Predator–prey relationships in a middle Asian Montane steppe: Persian leopard versus urial wild sheep in Northeastern Iran

Management controversies arise when both of the prey and predator in an ecosystem are species of conservation concern. We investigated trophic interactions between the endangered Persian leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor) and a declining mountain ungulate, urial wild sheep (Ovis vignei), on a high-altitude steppe of Iran. During two consecutive photo-trapping seasons of 1,300 nights in total, a minimum population of four adult leopards (one female and three males) was documented. Scat analysis indicated that urial wild sheep was the staple of the leopard diet with 48.44 % of total biomass consumed. Remains of domestic livestock in leopard scats were negligible yet alarming (14.53 % biomass consumed), followed by wild pigs (8.13 %) and wild goat (1.26 %). Financial costs of leopard depredation to livestock breeders during our study period were comparatively lower than livestock–leopard conflict hotspots across Iran. Using distance sampling, urial density was 15.8 individuals km^?2 (±SE 6.2), and a total biomass of 47,621.5 kg for wild ungulates in the study area was estimated. We estimated that the annual removal rate of urial by leopards during our study period was 9.4 % of the total urial population. We suggest that continuous monitoring of the leopard and prey populations to assess predation impact should be considered, particularly in areas where a single species comprises a remarkable proportion of the leopard diet. In the meantime, assessing probable conflicts with local communities is recommended as a parallel management action to ensure long-term human–leopard coexistence. Our findings will aid wildlife managers in prey-depleted arid environments of western Asia to identify susceptible wild prey populations to predation by large carnivores; hence, significantly contribute in development and implementation of effective conservation measures to mitigate management conflicts.     

Dissatisfaction with Veterinary Services Is Associated with Leopard (Panthera pardus) Predation on Domestic Animals

Human-carnivore conflicts challenge biodiversity conservation and local livelihoods, but the role of diseases of domestic animals in their predation by carnivores is poorly understood. We conducted a human-leopard (Panthera pardus) conflict study throughout all 34 villages around Golestan National Park, Iran in order to find the most important conflict determinants and to use them in predicting the probabilities of conflict and killing of cattle, sheep and goats, and dogs. We found that the more villagers were dissatisfied with veterinary services, the more likely they were to lose livestock and dogs to leopard predation. Dissatisfaction occurred when vaccination crews failed to visit villages at all or, in most cases, arrived too late to prevent diseases from spreading. We suggest that increased morbidity of livestock makes them particularly vulnerable to leopard attacks. Moreover, conflicts and dog killing were higher in villages located closer to the boundaries of the protected area than in distant villages. Therefore, we appeal for improved enforcement and coordination of veterinary services in our study area, and propose several priority research topics such as veterinarian studies, role of wild prey in diseases of domestic animals, and further analysis of potential conflict predictors.     

Food habits of the snow leopard Panthera uncia (Schreber, 1775) in Baltistan, Northern Pakistan

The snow leopard (Panthera uncia) inhabits the high, remote mountains of Pakistan from where very little information is available on prey use of this species. Our study describes the food habits of the snow leopard in the Himalayas and Karakoram mountain ranges in Baltistan, Pakistan. Ninety-five putrid snow leopard scats were collected from four sites in Baltistan. Of these, 49 scats were genetically confirmed to have originated from snow leopards. The consumed prey was identified on the basis of morphological characteristics of hairs recovered from the scats. It was found that most of the biomass consumed (70%) was due to domestic livestock viz. sheep (23%), goat (16%), cattle (10%), yak (7%), and cattle?Cyak hybrids (14%). Only 30% of the biomass was due to wild species, namely Siberian ibex (21%), markhor (7%), and birds (2%). Heavy predation on domestic livestock appeared to be the likely cause of conflict with the local inhabitants. Conservation initiatives should focus on mitigating this conflict by minimizing livestock losses.     

