Game of Dholes: Saving India's Wild Dogs Amidst Power, Pack Politics and Predators
In this Pint of View lecture, we bring you Arjun Srivathsa, a carnivore ecologist whose work sits at the intersection of science, fieldwork and conservation storytelling.
India supports nearly a quarter of the world’s carnivores while also being home to over 1.4 billion people. How does such a crowded, contested landscape continue to sustain so many top predators? At the centre of this ecological high-stakes game is one of India’s most fascinating and least understood hunters: the dhole, or Asiatic wild dog.
Highly social, remarkably intelligent, and among the world’s most endangered carnivores, dholes play a crucial role in keeping forest ecosystems intact. Yet they live lives shaped by constant negotiation: shifting alliances within packs, rivalries with tigers and leopards, and the growing pressures of human-altered habitats.
So what does a dhole’s everyday life actually look like? How do their families function? Who really holds power in the jungle: the tiger, the leopard, or the pack? And could dholes ever emerge as true kings of the forest?
Drawing on over 15 years of field research, this talk offers a rare, intimate look into the lives of dholes and the predators they live alongside, with science, stories, and a sense of humour.
About the Speaker
Arjun Srivathsa is a DST INSPIRE Fellow at the National Centre for Biological Sciences–TIFR, Bengaluru. He received his PhD from the University of Florida (2020), where his research focused on a multi-scale assessment of dhole metapopulations. His work today centres on large carnivores, population ecology, human–wildlife interactions and conservation biology in India.
Event details
Date: Sunday, 15 February 2026
Time: 3:00 PM – 5:00 PM
Venue: Atta Galatta, First Floor
What your ticket includes
- 1 complimentary sober drink from Local Ferment Co.
- Free street-side parking
Seating will be on first come, first served basis.
What's included
- Lecture
- 1 complimentary sober beverage (soda, kombucha or gingerale from Local Ferment Co.)
What's not
Where it is
Address : Atta Galatta, 178, 5th Main Rd, Indira Nagar 1st Stage, 1st Stage, Indiranagar, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560038, India
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