Leopard preyed on Jungle cat: evidence from the mid-hill of Nepal

Leopard preyed on Jungle cat

Authors

  • Shivish Bhandari a:1:{s:5:"en_US";s:23:"Morgan State University";}
  • Kedar Baral
  • Binaya Adhikari

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17161/eurojecol.v8i1.15220

Keywords:

Leopard, Jungle cat, conservation, prey

Abstract

In the pictures taken by the camera trap, the photo of a leopard hunting a jungle cat is rare. This type of evidence makes it easier to understand the current status of wildlife and also implement further conservation actions. This study was conducted from November 2020 to December 2020 in the mid-hill regions of Nepal. We installed the camera traps in l*1 km grid cell covering about 60 km2. Out of 36 camera trap locations, 1 leopard preying on a jungle cat was captured in one location. Our study concluded that carnivores could capture another sympatric family because of the lack of natural prey species. Therefore, conservation of the natural prey species including small carnivores or mammals is also essential to conserve the leopard population.

References

References:

Athreya, V., Odden, M., Linnell, J. D., Krishnaswamy, J., & Karanth, U. (2013). Big cats in our backyards: persistence of large carnivores in a human dominated landscape in India. PloS one, 8(3), e57872.

Athreya, V., Odden, M., Linnell, J. D., Krishnaswamy, J., & Karanth, K. U. (2016). A cat among the dogs: leopard Pantherapardus diet in a human-dominated landscape in western Maharashtra, India. Oryx, 50(1), 156-162.

Bhandari, S., Chalise, M. K., & Pokharel, C. P. (2017). Diet of Bengal Tigers (Panthera tigris tigris) in Chitwan National Park, Nepal. European Journal of Ecology, 3(1), 80-84.

Burnie, D., Wilson, D.E., eds. (2001). Animal (1st American ed.). New York: Dorling Kindersley. ISBN 978- 07894-7764-4.

Carbone, C., Mace, G., Roberts, S. et al. (1999). Energetic constraints on the diet of terrestrial carnivores . Nature 402, 286–288.

DNPWC. (2017). Snow leopard conservation action plan for Nepal (2017‐2021).

EarthTouchNews. (2016, February 16). Incredible photos show a leopard making a meal of a smaller cat. Earth Touch News Network. https://www.earthtouchnews.com/natural-world/animal-behaviour/incredible-photos-show-a-leopard-making-a-meal-of-a-smaller-cat/.

Ghimirey, Y., & Acharya, R. (2018). The Vulnerable clouded leopard Neofelis nebulosa in Nepal: an update. Oryx, 52(1), 166-170.

Gray, T. N. E., Timmins, R. J., Jathana, D., Duckworth, J. W., Baral, H., & Mukherjee, S. (2016). Felischaus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016: e. T8540A50651463.

Hamilton, P. H. (1976). The movements of leopards in Tsavo National Park, Kenya as determined by radio-tracking (Doctoral dissertation, University of Nairobi).

Husseman, J. S., Murray, D. L., Power, G., Mack, C., Wenger, C. R., & Quigley, H. (2003). Assessing differential prey selection patterns between two sympatric large carnivores. Oikos, 101(3), 591-601.

Jnawali, S. R., Baral, H. S., Lee, S., Acharya, K. P., Upadhyay, G. P., Pandey, M., ...& Amin, R. (2011). The Status of Nepal's Mammals: The National Red List Series-IUCN.

Kandel, S. R., Lamichhane, B. R., &Subedi, N. (2020). Leopard (Pantherapardus) density and diet in a forest corridor of Terai: implications for conservation and conflict management. Wildlife Research, 47(6), 460-467.

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

Koirala, R. K., Aryal, A., Amiot, C., Adhikari, B., Karmacharya, D., &Raubenheimer, D. (2012). Genetic identification of carnivore scat: implication of dietary information for human–carnivore conflict in the Annapurna Conservation Area, Nepal. Zoology and Ecology, 22(3-4), 137-143.

Krebs, J. R., Kacelnik, A., & Taylor, P. (1978). Test of optimal sampling by foraging great tits. Nature, 275(5675), 27-31.

Kumbhojkar, S., Yosef, R., Kosicki, J. Z., Kwiatkowska, P. K., & Tryjanowski, P. (2020). Dependence of the leopard Panthera pardus fusca in Jaipur, India, on domestic animals. Oryx, 1-7.

