Diet Selection of Leopards (<i>Panthera pardus</i>) in a Human-Use Landscape in North-Eastern India

Kshettry, Aritra; Vaidyanathan, Srinivas; Athreya, Vidya

doi:10.1177/1940082918764635

Cited by 37 publications

(41 citation statements)

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“…There is increasing evidence that poor livestock protection practices, sometimes in combination with low wild prey density, lead to livestock depredation by large felids (Athreya et al, 2016;Shehzad et al, 2015;Suryawanshi et al, 2017;Kshettry, Vaidyanathan & Athreya, 2018). Most of the information on livestock depredation by large felids in tropical areas are from in, or around, protected areas (Patterson et al, 2004;Harihar, Pandav & Goyal, 2011;Khorozyan et al, 2015) where livestock are only an alternative prey.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of leopards (Panthera pardus) on livestock losses and human injuries in a human-use landscape in Maharashtra, India

Athreya

Isvaran

Odden

et al. 2020

PeerJ

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There are many ways in which large carnivores and humans interact in shared spaces. In this study we provide insights into human-leopard relationships in an entirely modified, human-dominated landscape inhabited by dense populations of humans (266 per km2), their livestock (162 per km2) and relatively high densities of large predators (10 per 100 km2). No human deaths were recorded, and livestock losses to leopards numbered only 0.45 per km2per year (averaged over three years) despite the almost complete dependency of leopards on domestic animals as prey. Predation was not the major cause of livestock mortality as diseases and natural causes caused higher losses (80% of self-reported losses). We also found that ineffective night time livestock protection and the presence of domestic dogs increased the probability of a farmer facing leopard attacks on livestock. Resident farmers faced much lower livestock losses to leopard predation in contrast to the migratory shepherds who reported much higher losses, but rarely availed of the government compensation schemes. We recommend that local wildlife managers continue to shift from reactive measures such as leopard captures after livestock attacks to proactive measures such as focusing on effective livestock protection and informing the affected communities about safety measures to be taken where leopards occur in rural landscapes. The natural causes of livestock deaths due do diseases may be better prevented by involving animal husbandry department for timely vaccinations and treatment.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of leopards (Panthera pardus) on livestock losses and human injuries in a human-use landscape in Maharashtra, India

Athreya

Isvaran

Odden

et al. 2020

PeerJ

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“…One would expect livestock losses to be very high because of the absence of wild herbivores in this landscape (Kshettry et al, 2018). However, 242 livestock killed in the 179 km 2 intensive study area were reported as killed by leopards over three years despite extremely high densities of livestock (Athreya et al, 2014), and a high density of leopards (Athreya et al, 2013).…”

Section: Compensation Payment For Livestock Lossesmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…There is increasing evidence that poor livestock protection practices, sometimes in combination with low wild prey density, lead to livestock depredation by many individual large felids within a population (Athreya et al, 2014;Shehzad et al, 2014;Suryawanshi et al, 2017;Kshettry, Vaidyanathan & Athreya, 2018). Most of the information on livestock depredation by large felids in tropical areas are from in, or around, protected areas (Patterson et al, 2004;Harihar, Pandav & Goyal, 2011;Khorozyan et al, 2015) where livestock are only an alternative prey.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Manuscript to be reviewed such as domestic animals like dogs, livestock and garbage (Gehrt, Riley & Cypher, 2010;Athreya et al, 2014;Kshettry et al, 2018). In India, reproducing populations of some large carnivores species such as wolves Canis lupus (Jhala & Giles, 1991), Asiatic lions Panthera leo (Banerjee et al, 2013), striped hyaenas Hyaena hyaena (Singh, Gopalaswamy & Karanth, 2010) and leopards Panthera pardus (Athreya et al, 2013), all of which are capable of attacking livestock and humans, inhabit human-dominated landscapes with dense human populations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Peer Review #2 of "The impact of leopards (Panthera pardus) on livestock losses and human injuries in a human-use landscape in Maharashtra, India (v0.1)"

