Asiatic wild dogs, or dholes (Cuon alpinus), restricted to small, isolated populations, are facing threats including habitat loss, limited prey availability, human conflict, disease, and competition, contributing to their global population decline. Despite this, dholes have received limited research attention, hindering effective conservation initiatives to ensure their protection. To bridge this gap, this study synthesizes published literature on dhole populations and ecology, examining aspects of their behavior and requirements that influence threats to the species. Critical knowledge gaps in dhole ecology include limited understanding of their distribution, population size, and interactions with prey and sympatric carnivores, inadequate research on disease dynamics, insufficient conflict mapping, and lack of awareness of dholes. Addressing these gaps necessitates global coordination among dhole researchers to prioritize and conduct studies on understanding the population dynamics of dholes, their prey, and sympatric carnivores, focusing on their behavior, threats, and mitigation measures. Additionally, this may include designs for efficient conservation strategies to sustain prey populations, manage and connect vital habitats, and foster positive interactions with local communities and managers to tackle human-dhole conflicts. Such efforts require involvement at different scales, from global initiatives to specific locations. To combat the lack of research support for understudied species like dholes, one approach is to analyze existing camera trap datasets originally collected for monitoring other species. By utilizing bycatch camera trap data from the 2018 National Tiger Survey in Chitwan and Parsa National Parks, Nepal, this study investigated the distribution of dholes in these National Parks. Standard occupancy models were employed to estimate the likelihood of dhole occurrence based on ecological factors including forest cover, grassland cover, prey abundance, and terrain ruggedness. The findings indicated that the probability of dhole occupancy was positively associated with forest cover and a weak positive association with prey availability. This highlights the importance of safeguarding forest habitats and prey to ensure the survival of dholes in Nepal. By utilizing existing bycatch datasets and innovative analysis techniques, it is possible to effectively address knowledge gaps in the ecological understanding of endangered species like dholes, especially in cases where conservation funding is limited.