Predator,prey and humans in a mountainous area: loss of biological diversity leads to trouble

Large carnivore-human coexistence is a challenging issue in wildlife conservation worldwide. An adequate and diverse prey spectrum favours carnivore persistence. Prey depletion and habitat loss elicit conflict with humans and require sound conservation measures. We evaluated the conflict between common leopards and humans in a densely populated Himalayan forest area of Pakistan. In two decades, the local forests decreased at an average rate of 65.5 ha/year (6.6%), with a concomitant increase in areas covered by human settlements (81.5%) and agricultural lands (15.4%). Ranging movements of a GPS/GSM-radiotagged male leopard over 16 months encompassed an area inhabited by c. 124,000 people. Livestock dominated the leopard’s diet (absolute frequency of occurrence: 80%), while wild ungulates were rarely eaten (absolute occurrence: 22%). Domestic goats were the most frequent diet item (61%), followed by domestic dogs (12%) and Bos spp. (6%). Wild prey included canids, small carnivores, rhesus monkeys, small mammals and gallinaceous birds. Socioeconomic implications of human-leopard coexistence were investigated: 18.5% of the households interviewed (N?=?1016) suffered livestock depredation by leopards, with an overall loss of 123 USD/km²/year, in an area of 328 km². In the first c. 15 years of this century, about 2 attacks to humans/year were recorded, half of which were lethal, whereas c. 6 leopards/year were killed in retaliation. The common leopard is ‘critically endangered’ in Pakistan mainly because of habitat loss and concurrent prey depletion. To increase the long-term survival of leopards and mitigate human-carnivore conflicts, priority should be given to restoration of a diverse natural prey assembly and protection of forest habitats, together with improved livestock management practices and livestock compensation. The latter will require a sustainable financial mechanism.     

Assessment of human–leopard conflict in Machiara National Park,Azad Jammu and Kashmir,Pakistan

Livestock depredation by leopards is one of the key conservation issues in landscapes with limited resources worldwide. Any attempts to mitigate human–leopard conflict and conserve the species in conflict should be based on an unequivocal understanding of the conflict patterns. A household survey was conducted with an intention to quantify livestock losses resulting from depredation by leopards in and around the Machiara National Park, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan. A total of 301 livestock were killed between June 2007 and August 2008 by leopards. The extent of loss varied in different months, with maximum killing occurring in the month of May. Small-bodied livestock such as goats and sheep were more vulnerable than large-bodied cattle. Goats were killed in significantly higher numbers as compared to other livestock. Domestic animals were killed more frequently at night as compared to other times of the day. There was a significant effect of the nighttime protection measures on depredation. Most attacks happened in valleys and in areas far from the forests. Factors most closely associated with livestock depredation included decline of natural prey, herding practices, guarding especially during the nighttime, and repeated use of pastures where predators were known to be hunting actively. Attitudes of the local community towards leopards were largely negative, and further efforts should be made to improve support for carnivore conservation. We suggest widespread local community education and proactive human–leopard conflict management, particularly through adopting carnivore-friendly livestock protection measures.     

The ecology of large carnivores in the highlands of northern Ethiopia

The degradation and fragmentation of the northern Ethiopian highlands has resulted in frequent encounters of large carnivores with humans and their livestock. We interviewed 500 randomly selected households to estimate economic impact of livestock predation by spotted hyaena (Crocuta crocuta), leopard (Panthera pardus) and jackal (Canis aureus aureus) in the highlands of northern Ethiopia. The annual mean economic loss per household was approximately U.S.$ 20.2, about 7% of the average annual income of households in the area. Households surveyed reported losses of a total of 3122 livestock to hyaena, leopard and jackal predation over the past 5 years. This loss equated to a total financial loss of U.S.$ 50,381 . Livestock predation incidents of spotted hyaena, leopard and jackal demonstrated that spotted hyaena had a preference for dog, donkey, goat and sheep; leopard for goat, dog and sheep; and jackal for goat and sheep. Livestock predation of spotted hyaena and leopard were mainly during the night. We conclude that assessing depredation problems is important to develop actions for management of either livestock practices or wildlife conservation.     

