Indian wolves are counting, one by one.

India's unique wolf population and habitation are under increasing pressure due to compensatory crops and development plans. Census wolves can help with conservation efforts, but their elusive and highly mobile nature poses a challenge.

Identifying individual wolves by their howl is being explored as a possible method for calculating wolf populations. While the identification of howls needs to be improved, the pressing ecological challenges faced by India's unique herding biodiversity make documentation an urgent task.

"Some have broken legs; some have broken tails. This is how Mihir Godbole identified the wolves in Sassuad, just 31 kilometers from the busy city of Pune. A director and conservationist, he is the founder of The Grassland Trust and has worked with wolves on the outskirts of Pune for more than a decade. During that time, he studied wolves in-depth and says he could identify 62 individuals based on their unique characteristics.

As for identifying the unknown number of wolves roaming the prairie, according to Sugata Sadhuhan, "It can be tough to do with just their fur." However, according to Sadhukhan, a graduate student at the Indian Wildlife Institute (WII), wolves can also be identified by their howl. The latter co-authored a study last year about the potential of identifying Indian wolves by their cry as a non-invasive research method.

When Godball first started looking for wolves, it wasn't easy to find them. They appear in seemingly random places. This makes them difficult to document and study. However, the herding community in the area has long learned to maintain a peaceful, albeit weak, relationship with these wolves. Seeking advice, Godball began documenting willow biodiversity, particularly wolves.

But these grasslands are "India's most underrated ecosystem," according to ecologist Abi Wanaka, who has mapped India's open-air ecosystems. They are also under increasing pressure "in a rush to plant trees on every available land to offset deforestation elsewhere." He said it encourages "species that need more protection, such as leopards, to colonize new areas and potentially overpower and replace native species such as wolves."

And it's not just leopards; wild dogs are a more significant threat to Indian wolves. Because they are so close, they can carry disease and mate. "Can destroy an entire herd," said Wanaka, which has "serious long-term consequences for the unique Indian wolf." These overlapping threats make it important to document India's critically endangered wolf population.

The Indian gray wolf (Canis lupus pallipes) is protected under the Wildlife Protection Act of India (1972) but is commonly found outside protected areas. Scientists are working on identifying individuals in a population, with acoustic-based surveillance being one of these new techniques. If successful, scientists could conduct a census of the gray wolf population in India and debate its conservation, and better understand the species' movements and behavior.