前　言

　　以下信息来自dholes.org 网站中的WHAT'S A DHOLE模块的子模块BEHAVIOR,BREED-ING AND HUNTING，主要介绍了豺的习性特点。

母模块：

关于世界爱豺日（World Dhole Day）：

附离编译局 2023年8月 

VOCALIZATIONS 叫声

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).

　　豺可以发出吠声、呜咽声、叫声、尖叫声、嚎叫声、低吼声、低吠声以及啰啰叫等一系列不同的声音，主要用于短程的豺与豺之间的交流。它们也会发出一种类似非洲野犬的“呼-呼”声（Fox 1974, Maisch, Ludwig）。在长距离通讯方面，比如在狩猎之后将群体聚集起来或者从午睡中唤醒群落，豺会发出哨声。正是这种哨声让它们得到了“口哨犬[ref：whistling dog]”的绰号，这也是Fox给他关于豺的作品《口哨猎手[ref：The Whistling Hunters]》取名的灵感来源。哨声在茂密的森林环境中有很好的效果，由于这一声的双频率特点和构成，它能够在地面上传播很远（Sillero-Zubiri etal. 2004）。

PACK BEHAVIOR 族群行为

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).

　　在狩猎之前，豺会进行一场鼓舞士气式的问候。这看起来像是游戏或者具有攻击性的游戏，包括追逐、跳跃和奔跑（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). 

　　豺群会使用一个共同的厕所；在这里，豺群共同排便。这通常位于小径、动物通道、道路或十字路口附近。豺的公共厕所似乎起到了标志领地的作用，因此保护这些场所对于维持豺群正常状态非常重要（Acharya 2007）。

PACK STRUCTURE 群落结构

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).

　　豺群规模有繁荣与衰败交替的现象。由于疾病和扩散，豺群的大小通常会有很大的波动（Karanth 1999）。造成这种波动的其他原因包括豺加入到新的群体、个体迁移、幼崽出生或一年内未有幼崽出生（Johnsingh 1983）。这种移民现象和分散的生存模式导致了性别比例的倾斜，使豺群中的雄性更多（Johnsingh 1982和Venkataraman 1998）。即使数量不稳定，据估计，平均14豺仍需要60至70平方公里才能维持生存（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). 

　　一个豺群中的成员往往是核心家庭成员以及成年繁殖对后代中没有生育能力的兄弟姐妹（Acharya 2007）。已确认的最大规模的豺群有40只豺；包括幼崽（Davidar 1975）。人们认为，这些较大的豺群不是一个单独的豺群，而是由较小的豺群组成，它们若干原因聚在一起，一旦繁殖季节到来就会分散开来。这些大的集合有时被称为氏族[ref：clans]，豺的这种集结然后散开机制被称为聚变-裂变系统[ref：fusion-fission system]（Johnsingh 1982）。当豺群分开时，它们可能住得很近以至于它们的领土重叠，但内部核心区域不会重叠（Johnsingh 1983）。

BREEDING AND PUPS 养育幼崽 

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. 

　　豺在一岁半时就能繁殖，但一般的繁殖年龄是三岁（Venkataraman 1998），雌性豺的繁殖能力维持到十岁（Madhavan 2013）。繁殖季节的差异很大，这取决于它们所处的纬度和干湿季时间。在欧洲动物园，繁殖季节为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，通常是雄性领袖和雌性领袖交配。这导致了一种性别分离的等级制度的发展，在这种等级制度中，雄性领袖在群体中统治雄性，雌性领袖在群体中统治雌性（Ludwig 2004）。繁殖期是豺群攻击性明显的唯一时期，雌性首领会压制其他雌性以阻止它们繁殖（Volodina 2004）。大多数情况下，只有雄性首领繁殖后代，但族群中的次级雄性确实对雌性首领表现出了性兴趣，并可能因此生产后代。有趣的是，一旦幼崽们开始和豺群的其他成员一起奔跑，就很少有攻击行为来表明豺群的等级制度。

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).

　　豺需要豺群的支持来抚养幼崽。从属雌性和较大的群体比较小的群体成功率更高（Pandey 2013）。在群体外单独繁殖的雌性在抚养幼崽方面很少或根本不会成功（Johnsingh 1982）。被禁止繁殖的雌性也可能产下一窝幼崽，这一窝能否存活，并与其他幼崽一起被抚养，就取决于雌性首领了（Fox 1974）。也有记录显示，一个豺群中有多只哺乳期雌性；它们都倾向于哺育幼崽（Davidar 1974）。对于低级别的豺来说，帮助抚养幼崽也很重要，因为这有助于增加得以抚养自己未来幼崽的可能性（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).