No silver bullet? Snow leopard prey selection in Mt. Kangchenjunga,Nepal

In this study, we investigated the impact of domestic and wild prey availability on snow leopard prey preference in the Kangchenjunga Conservation Area of eastern Nepal—a region where small domestic livestock are absent and small wild ungulate prey are present. We took a comprehensive approach that combined fecal genetic sampling, macro‐ and microscopic analyses of snow leopard diets, and direct observation of blue sheep and livestock in the KCA. Out of the collected 88 putative snow leopard scat samples from 140 transects (290 km) in 27 (4 × 4 km²) sampling grid cells, 73 (83%) were confirmed to be from snow leopard. The genetic analysis accounted for 19 individual snow leopards (10 males and 9 females), with a mean population size estimate of 24 (95% CI: 19–29) and an average density of 3.9 snow leopards/100 km² within 609 km². The total available prey biomass of blue sheep and yak was estimated at 355,236 kg (505 kg yak/km² and 78 kg blue sheep/km²). From the available prey biomass, we estimated snow leopards consumed 7% annually, which comprised wild prey (49%), domestic livestock (45%), and 6% unidentified items. The estimated 47,736 kg blue sheep biomass gives a snow leopard‐to‐blue sheep ratio of 1:59 on a weight basis. The high preference of snow leopard to domestic livestock appears to be influenced by a much smaller available biomass of wild prey than in other regions of Nepal (e.g., 78 kg/km² in the KCA compared with a range of 200–300 kg/km² in other regions of Nepal). Along with livestock insurance scheme improvement, there needs to be a focus on improved livestock guarding, predator‐proof corrals as well as engaging and educating local people to be citizen scientists on the importance of snow leopard conservation, involving them in long‐term monitoring programs and promotion of ecotourism.     

Sympatric snow leopards and Tibetan wolves: coexistence of large carnivores with human-driven potential competition

The snow leopard Panthera uncia coexists with the wolf Canis lupus throughout most of its distribution range. We analysed the food habits of snow leopards and wolves in their sympatric range in the Karakoram mountains of Pakistan. A total of 131 genotyped scats (N?=?74, snow leopard; N?=?57, Tibetan wolf) were collected during the cold periods (i.e. winter and spring) of 2011 and 2012 in the Hushey valley. Large mammals, i.e. livestock and ibex, accounted for 84.8 and 83.1% of the diet (relative frequency) of the snow leopard and the wolf, respectively. Domestic prey was the staple of the diet of both snow leopards (66.6%) and wolves (75.1%). Ibex Capra ibex, the only wild ungulate in our study area, contributed 18.2 and 16.9% of relative frequencies in the diets of the snow leopard and the wolf, respectively. In winter, the snow leopard heavily relied on domestic sheep (43.3%) for food, whereas the wolf preyed mainly on domestic goats (43.4%). Differently from other study areas, both snow leopards and wolves showed no apparent prey preference (Jacobs index: snow leopard min. ??0.098, max. 0.102; Tibetan wolf min. ??0.120, max. 0.03). In human depauperate areas, with livestock and only a few wild prey, should competitive interactions arise, two main scenarios could be expected, with either predator as a winner. In both cases, the best solution could primarily impinge on habitat restoration, so that a balance could be found between these predators, who have already coexisted for thousands of years.     

Prey Animals of Tiger (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Panthera tigris tigris</Emphasis>) in Dudhwa Landscape,Terai Region,North India

Livestock depredation by carnivores cause substantial human carnivore conflict and subsequently decreased support for carnivore conservation. Thus, understanding carnivore diet with respect to wild prey availability has major implications to determine the reasons behind livestock depredation. A study was conducted to investigate food habits and prey use of tiger at four study sites (Dudhwa National Park, Kishanpur Wildlife Sanctuary, Pilibhit Forest Division and Katerniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary) in Dudhwa landscape, Terai Region, North India for further understanding of prey–predator relationship and partial impact of wild prey availability on livestock depredation by tiger through scat analysis. Scat analysis shows that the tigers depend mostly on medium sized prey throughout the study area (74.11, 73.58, 71.79, 47.62%). In Dudhwa National Park and Kishanpur Wildlife Sanctuary, predation was attempted subsequently on wider prey variety of eleven and nine different available prey species where livestock depredation were only 3.77 and 5.36% respectively. While, in absence of wider prey variety, large sized livestock (21.91, 16.55%) and nilgai (24.41, 5.57%) contributed much higher in tiger diet in Pilibhit Forest Division and Katerniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary respectively. Our study suggested that availability of prey variety has an important role in reduced livestock depredation. Medium sized preys were mostly contributing in tiger diet and seems to be a significant parameter for sustaining tiger population where abundance of large sized prey is rare. Conservation of medium sized preys is important but along with natural restoration of the population of large sized prey species like sambar and swamp deer is essential in order to reduce livestock depredation.     

