Leopard (Panthera pardus) Food Habits in Shared Landscapes: A Case Study of Two Watersheds

Kaleem Ahmed, Nazneen Zehra, Jamal A Khan

Abstract


Leopard (Panthera pardus) food habits was investigated in the human-used landscape of Dabka and Khulgarh Watershed areas of Kumoan Himalayan, Uttarakhan, India between September 2007 and  June 2009. In total, 91 and 118 leopard scats were collected from  Dabka and Khulgarh  respectively. Prey items were identified using non-digested material isolated from scats, as well as a reference collection of hairs and bones from potential prey. Faecal analysis revealed that leopards preyed on 11 and 12 species in Dabka and Khulgarh, respectively. Total diet diversity of leopard was 2.98 in Dabka and 3.00 in Khulgarh. Sambar (53.41%)  in Dabka and domestic dog (36.23%) in Khulgarh constituted the bulk of leopards diet both in terms relative prey biomass consumed. Comparison of the observed and expected frequency of occurrence of prey species in leopard diet rejected the hypothesis of non-selective  predation in both the study sites. This study showed the survival strategies of leopard by switching diet according to the prey composition of the study area indicating that leopard can survive anywhere. The study highlights the wide dietary width of leopards identified in other research but rarely investigated in shared spaces. Such studies are crucial to the successfull management of "potentially harmful" wildlife in human-use areas. In particular, our result suggest that there is no single key for the existence of the leopard, which should rather depend upon on ecological features of the study area for example, abundance, prey composition, habitat condition and human settlement.

Keywords


Biomass, Kumoan Himalayas, Panthera pardus, Prey selectivity, Scat analysis

References


Anonymous, 2019. 20th livestock census-2019: All India Report, Ministry of fisheries, animal husbandry & dairying. Department of Animal Husbandry & Dairying, Animal Husbandry Division, Krishi Bhawan, New Delhi.

Ahmed, K. 2007. Ecology and conservation of barasingha (Cervus duvauceli duvauceli) in terai grass land of uttar pradesh, india, M.Phill Dissertation, Department of Wildlife Sciences, AMU, Aligarh.

Ahmed, K. 2010. A study on faunal diversity of Dabka and Khulgad watershed areas of Kumaon Himalayas, Uttarakhand, India. Doctoral dissertation, Aligarh Muslim University.

Ahmed, K. and Khan J.A. 2008. Food habits of leopard in tropical moist deciduous forest of Dudhwa National Park, Uttar Pradesh, India. International Journal of Ecology and Environmental Sciences 34: 141-147.

Ahmed, K. and Khan, J.A. 2021. Herpetofauna assemblage in two watershed areas of Kumoan Himalaya, Utarakhand, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 13(2): 17684–17692.

Andheria, A.P.; Karanth, K.U. and Kumar, N.S. 2007. Diet and prey profiles of three sympatric large carnivores in Bandipur Tiger Reserve, India. Journal of Zoology 273(2): 169-175.

Athreya, V.; Odden, M.; Linnell, J.D.C.; Krishnaswamy, J. and Karanth, K.U. 2014. A cat among the dogs: Leopard Panthera pardus diet in a human-dominated landscape in western Maharashtra, India. Oryx 50: 1–7.

Athreya, V.; Odden, M.; Linnell, J.D.C.; Krishnaswamy, J. and Karanth, U. 2013. Big cats in our backyards: Persistence of large carnivores in a human dominated landscape in India. PLoS One 8(3): e57872.

Bertram, B.C.B. 1999. Leopard. In the encyclopedia of mammals. In: Macdonald D.W (Editor). Oxford: Andromeda Oxford Limited 44-48.

Bhattacharjee, A. and Parthasarathy, N. 2013. Coexisting with large carnivores: A case study from Western Duars, India. Human Dimensions of Wildlife 18(1): 20–31.

Ceballos, G.; Ehrlich, P.R. and Raven, P.H. 2020. Vertebrates on the brink as indicators of biological annihilation and the sixth mass extinction. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 117(24): 13596-13602.

