The Terra Natura Benidorm meadow have hosted the birth of four dholes (Cuon alpinus). The birth took place in the lair that the parents did so the female could give birth there. As the zoo keepers have observed that the behavior of the rest of the herd was normal before the arrival of these pups, they didn´t intervene in the breeding process, so they haven´t been able to verify the weight or sex of the puppies.
This has allowed the parents to raise their puppies in the meadow naturally but always under strict supervision of zoo keepers and veterinarians. In general, the pups of this species usually weigh at birth about 200 grams. The mother, named Nina, had those pups after completing a gestation close to 60 days. At the moment, the female is nursing her pups through her eight pairs of breasts, a number that differs from the rest of canids that have five pairs of breasts.
Dholes are social animals where the dominant pair of the herd are the ones who reproduce and the others members help raising the pups, so it is not unusual to see these days dholes dipping their head through the lair or taking the pups to the meadow until Father Lenon or Nina put them back into the den.
When the pups finish the phase of suckling, they will be fed by the members of the group with meat. The pups grow quickly, with only six months they start to go with the herd to hunt. The first reproduction of dholes in captivity in Terra Natura Benidorm was in 2006, just one year after the first dholes arrived to the park.
These dogs are known as whistling dogs because they have a wide range of vocalizations to communicate with each other. They are gregarious hunters who can kill prey biggers than them. When they hunt, they take the prey to the river to drown them. They are known for their ferocity. In ‘The Jungle Book’ film dholes appears confronting the protagonist Mowgli.