Wolf depredation on livestock in central Greece

We studied wolfCanis lupus Linnaeus, 1758 — livestock conflict in central Greece by investigating patterns of 267 verified wolf attacks on livestock for 21 months. Wolves attacked adult goats 43% and cattle 218% more than expected, whereas sheep 41% less than expected from their availability. Wolves killed less than four sheep or goats in 79%, and one cow or calf in 74% of depredation events, respectively. We recorded higher attack rates during wolf post-weaning season. Wolf attacks on strayed, or kept inside non predator-proof enclosures, sheep and goats, were on average two to four times respectively more destructive than those when livestock was guarded by a shepherd. Sheepdog use reduced losses per attack. Optimal sheepdog number ranged from 3 to 9 animals depending on flock size. Losses per attack were positively related to the number of wolves involved. Total losses per farm were positively correlated with the size of livestock unit but percentage losses per capita increased with decreasing flock size. Management implications to mitigate livestock depredation are discussed.     

Feeding habits and niche partitioning in a predator guild composed of tigers, leopards and dholes in a temperate ecosystem in central Bhutan

We describe the food habits, niche overlap and prey preferences in a predator guild comprised of tigers Panthera tigris , leopards Panthera pardus and dholes Cuon alpinus in a mountainous region of central Bhutan. Scat analyses revealed that these predators consumed 11 different prey species including livestock and rodents, of which leopards consumed 11. The combined relative occurrence of the three species, sambar Cervus unicolor , muntjac Munticus muntjac and wild pig Sus scrofa , constituted 42.7, 33.7 and 71.1% of the tiger, leopard and dhole diets, respectively, while livestock comprised 44.5, 73.4 and 15.9% of the prey consumed, respectively. Regression equations from earlier feeding trials were used to estimate the relative biomass and the numbers of prey consumed. Results showed that sambar featured more frequently than did muntjac and wild pig in the diets of tiger, leopard and dhole and contributed more relative biomass than did muntjac and wild pig. Sambar, muntjac and wild pig together provided 36.9, 28 and 63.1% of the biomass consumed by tigers, leopards and dholes respectively. All else being equal, there was evidence that all three predators ate livestock less than might have been expected on the basis of the abundance and high biomass of this prey category in the area. There was a high dietary niche overlap between the predators (Pianka's overlap index of 0.58–0.92), with a greater overlap between the two felid species than between the felids and the canid. This study provides evidence of a substantial diet overlap among the three sympatric carnivores, and thus highlights the potential for high intra-guild competition among them, especially given the relatively low density of prey.     

太行山华北豹袭击家畜的时空特点与管理建议: 以山西省和顺县为例

人兽冲突是全球野生动物保护面临的共同挑战。袭击家畜是大型食肉动物引发人兽冲突的主要原因之一, 如果管理不当还会导致针对大型食肉动物的报复性猎杀等严重威胁。冲突的缓解需要深入了解冲突发生的规律与原因, 评估当地社区与居民的态度与看法, 以采取因地制宜的管理措施。太行山是华北豹(Panthera pardus japonensis)的核心分布区, 华北豹袭击家牛的问题是该区域野生华北豹保护中面临的一大挑战。本研究以山西省和顺县为研究区域, 在多方联合发起的“和顺县华北豹袭击家牛肇事补偿项目”实施过程中, 系统收集了2015-2019年期间华北豹袭击家畜事件的记录, 结合同期的红外相机监测数据, 探究了袭击事件的时空分布格局, 并从生境和猎物的角度分析了背后的原因。本文还评估了豹肇事造成的经济损失, 以及受损农户对华北豹的态度和对补偿的满意度。2015-2019年, 项目区域内共记录到华北豹袭击家牛事件195起, 向116户受损农户提供补偿资金共27.05万元。分析结果显示, 华北豹袭击家牛事件在夏季最多, 时间上与家牛上山散放的季节重叠; 袭击风险随狍(Capreolus pygargus)相对多度的上升而下降, 随家牛相对多度和距村庄距离的增加而上升, 但保护区内外和华北豹相对多度对袭击风险的影响不显著。对107名受损农户的访谈结果显示, 华北豹袭击家牛事件虽然对当地畜牧业所造成的整体损失较小, 但对受损农户而言其家庭收入损失严重, 因此导致受损农户对华北豹持负面态度, 且认为现有的补偿金额偏低。基于本研究的结果, 我们提出如下管理建议以期缓解未来该地区华北豹带来的人兽冲突: (1)加强放牧管理、改进管理方式, 特别是限制牛群离开村庄的距离, 以及在家牛散放期间将牛群每晚赶回牛圈以降低家畜被袭击的风险; (2)开展禁牧试点, 严格划分允许放牧与禁止放牧的区域; (3)继续开展华北豹袭击家牛的定损与补偿工作, 降低当地农户的经济损失, 同时开展社区走访、自然教育, 提升当地居民对华北豹的容忍度; (4)加强野生动物种群的监测与保护, 促进人与野生动物的和谐共存。     