　　豺要么自己挖窝洞，要么利用和改造其他动物挖的洞。这些洞穴可以是简单的单口单室洞到复杂的多口多室网络。这些洞穴经常会被年复一年地使用，有时是几代人共同使用（Fox 1974）。这些洞穴需要靠近水源和狩猎区（Fox 1974）。如果在任何时候豺群感到洞穴受到威胁，整个豺群都会帮助重新安置幼崽，并将它们转移到一个新的安全的地方（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时间段被称为洞穴期[ref：denning period]。洞穴期期间整个豺群都只在洞穴周围活动。豺群在一年的正常时间里的活动范围约为75平方公里，平均为30到60平方公里。在繁殖期有雌性哺育幼仔时，活动范围会缩小到核心的小区域，大小15到20平方公里。一旦幼崽长大或成年，洞穴期的约束便会消失，这导致豺群的领土会扩大到最大，有时会扩大到超过100平方公里（Acharya 2007）。在洞穴期期间，其他豺群成员会把肉带回洞穴，给幼崽和哺乳的母豺吃。肉会被反刍给幼崽和豺妈妈（Sillero-Zubiri 2004）。一旦豺妈妈和豺群一起外出狩猎，她通常会独吞一些小猎物（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验；雄性首领会进入洞穴，叼起幼崽，轻轻地摇一摇。如果幼崽发出呜咽或移动，表明它还活着，它就会和其他幼崽一起被放回去。对于死亡的幼崽，它们会被移出洞穴并被吃掉（Macisch 2006）。产仔数从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). 

　　幼崽出生时重200g-350g，身长25cm-27cm，但它们的体型不会保持太久；幼崽在10天大的时候体重可以翻倍（Paulraj 1992）。它们被一层深棕色的绒毛和几根长长的深色护毛覆盖，没有牙齿，眼睛和耳朵是闭着的。当他们出生10到20天的时候，他们的眼睛开始睁开（Davidar 1975）。大约在这个时候，他们的上门牙和下门牙长出来（Shilo 1994）。下一个长出来的牙齿是犬齿，大约在20天左右，磨牙大约在23天左右，最后是前磨牙，大约在30天左右（Shilo, 1994, Sosnovkii 1967）。在最初的两个月里，母豺几乎全职看护幼崽，由豺群进行喂养（Johnsingh 1982）。在五周大的时候，幼崽们开始在洞穴外探索，从捕猎归来的同伴那里抢肉（Davidar 1974）；然而，幼崽可能在3至4周龄时就开始自己吃肉（Sillero-Zubiri 2004）。豺的成长和成熟速度很快，而且它们必须这样，因为在3个月大的时候，小豺就会从洞里出来，跟随成年豺去狩猎（Sillero-Zubiri 2004）。也是在这个时候，幼崽开始褪去棕色的皮毛颜色，变成标志性的红色（Paulraj 1992）。豺崽在9到10个月大的时候就完全长大了（Shilo 2007），大约1岁的时候它们的皮毛颜色就与成熟个体无异了（Paulraj 1992）。

HUNTING 捕猎

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样，是超级食肉动物，这意味着它们的饮食中有70%以上是肉。一般认为，就栖息地和族群大小的限制而言，猎物是最大限制之一（Johnsingh 1985）。

PREY SELECTION 择食

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).

　　在其活动范围的许多地区，人们对豺的猎物选择进行了很细致的研究。似乎有两种有蹄类动物在豺的饮食中起着特别重要的作用：水鹿[Rusa unicolor]和白斑鹿[Axis axis]。在许多研究中，这些鹿是豺的前两大猎物。在大多数情况下，豺以雄性白斑鹿及白斑鹿幼崽为捕食对象，同时也捕食亚成年水鹿和水鹿幼崽（Acharya 2007, Johnsingh 1908, Karanth 1999）。雄鹿更可能成为猎捕对象，因为它们有鹿角。雄鹿在发情期的活动范围更广；它们通常是单独的，避免了在捕猎时被鹿群发现的弊端（Patel 1992）。人们还注意到，被捕食的雄鹿往往有更大的鹿角。人们认为，考虑到茂密的植被，较大的鹿角可能会使雄鹿更难逃脱（Johnsingh 1983）。在没有水鹿和白斑鹿的地区，豺会捕食其他中型甚至小型动物（Jenks 2012）。尼泊尔就是一个很好的例子，那里有豺，但没有水鹿或白斑鹿；那里的豺捕食其他的猎物，野猪是最常见的食物，其次是吠鹿、麝、蓝羊和喜马拉雅斑羚（Aryal 2015）。在马来西亚，野猪也被豺捕食，但只是偶尔；相反，豺的主要食物是鼠鹿（Kawanishi 2008）。在老挝，豺似乎不喜欢单一的猎物（Kamler 2012）。可悲的是，当没有原生猎物或数量很少时，豺就会捕食牲畜。这使它们与人类发生直接冲突（Aryal 2015）。在尼泊尔，人们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). 