Lamichhane, B. R., Leirs, H., Persoon, G. A., Subedi, N., Dhakal, M., Oli, B. N., ...& de Iongh, H. H. (2019). Factors associated with co-occurrence of large carnivores in a human-dominated landscape. Biodiversity and Conservation, 28(6), 1473-1491.

Majumder, A., Sankar, K., Qureshi, Q., &Basu, S. (2011). Food habits and temporal activity patterns of the Golden Jackal Canisaureus and the Jungle Cat Felis chaos in Pench Tiger Reserve, Madhya Pradesh. Journal of Threatened Taxa, 2221-2225.

Miller, B., Dugelby, B., Foreman, D., Rio, C.M., Noss, R., Phillips, M.K., Soule, M., Terborgh, J., &Willcox, L. (2001). The Importance of Large Carnivores to Healthy Ecosystems.

Miquelle, D. G., Smirnov, E. N., Quigley, H. G., Hornocker, M. G., Nikolaev, I. G., &Matyushkin, E. N. (1996). Food habits of Amur tigers in Sikhote-AlinZapovednik and the Russian Far East, and implications for conservation. Journal of Wildlife Research, 1(2), 138-147.

Mukherjee, S., Goyal, S. P., Johnsingh, A. J. T., & Pitman, M. L. (2004). The importance of rodents in the diet of jungle cat (Felischaus), caracal (Caracal caracal) and golden jackal (Canisaureus) in Sariska Tiger Reserve, Rajasthan, India. Journal of Zoology, 262(4), 405-411.

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

Ott, T., Kerley, G. I., &Boshoff, A. F. (2007). Preliminary observations on the diet of leopards (Pantherapardus) from a conservation area and adjacent rangelands in the Baviaanskloof region, South Africa. African Zoology, 42(1), 31-37.

Owen‐Smith, N., & Mills, M. G. (2008). Predator–prey size relationships in an African large‐mammal food web. Journal of Animal Ecology, 77(1), 173-183.

Peters, G. (1982). Zur fellefarbe und-zeichnung einiger felichen (Mammalia, carnivore).

Pianka, E. R. (1974). Evolutionary Ecology Harper and Row New York. PiankaEvolutionary Ecology1974.

Pocock, R. I. (1917). XL.—The classification of existing Felidæ. Annals and Magazine of Natural History, 20(119), 329–350.

Pocock, R. I., Baker, E. S., Oates, E. W., Bingham, C. T., Talbot, G., Southwell, T., ... & Distant, W. L. (1912). The Fauna of British India: Including Ceylon and Burma (Vol. 6). Taylor & Francis.

Quinn, J. L., & Cresswell, W. (2004). Predator hunting behaviour and prey vulnerability. Journal of Animal Ecology, 73(1), 143-154.

Rostro-García, S., Kamler, J. F., Crouthers, R., Sopheak, K., Prum, S., In, V., ...& Macdonald, D. W. (2018). An adaptable but threatened big cat: density, diet and prey selection of the Indochinese leopard (Panthera pardus delacouri) in eastern Cambodia. Royal Society open science, 5(2), 171187.

Shehzad, W., Nawaz, M. A., Pompanon, F., Coissac, E., Riaz, T., Shah, S. A., &Taberlet, P. (2015). Forest without prey: livestock sustain a leopard Pantherapardus population in Pakistan. Oryx, 49(2), 248-253.

Stein, A. B. (2008). Ecology and conservation of the leopard (Pantherapardus Linnaeus 1758) in northcentral Namibia. University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Stenseth, N. C., Leirs, H., Skonhoft, A., Davis, S. A., Pech, R. P., Andreassen, H. P., ... & Wan, X. (2003). Mice, rats, and people: the bio‐economics of agricultural rodent pests. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 1(7), 367-375.

Sunquist M.E., Sunquist F.C. (1989) Ecological Constraints on Predation by Large Felids. In: Gittleman J.L. (eds) Carnivore Behavior, Ecology, and Evolution. Springer, Boston, MA.

Van Cleave, E. K., Bidner, L. R., Ford, A. T., Caillaud, D., Wilmers, C. C., & Isbell, L. A. (2018). Diel patterns of movement activity and habitat use by leopards (Panthera pardus pardus) living in a human-dominated landscape in central Kenya. Biological Conservation, 226, 224-237.

Downloads

Published

2022-03-03

Issue

Section

Articles

How to Cite

Bhandari, S., Baral, K., & Adhikari, B. (2022). Leopard preyed on Jungle cat: evidence from the mid-hill of Nepal: Leopard preyed on Jungle cat. European Journal of Ecology, 8(1). https://doi.org/10.17161/eurojecol.v8i1.15220