Ecology and conservation of the short-eared dog

Next to nothing is known about South America's elusive short-eared dog (Atelocynus microtis). No systematic research on the species has been carried out, and most of what is known about it comes from scattered museum specimens and from a few sightings in the field. Now, the accelerating deforestation across the Amazon makes the species a top priority for research and conservation.

An exciting new WildCRU initiative is to launch a study of the short-eared dog, and sympatric carnivores, in one of the largest and most pristine rainforest areas of the world, in the Manú National Park (1.7 million ha) and the adjacent Alto Purús Reserved Zone (2.5 million ha), both in Perú. Considering almost nothing is known of this species, the project will be broadly based, but with a keen eye to the risks of disease caught from domestic dogs along with other conflicts stemming from the human populations outside the park. Planned outputs of the project include a vaccination programme for domestic dogs and a community education programme. Reports suggested that the short-eared dog was relatively common in Peru in the 1960s, but seemingly vanished from the region between 1970 and 1990, although our preliminary results are that it is increasing again. This pattern suggests two working hypotheses. First, that an epizootic disease is involved and, second that the short-eared dog was the victim of shifts in community structure, perhaps triggered by a documented crash in the peccary populations which may have shifted jaguars' diet and thus provoked a cascade of other effects. Domestic dogs are known to be an effective lure for jaguars, so perhaps short-eared dogs also attract the attention of these big cats. In a survey in 2000 we found a population of the short-eared-dogs in Manú National Park, along with healthy populations of peccaries, and jaguars. The same survey revealed, even in the remotest villages in the park, widespread antibody titres for both distemper and parvovirus amongst domestic dogs. In 2002 a survey in the Alto Purús Reserved Zone revealed short-eared-dogs, jaguars and peccaries (and also distemper and parvovirus titres in domestic dogs) there too, and led to the first ever radio-collaring of a short-eared dog. Two weeks later this invaluable individual was shot and killed by local hunters.