　　在选择猎物时，豺似乎是机会主义者[总想投机取巧]。他们似乎更喜欢中等大小（26-100公斤）的有蹄类动物。在它们喜欢的猎物生活的地方，豺平均能捕获55.3公斤的猎物（Acharya 2007）。 

THE HUNT　捕猎

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).

　　一起打猎是豺的一项家庭活动，几乎豺群中所有的豺都能参与打猎。据估计，每只豺每年要吃掉340公斤的食物（Karanth 1988），狩猎似乎是这些超级食肉动物的首要任务。豺几乎完全在白天活动，通常在早晨和晚上捕猎。有一些关于豺在满月时狩猎的记载，但它们倾向于避开炎热的正午（Johnsingh 1983, Acharya 2007）。与狼或非洲野犬不同，豺更像是伏击型捕食者，在短距离内追捕猎物，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).

　　豺已经进化出一种独特的策略来对付比自己大的猎物。有些人认为族群的形成是为了狩猎大型猎物，但Venkataraman（1995）表明族群的大小与被猎杀猎物的体重之间没有相关性。事实上，他的研究表明，豺群越大，每只豺的食物就越少。在一些地区，豺会杀死较小的猎物，比如在马来西亚，豺会形成较小的群体，因为这样做可能更有能量优势（Kawanishi和Sunquist 2004）。豺不利用更大的个体数，而是利用当地的地形特征来帮助捕猎。在印度，人们注意到豺经常在水道里或水道附近杀死猎物。起初，人们认为这是因为猎物会往下坡跑，跑进山谷以躲避捕食者；然而，这一情况发生得如此频繁，以至于不像是偶然的。与豺在同一地区狩猎的野狗从未在水道中杀死猎物（Peacock 1928）。豺比大多数狗更善水，所以对豺来说在水中捕食大型猎物比在陆地上捕食更安全。水不仅使猎物更快地疲劳，而且使猎物更难以踢腿出并伤害豺。一旦猎物累了，回到陆地上，或者即使猎物还在水里，豺群也会开始吞食猎物，即使它还活着。大多数猎物死于失血过多导致的休克，而不是像老虎的猎物那样死于一次致命的咬伤。在某些情况下，猎物会被淹死（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).

　　一旦猎物倒下，所有豺群成员都会开始进食。幼崽和成年豺一起进食，豺群中很少发生内讧。在大型豺群和大型捕猎中，一只豺独自站岗是很常见的。老虎、豹子和人类都曾被发现抢夺豺的猎物，即使有豺正在进食（Karanth和Sunquist 2000）。为了防止猎物被偷走，豺会迅速吃掉猎物。齿形结构的变化可能会让豺更有效地撕扯和进食食物，通常在十分钟内豺就能吃掉一具尸体。即使是小豺崽也会在吃饭的时候狼吞虎咽；据观察，即使是4公斤的幼崽也能吃下1公斤的肉（Maisch 2006）。一旦他们吃饱了，他们就会离开捕杀地点。它们不会把食物藏起来，通常会把猎物留在户外（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). 

　　豺的狩猎成功率约为20%（Keller 1973），或者说每5次捕猎中约有1次成功，这使它们在食肉动物中处于中等地位。尚未有研究论证是否一个较大的群体比较小的群体狩猎成功率更高。由于豺难以捉摸的习性和所处环境的复杂，可能很难弄清楚这一点（Venkataraman 1995）。豺在其生态系统中扮演着独特的角色，既是生态指示器，也是调节器。豺之所以是一种大型捕食者，更多的是由于它们的群体规模而不是个体大小，它们需要大量的猎物才能生存。它们对猎物数量和栖息地质量的变化高度敏感（Acharya 2007）。如果一个地区有健康的豺群，那么这个地区的生态系统很可能是健康的。然而，如果一个地区的豺整体数量下降，就像它们的大部分活动地区一样，这便是一个警告，说明生态系统出了问题。人们还认为，豺在通过营养级联调节猎物数量方面发挥作用，这是该地区其他食肉动物无法充当的（Woodroffe和Ginsberg 2005）。