I hold a PhD in synthetic organic chemistry. Within the purview of chemistry, my focus is centered on improving the clarity, consistency, and accuracy of 2D representations of chemical structures and reaction mechanisms found on this website. As a fan of dogs and canids in general, I enjoy reading about the evolving systematics of canidae and issues surrounding conservation of the clade, and I hope that curiosity might eventually accumulate in a base level of competence that allows me to contribute in this venue.
As someone who has extensively used wikipedia to better understand the plants, animals, and fungi that immediately surround me, I believe that enabling accurate identification of an organism by an average reader is a noble goal that should be pursued whenever practical. While I do not believe articles can function as robust field guides without distracting from their encyclopedic mission, making small adjustments such as judiciously choosing feature graphics that depict key identifying characteristics, mentioning or graphically comparing commonly confused species, or describing well-sourced rules of thumb (e.g. leaf scars in Fraxinus pennsylvanica vs F. americana) makes for better, more encyclopedic articles.
The dhole (Cuon alpinus) is the third, forgotten member of the "hypersocial" canids. It is not a fox.
