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First Confirmed Dhole Record in Vietnam in More Than 20 Years

Camera-trap photograph of the dhole recorded in Pu Hoat Nature Reserve on 31 December 2023
Conservation · Population & status

A dhole (Cuon alpinus) photographed in Pu Hoat Nature Reserve in north-central Vietnam became the country’s first confirmed wild record of the species in more than 20 years. The adult was recorded by a camera trap on 31 December 2023 at 1,590 m elevation in wet evergreen forest, about 4.3 km from the border with Laos.

The Pu Hoat survey ran from November 2023 to March 2024. Researchers established 45 camera-trap stations, retrieved 37 of them and accumulated 6,084 camera-trap nights. Because hunting dogs are common in Vietnam, four independent biologists familiar with dholes reviewed the image and confirmed the identification.

The record contrasted with a long national absence

The single record contrasted sharply with the wider national picture. The authors compiled at least 49 large-scale camera-trapping surveys conducted across Vietnam during 2014–2024. Together these involved 3,231 cameras at 1,657 stations across 31 sites within the dhole’s historical range, totalling 269,524 camera-trap nights, without another dhole detection.

Camera-trap survey sites across Vietnam, including Pu Hoat Nature Reserve
Camera-trap surveys across Vietnam in 2014–2024. Pu Hoat Nature Reserve is site 4. Blue points mark stations surveyed more than once; red points mark the other stations. Figure 1 from Nguyen et al. (2026), Oryx, CC BY 4.0.

One photograph does not confirm a local population

The researchers therefore caution that the Pu Hoat photograph does not demonstrate a surviving local population; the animal could have been a vagrant, possibly from another forest area in Vietnam or Laos. They conclude that dholes are nevertheless likely extirpated from most protected areas in Vietnam, with intensive snaring and prey depletion among the principal pressures discussed.

Sources and image credit

  1. Nguyen, A. T., Nguyen, A., Nguyen, T. V., Le, D., Nguyen, V. T. T., Tran, D. V., Viet, D. P., Ha, T. T., Nguyen, P. V., Vu, H. V., Nguyen, T. V., Maheshwari, A., Hoan, P. X., Le, V. S., Le, Q. T., Le, M., Cao, T. T., Wearn, O. R., Niedballa, J., … Tilker, A. (2026). New record of dhole Cuon alpinus in Vietnam, yet apparent decline of the species across the country. Oryx, First View, 1–4. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0030605325101580Primary open-access short communication first published online 26 February 2026. A camera trap recorded one adult dhole in Pu Hoat Nature Reserve on 31 December 2023, the first confirmed wild record in Vietnam in more than 20 years. The authors also compiled 3,231 camera traps at 1,657 stations across 31 other sites surveyed during 2014–2024 without dhole detections.

Image: Nguyen et al. (2026) / Oryx. Camera-trap photograph of the dhole recorded in Pu Hoat Nature Reserve, Nghe An Province, Vietnam, 31 December 2023. Plate 1 from the study, cropped to 16:9. CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). · CC BY 4.0 · Source

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