Leopards live in closer proximity to human settlements than earlier thought, suggests a new study. The animals are “discreet” even as they venture rather close to houses looking for domesticated prey — mainly dogs and livestock — says a research paper published in the international journal PlosOne .
Scientists who tracked five leopards fitted with GPS-collars, in Maharashtra and Himachal Pradesh, gathered some new insights into their movements, diet and interaction with people in highly human dominated landscapes. Most of these leopards ventured as close as 25 meters to individual houses at night, but rarely came near homes during day. Dogs appeared to be their most preferred prey, and none of the animals was involved in “purposeful attacks” on people.
The “reactive” management strategies in India that involve capture and relocation of leopards are founded on a misconception about leopard behaviour, the paper says. The animals do not “stray” into human habitations, but are often “resident” individuals that settle within a small range once they have found their niche. Domesticated animals make easy prey for these highly adaptable carnivores when wildlife is not available.
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“Research tells us that translocating leopards in fact only increases conflict. The stressful nature of the process, which brings them close to humans and places them in unfamiliar locations, only adds to aggression,” co-author Vidya Athreya, researcher with Wildlife Conservation Society, told
Two of the Maharashtra leopards, ‘‘Jai’’ (male) and ‘‘Lakshai’’ (female), were captured from the densely populated Akole Tahasil. Another leopard ‘‘Ajoba’’ was captured after she fell in a well in Parner (in Ahmednagar district), and ‘‘Sita’’ was caught when she ran into a house in Surghana (Nashik district). ‘‘Charlotte’’, was captured in a box trap set up about 4 km from the capital of Shimla, Himachal Pradesh.
For the study, scientists collected location data every three hours for a year in 2009-10. “All study leopards occupied small, discrete, and very stable home ranges implying that they were resident in their ranges,” says the paper. “Lakshai” and “Sita” raised cubs during the study period,
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Interestingly, although they were released in forested patches, “Sita and Ajoba moved through very human dominated landscapes, including industrial and suburban areas, indicating that translocation has ‘limited’ benefits in resolving leopard conflicts,” the researchers say. “It appears that relocations of so called problem individuals may either have only short-term local effects, may simply move the conflict to another area, or in the worst case scenario, increase the level of conflict,” says the paper.