2020

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Manuscript to be reviewed There are many ways in which large carnivores and humans interact in shared spaces. In this study we provide insights into human-leopard relationships in an entirely modified, human-dominated landscape inhabited by dense populations of humans (266 per km), their livestock (162 per km 2) and relatively high densities of large predators (10 per 100 km 2). No human deaths were recorded, livestock losses to leopards numbered only 0.45 per km 2 per year (averaged over three years) despite the almost complete dependency of leopards on domestic animals as prey. Predation was not the major cause of livestock mortality as diseases and natural causes caused higher losses (80% of self-reported losses). We also found that ineffective night time protection and the presence of domestic dogs increased the probability of a farmer facing leopard attacks on livestock. Resident farmers faced much lower livestock losses to leopard predation in contrast to the migratory shepherds who reported much higher losses, but rarely availed of the government compensation schemes. We recommend that local wildlife managers continue to shift from reactive measures such as leopard captures after livestock attacks to proactive measures such as focusing on effective livestock protection and informing the affected communities about safety measures to be taken where leopards occur in rural landscapes. The natural causes of livestock deaths due do diseases may be better prevented by involving animal husbandry department for timely vaccinations and treatment.

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“…Leopards are found in a wide range of habitat types from tropical, subtropical and humid forests, mountain, savannah and scrub through to deserts (Nowell and Jackson 1996;Sanei et al 2011a;Stein and Hayssen 2013;Shehzad et al 2014;Athreya et al 2016). They feed on a broad range of prey species, such as ungulates, birds, rodents and reptiles (Sanei et al 2011b;Mondal et al 2012a;Shehzad et al 2014;Kshettry et al 2018). Leopards are wide-ranging carnivores.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Un-Common Leopard: presence, distribution and abundance in Gallies and Murree Forest Division, Northern Pakistan

Asad¹,

Waseem²,

Ross³

et al. 2019

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The leopard Panthera pardus is thought to be sparsely distributed across Pakistan and there is limited understanding of the demographic structure and distribution of the species in this country. We conducted a study, from April to July 2017, and, from March to June 2018, in the northern Pakistan region to establish the presence and distribution of leopards, mindful at the outset of their abundance in that region. The presence of leopards was confirmed in the Swat, Dir and Margalla Hills region. The leopard population in Gallies and Murree Forest Division was preliminarily assessed via camera-trapping. As a result, a total of 63 potential areas of leopard population were identified initially. The leopard was photo captured at 27 locations (hotspots) with 34 capture events yielding 195 images over the course of 3,022 active trap-nights. Camera trap images were examined to identify leopard individuals using their rosette patterns on both the left and right flanks and the dorsal side of the tail. Ultimately, 15 leopard individuals were identified during the first survey period of the study and four individuals were recaptured in the second survey period, together with three new individuals. The detection probability of individual leopards from MARK varied from 0.10 and 0.20 with a population size (preliminarily estimated to be 16–25 (SE = 3.18) in 2107 and 7–13 (SE = 1.87) in 2018. This gave a density of 4.5 to 9.5 leopards/100 km2, respectively. A home range of various individual leopards was found to extend from the Gallies Reserved Forest to the extended corridors of Guzara Forest. In general, this study suggests that the Guzara Forest is crucially important for the conservation of leopards in the region as this area allows them extended movement while searching for food and mates.

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Diet Selection of Leopards (Panthera pardus) in a Human-Use Landscape in North-Eastern India

Cited by 37 publications

References 41 publications

The impact of leopards (Panthera pardus) on livestock losses and human injuries in a human-use landscape in Maharashtra, India

The impact of leopards (Panthera pardus) on livestock losses and human injuries in a human-use landscape in Maharashtra, India

Peer Review #2 of "The impact of leopards (Panthera pardus) on livestock losses and human injuries in a human-use landscape in Maharashtra, India (v0.1)"

The Un-Common Leopard: presence, distribution and abundance in Gallies and Murree Forest Division, Northern Pakistan

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