Leopards not strays but residents: Study

- Big cats’ survival strategy revealed

OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

Jorhat, Nov. 20: The first GPS-based study of leopards has revealed that the big cats in human habitat areas are not always “stray” or “conflict” animals but residents, potentially requiring policy makers to rethink about the country’s leopard management strategies. The joint study by Vidya Athreya of Wildlife Conservation Society, scientists from Norway (Morten Odden from Hedmark University College and John Linnell from Norwegian Institute for Nature Research), Sandeep Rattan of the Himachal Pradesh forest department, Maharashtra forest department and Asian Nature Conservation Foundation, delved into the secret lives of leopards and recorded their strategies to thrive in human-dominated areas. Assam is one of the highly sensitive areas as far as human-leopard conflicts are concerned. According to official records, nearly 100 leopards have died in the state, mostly in tea garden areas, over the past 10 years because of these conflicts. Athreya told The Telegraph over phone from Bangalore today that several leopards reside on the outskirts of Guwahati but people are not aware of their presence. The findings of the study were published recently in the journal PLoS One in the article Adaptable Neighbours: Movement patterns of GPS-collared leopards in human-dominated landscapes in India. Athreya said five leopards, including three females, perceived as “problem animals” and captured from human-dominated areas despite no predatory attack on people, were radio-collared for the study. “Two were translocated and released more than 50km away, while the remaining three were released near the site of capture,” she said. Two leopards were captured and released in Himachal Pradesh and three in Maharashtra. The scientists monitored the animals’ activities for up to a year from the time of release and recorded their behaviour, including strategies they adopt to avoid direct contact with people.  Athreya said immediately after the release, the two translocated animals moved away 89km and 45km respectively from the release sites. “This indicated the futility of translocation as a management strategy. In fact, this could have aggravated the conflict, as these animals passed through highly human-dominated (even industrial) areas,” the scientist from the Wildlife Conservation Society said. The study revealed that the animals applied tactics to avoid encounters with people, despite depending on their resources. Quoting the findings of the study, Athreya said the animals mostly moved at night, which timed perfectly with low human activity. They also spent more time closer to homes (25metres in many location recordings) at night, than during the day. “This gave them access to people’s livestock, and yet kept them safe,” she said.  That these leopards were residents in these human-dominated areas was also confirmed by the study. The two translocated animals occupied bigger home ranges (42 square km and 65 square km respectively), including one on the outskirts of Mumbai. The other three lived in areas with highest human densities, but occupied smallest home ranges (8-15 square km) ever recorded for leopards anywhere.“The home ranges of the three animals are comparable to those in highly productive protected areas with a very good prey density,” said Athreya. “This indicated that food sources associated with humans (domestic animals) supported these leopards.” Moreover, two of the females even gave birth to cubs during the course of the study, confirming their residence. Despite living in close proximity to humans and even being dependent on their resources, none of the leopards were involved in human deaths during capture or following their release. She said the presence of wild carnivores like leopards in human habitations in the country need to be dealt with proactive mitigation measures. “There is a need for more studies on ecology of wildlife that shares space with humans in the country, so that better understanding can feed into better policy. Efforts should be put into preventing losses to people rather than react after losses have been incurred. The management policy should also work towards retaining the acceptance and tolerance of the local people,” Athreya said. source