Champion, H.G. and Seth, S.K. 1968. A Revised Survey of the forest types of India, Govt of India Press New Delhi.

Chakrabarti, S.; Jhala, Y.V.; Dutta, S.; Qureshi, Q.; Kadivar, R.F. and Rana, V.J. 2016. Adding constraints to predation through allometric relation of scats to consumption. Journal of Animal Ecology 85(3): 660–670.

Farhadinia, M.S.; Moqanaki, E.M. and Hosseini-Zavarei, F. 2014. Predator–prey relationships in a middle Asian Montane steppe: Persian leopard versus urial wild sheep in Northeastern Iran. European Journal of Wildlife Research 60(2): 341-349.

Ghosal, S.; Athreya, V.R.; Linnell, J.D.C. and Vedeld, P.O. 2013. An ontological crisis? A review of large felid conservation in India. Biodiversity and Conservation 22(11): 2665–2681.

Griffiths, D. 1975. Prey availability and the food of predators. Ecology 56(5): 1209-1214.

Grobler, J.H. and Wilson, V.J. 1972. Food of the Leopard Panthera Pardus (Linn.) in the Rhodes Matopos National Park, Rhodesia. National Museums of Rhodesia.

Hayward, M.W.; Henschel, P.; O’Brien, J.; Hofmeyr, M.; Balme, G. and Kerley, G.I.H. 2006. Prey preferences of the leopard (Panthera pardus). Journal of Zoology 270: 298–313.

Henschel, P,, Abernethy, K,A. and White, L.J.T. 2005. Leopard food habits in the Lope National Park, Gabon, Central Africa. African Journal of Ecology 43(1): 21-28.

Jathanna, D.; Karanth, K,U. and Johnsingh, A.J.T. 2003. Estimation of large herbivore densities in the tropical forests of southern India using distance sampling. Journal of Zoology 261(3): 285–290.

Johnsingh, A.J.T. 1983. Large mammalian prey-predators in Bandipur. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 80: 1-57.

Karanth, K,U. and Sunquist, M.E. 1995. Prey selection by tiger, leopard and dhole in tropical forests. Journal of Animal Ecology 439-450.

Kshettry, A.; Vaidyanathan, S. and Athreya, V. 2017. Leopard in a tea-cup: A study of leopard habitat-use and human-leopard interactions in north-eastern India. PLoS One 12(5): e0177013.

Kshettry, A.; Vaidyanathan, S. and Athreya, V. 2018. Diet selection of Leopards (Panthera pardus) in a human-use landscape in North-Eastern India. Tropical Conservation Science 11:1940082918764635.

Khan, J.A.; Chellam, R..; Rodgers, W.A. and Johnsingh, A.J.T. 1996. Ungulate densities and biomass in the tropical dry deciduous forests of Gir, Gujarat, India. Journal of Tropical Ecology 149-162.

Link, W.A. and Karanth, K.U. 1994. Correcting for overdispersion in tests of prey selectivity. Ecology 75(8): 2456-2459.

Miller, D.A.; Nichols, J.D.; McClintock, B.T.; Grant, E.H.C.; Bailey, L.L. and Weir, L.A. 2011. Improving occupancy estimation when two types of observational error occur: nondetection and species misidentification. Ecology 92: 1422–1428.

Mondal, K.; Gupta, S.; Bhattacharjee, S.; Qureshi, Q. and Sankar, K. 2012. Prey selection, food habits and dietary overlap between leopard Panthera pardus (Mammalia: Carnivora) and reintroduced tiger Panthera tigris (Mammalia: Carnivora) in a semi-arid forest of Sariska Tiger Reserve, Western India. Italian Journal of Zoology 79(4): 607-616.

Mondal, K.; Gupta, S.; Qureshi, Q. and Sankar, K. 2011. Prey selection and food habits of leopard (Panthera pardus fusca) in Sariska Tiger Reserve, Rajasthan, India. Mammalia 75(2): 201-205.