Prey preference of snow leopard (Panthera uncia) in South Gobi, Mongolia

Accurate information about the diet of large carnivores that are elusive and inhabit inaccessible terrain, is required to properly design conservation strategies. Predation on livestock and retaliatory killing of predators have become serious issues throughout the range of the snow leopard. Several feeding ecology studies of snow leopards have been conducted using classical approaches. These techniques have inherent limitations in their ability to properly identify both snow leopard feces and prey taxa. To examine the frequency of livestock prey and nearly-threatened argali in the diet of the snow leopard, we employed the recently developed DNA-based diet approach to study a snow leopard population located in the Tost Mountains, South Gobi, Mongolia. After DNA was extracted from the feces, a region of ～100 bp long from mitochondrial 12S rRNA gene was amplified, making use of universal primers for vertebrates and a blocking oligonucleotide specific to snow leopard DNA. The amplicons were then sequenced using a next-generation sequencing platform. We observed a total of five different prey items from 81 fecal samples. Siberian ibex predominated the diet (in 70.4% of the feces), followed by domestic goat (17.3%) and argali sheep (8.6%). The major part of the diet was comprised of large ungulates (in 98.8% of the feces) including wild ungulates (79%) and domestic livestock (19.7%). The findings of the present study will help to understand the feeding ecology of the snow leopard, as well as to address the conservation and management issues pertaining to this wild cat.     

Effect of interactions among ethnic communities,livestock and wild dogs (Cuon alpinus) in Arunachal Pradesh,India

A questionnaire survey in 48 villages covering over 10,000 km² in Arunachal Pradesh, India, was conducted to quantify the livestock depredation and resultant killing of dholes in retaliation. Depredation was reported to be caused highest by dhole (Cuon alpinus) in comparison to tiger (Panthera tigris) and leopard (Panthera pardus). Respondents claimed major losses (7.90 %) of socio-culturally valued livestock, i.e., mithun (Bos frontalis), to depredation. Scat analysis revealed livestock constituted only 10 % of the diet of dhole, tiger and leopard. Mithun depredation by dhole was correlated with hunting (r?=?0.54, P?r?=?0.54, P?dhole that correspond to their direct killing in retaliation may lead to unrecoverable losses in its population. This study highlights the significance of the region in securing the long-term survival of large carnivores, especially dholes, in this region.     

Leopard (Panthera pardus) occupancy in the Chure range of Nepal

Conservation of large carnivores such as leopards requires large and interconnected habitats. Despite the wide geographic range of the leopard globally, only 17% of their habitat is within protected areas. Leopards are widely distributed in Nepal, but their population status and occupancy are poorly understood. We carried out the sign‐based leopard occupancy survey across the entire Chure range (~19,000 km²) to understand the habitat occupancy along with the covariates affecting their occupancy. Leopard signs were obtained from in 70 out of 223 grids surveyed, with a naïve leopard occupancy of 0.31. The model‐averaged leopard occupancy was estimated to be 0.5732 (SE 0.0082) with a replication‐level detection probability of 0.2554 (SE 0.1142). The top model shows the additive effect of wild boar, ruggedness, presence of livestock, and human population density positively affecting the leopard occupancy. The detection probability of leopard was higher outside the protected areas, less in the high NDVI (normalized difference vegetation index) areas, and higher in the areas with livestock presence. The presence of wild boar was strong predictor of leopard occupancy followed by the presence of livestock, ruggedness, and human population density. Leopard occupancy was higher in west Chure (0.70 ± SE 0.047) having five protected areas compared with east Chure (0.46 ± SE 0.043) with no protected areas. Protected areas and prey species had positive influence on leopard occupancy in west Chure range. Similarly in the east Chure, the leopard occupancy increased with prey, NDVI, and terrain ruggedness. Enhanced law enforcement and mass awareness activities are necessary to reduce poaching/killing of wild ungulates and leopards in the Chure range to increase leopard occupancy. In addition, maintaining the sufficient natural prey base can contribute to minimize the livestock depredation and hence decrease the human–leopard conflict in the Chure range.     

