Snow Leopard Dietary Preferences and Livestock Predation Revealed by Fecal DNA Metabarcoding: No Evidence for Apparent Competition Between Wild and Domestic Prey

Abstract

Accurate assessments of the patterns and drivers of livestock depredation by wild carnivores are vital for designing effective mitigation strategies to reduce human-wildlife conflict. Snow leopard’s (Panthera uncia) range extensively overlaps pastoralist land-use and livestock predation there is widely reported, but the ecological determinants of livestock consumption by snow leopards remain obscure. We investigated snow leopard dietary habits at seven sites across the Sanjiangyuan region of the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau (QTP), an area central to the species’ global range. Snow leopard abundance, wild prey composition, and livestock density varied among those sites, thus allowing us to test the effects of various factors on snow leopard diet and livestock predation. Using DNA metabarcoding, we obtained highly resolved dietary data from 351 genetically verified snow leopard fecal samples. We then analyzed the prey preferences of snow leopards and examined ecological factors related to their livestock consumption. Across the sites, snow leopard prey was composed mainly of wild ungulates (mean = 81.5% of dietary sequences), particularly bharal (Pseudois nayaur), and supplemented with livestock (7.62%) and smaller mammals (marmots, pikas, mice; 10.7%). Snow leopards showed a strong preference for bharal, relative to livestock, based on their densities. Interestingly, both proportional and total livestock consumption by snow leopards increased linearly with local livestock biomass, but not with livestock density. That, together with a slight negative relationship with bharal density, supports apparent facilitation between wild and domestic prey. We also found a significant positive correlation between population densities of snow leopard and bharal, yet those densities showed slight negative relationships with livestock density. Our results highlight the importance of sufficient wild ungulate abundance to the conservation of viable snow leopard populations. Additionally, livestock protection is critically needed to reduce losses to snow leopard depredation, especially where local livestock abundances are high.

Spatial separation of prey from livestock facilitates coexistence of a specialized large carnivore with human land use

“…2a), in line with the highly specialized diet of snow leopards on bharal in our study area (Lu et al. 2021). Thus, the spatial separation of bharal with livestock also leads to snow leopards' limited overlap with livestock habitat.…”

“…Snow leopard habitat use, at the valley level, also was not correlated with livestock density (not retained in the final averaged model after model selection); instead, it was significantly positively correlated with bharal density (coefficient = 0.30, P = 0.03, n = 55; Fig. 2a), in line with the highly specialized diet of snow leopards on bharal in our study area (Lu et al 2021). Thus, the spatial separation of bharal with livestock also leads to snow leopards' limited overlap with livestock habitat.…”

Free‐ranging livestock altered the spatiotemporal behavior of the endangered North Chinese leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis) and its prey and intensified human–leopard conflicts

“…This was validated by the results showing that cattle depredation frequency was positively correlated with the cattle detection rate, but not correlated with the leopard detection rate. Such mechanism has also been recently reported in other large carnivore-livestock predation system based on fine-scale diet analysis through fecal DNA metabarcoding (Lu et al 2021). While abundant wild prey may be able to reduce depredation of cattle (Khanal et al 2020), in our study area, the frequency of cattle depredation events increased, even in the summer when the wild prey detection rate increased.…”

“…Such mechanism has also been recently reported in other large carnivore–livestock predation system based on fine‐scale diet analysis through fecal DNA metabarcoding (Lu et al . 2021). While abundant wild prey may be able to reduce depredation of cattle (Khanal et al .…”

Free‐ranging livestock affected the spatiotemporal behavior of the endangered snow leopard (Panthera uncia)

“…The abundance and distribution of these ungulates decide the population dynamics and spatial patterns of snow leopards (Filla, Lama, Filla, et al, 2022 , Filla, Lama, Ghale, et al, 2022 ; Sharief et al, 2022 ). Increasing grazing activities pressure wild ungulates (Karimov et al, 2018 ; Lu et al, 2021 ), potentially affecting the predation efficiency of large carnivores such as the snow leopard indirectly (Ghoshal et al, 2017 ; Yang et al, 2021 ). However, livestock has also been found to replace wild ungulates and fill the food needs of snow leopards occasionally (Rovero et al, 2018 ), sometimes even as the primary prey (Bocci et al, 2017 ).…”