Mukherjee, S.; Goyal, S.P. and Chellam, R. 1994. Refined techniques for the analysis of Asiatic Lion Panthera leo persica scats. Acta Theriologica 39: 425-425.

Navya, R.; Athreya, V.; Mudappa, D. and Raman, S. 2014. Assessing leopard occurrence in the plantation landscape of Valparai, Anamalai Hills. Scientific Corrispondence 107: 1381–1385.

Nowell, K. and Jackson, P. (Editors). 1996. Wild cats: status survey and conservation action plan (Vol. 382). Gland, Switzerland: IUCN.

Odden, M.; Athreya, V.; Rattan, S. and Linnell, J.D.C. 2014. Adaptable neighbours: Movement patterns of GPS-collared leopards in human dominated landscapes in India. PLoS One 9(11): e112044.

Puri, M.; Srivathsa, A.; Karanth, K.K.; Patel, I. and Kumar, N.S. 2020. The balancing act: Maintaining leopard-wild prey equilibrium could offer economic benefits to people in a shared forest landscape of central India. Ecological Indicators 110: 105931.

Ramakrishnan, U.; Coss, R.G. and Pelkey, N.W. 1999. Tiger decline caused by the reduction of large ungulate prey: Evidence from a study of leopard diets in southern India. Biological Conservation 89(2): 113–120.

Ramesh, T.; Snehalatha, V.; Sankar, K. and Qureshi, Q. 2009. Food habits and prey selection of tiger and leopard in Mudumalai Tiger Reserve, Tamil Nadu, India. International Journal of Environmental Science and Technology 2(3): 170–181.

Rice, C.G. 1981. Observations on predators and prey at Eravikulam National Park, Kerala. Journal of Bombay Natural History Society Bombay 83(2): 283-303.

Sankar, K. and Johnsingh, A.J.T. 2002. Food habits of tiger (Panthera tigris) and leopard (Panthera pardus) in Sariska Tiger Reserve, Rajasthan, India, as shown by scat analysis. Mammalia 66(2): 285-288.

Schaller, G.B. 1967. The deer and the tiger–University of Chicago Press. Chicago and London.

Scheel, D. 1993. Profitability, encounter rates, and prey choice of African lions. Behavioral Ecology 4(1): 90-97.

Sharbafi, E.; Farhadinia, M.S.; Rezaie, H.R. and Braczkowski, A.R. 2016. Prey of the Persian leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor) in a mixed forest-steppe landscape in northeastern Iran (Mammalia: Felidae). Zoology in the Middle East 62(1): 1-8.

Shehzad, W.; Nawaz, M.A.; Pompanon, F.; Coissac, E.; Riaz, T.; Shah, S.A. and Taberlet, P. 2014. Forest without prey: Livestock sustain a leopard Panthera pardus population in Pakistan. Oryx 1-6.

Stephens, D.W. and Krebs, J.R. 1986. Foraging theory (Vol. 1). Princeton University Press.

Sultana, A. 2002. Ecology and conservation of avian communities of middle-altitude oak forest of Kumaon Himalaya, Uttar Pradesh, India. Ph.D Thesis, Department of Wildlife Sciences, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh.

Sunquist, M.E. and Sunquist, F.C. 1989. Ecological constraints on predation by large felids. In Carnivore behavior, ecology, and evolution. Springer, Boston MA 283-301.

Sunquist, M.E. 1981. The social organization of tigers (Panthera tigris) in Royal Chitawan National Park, Nepal. Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology.

Zar, J.H. 1999. Biostatisticial Analysis. 4th edition. Pearson Education Inc. One lake.

Zehra, N.; Chaudhary, R. and Khan, J.A. 2019. Ecology of Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca Meyer) in Dry Tropical Forests of Gir National Park and Sanctuary, Gujarat, India. International Journal of Ecology and Environmental Sciences 45(3): 241-255.


Full Text: PDF

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

COPYRIGHT of this Journal vests fully with the National Instional Institute of Ecology. Any commercial use of the content on this site in any form is legally prohibited.