes,
canids native to
Central
Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object.
Central may also refer to:
Directions and generalised locations
* Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...
and
Southeast Asia. The dhole is a highly social animal, living in large clans without rigid dominance hierarchies.
[Fox, M. W. (1984), ''The Whistling Hunters: Field Studies of the Indian Wild Dog'' (Cuon Alpinus), Steven Simpson Books, p. 85, ] Such clans usually consist of 12 individuals, but groups of over 40 are known.
[Cohen, J. A. (1978), ]
Cuon alpinus
' . ''Mammalian Species'' 100: 1-3. It is a diurnal pack hunter which preferentially targets medium and large sized
ungulates.
[Durbin, L.S., Venkataraman, A., Hedges, S. & Duckworth, W. (2004]
Dhole ''Cuon alpinus'' (Pallas 1811)
in Sillero-Zubiri, C., Hoffmann, M. & Macdonald, D.W. (eds), ''Canids: Foxes, Wolves, Jackals and Dogs: Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan'', IUCN/SSC Canid Specialist Group. Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK. x + pp. 210-219 It is listed as
Endangered by the
IUCN
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...
, on account of its decreasing population, which is now estimated at less than 2,500 adults. Factors contributing to this decline include habitat loss, loss of prey, competition with other species, persecution, and disease transfer from
domestic dogs.
[ Database entry includes justification for why this species is endangered]
Production
The film was produced for the
National Geographic Channel
National Geographic (formerly National Geographic Channel; abbreviated and trademarked as Nat Geo or Nat Geo TV) is an American pay television television network, network and flagship (broadcasting), flagship channel owned by the National Geograp ...
and completed in the year 2006.
It was shot over a period of 12 years .
The shooting of the film was a difficult task because of the elusive nature of the
dhole and the forest terrain.
While shooting for this film, Krupakar-Senani were kidnapped and held captive by the forest brigand,
Veerappan.
Story line
The film uncovers the life of Krupakar, a film maker who wants to make a film on
dhole, but is abandoning the venture because of its elusive behaviour. He encounters a local tribesman, who gives insights on how to track the animal.
The pack hunts together and various instances where they co-ordinate to kill a prey is shown. The meat that the adult dogs eat is regurgitated and the bones separated which is offered to the smaller pups as their meal.
The film also shows how the adults protect the pups. Two female dogs which have strayed from another pack try to join this pack. The female leader of the pack, sensing that she might lose out on the male dogs in her pack, tries to prevent them from joining the pack.
But the newcomers manage to lure away some males from the pack and start their own.
Awards
The film won the Festival Grand Award 2007 in the Japanese Wildlife Film Festival held in
Toyama,
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
where it beat 320 other entries to win it. It also won the Best Film award in the environment film festival, ''Vatavaran 2007'' held in
New Delhi.
The film won the best documentary film award in Asian television awards, Singapore 2007
Notes
{{reflist
2006 films
Films about dogs
Dhole
2000s English-language films