Dietary preference of the Asiatic wild dog (Cuon alpinus)

The population of the Asiatic wild dog or dhole (Cuon alpinus) in the wild has been estimated to be less than 2500 mature individuals. This has led to the IUCN assessing the Asiatic wild dog as Endangered. The killing of Asiatic wild dogs in retaliation for livestock depredation is one of the major threat for the species across its geographic range. Understanding the prey preference of endangered large carnivores is imperative for making informed conservation decisions and devising management strategies. We studied the prey preference of the Asiatic wild dog by reviewing studies that have been conducted on the diet and prey abundance of the species across its distributional range. Nine available studies conducted in eight protected areas of three countries, in which 5265 scats were studied, were reviewed. Across studies, we tested whether prey consumption was based on prey availability or prey body mass. The value of Jacobs’ index was determined for each prey species and tested against the proportion of available prey and body mass. Sambar (Rusa unicolor) and chital (Axis axis) were found to be significantly preferred by the Asiatic wild dog, and the preferred prey body mass range was between 40 and 60 kg. The prey preference of the Asiatic wild dog was mainly influenced by the availability of prey.     

Leopard diets and landowner perceptions of human wildlife conflict in the Soutpansberg Mountains,South Africa

Human-wildlife conflict between carnivores and livestock and game owners is an issue of high conservation concern and has led to the global decline of many large carnivore species. Research has shown that carnivores are often blamed for higher levels of predation of livestock and game than actually occurs and this often leads to retaliatory killing. The aim of this study was to obtain information via scat analysis on the range of prey species taken by leopards in the Soutpansberg Mountains, South Africa, and combine these data with self-reported accounts of livestock predation from local landowners to examine differences between real and perceived leopard predation. Results showed that despite landowners reporting frequent events of leopard predation of livestock and introduced farmed game across the Soutpansberg farming community, no evidence of these species were found in leopard diets. The most frequently eaten species by relative biomass were bushbuck, hyrax and vervet monkeys; in contrast, the farmers reported cattle and impala as often being taken by leopards. Despite sharing the landscape with domestic cattle and introduced game, leopards in the Soutpansberg do not frequently utilise these species as prey and instead focus their diets on wild species. Human-carnivore conflict can be reduced by overcoming the mismatch between actual and perceived levels of predation via landowner education, effective anti-predation measures, an improved government response to reports of livestock predation and potentially giving economic value to problem animals via trophy hunting.     

Economics of carnivore depredation: A case study from the northern periphery of Corbett Tiger Reserve,Uttarakhand, India

Corbett Tiger Reserve (CTR) supports several important species such as the tiger (Panthera tigris), leopard (Panthera pardus), elephant (Elephas maximus), and sambar (Cervus unicolor). Some of the species are involved in crop damage, livestock depredation, and human injuries or causalities, causing economic and social losses. Tigers and leopards are perceived as the major threat, causing economic losses to the people living around the protected areas (PAs), because of livestock depredation. Alternatively, the local community also draws benefits from the forest, which are seldom considered part of their economy. Here, we assessed the economic losses and benefits to the people at the northern periphery of the CTR based on semi-structured questionnaire survey of 301 respondents in 26 villages, between January and June 2018. We also determined the socio-economic factors associated with forest dependency using Ordinary Least Square regression (OLS). Most respondents (98%) reported reliance on the forest for fuelwood, fodder, and cattle grazing. Income from forest resources (US$ 1102.2 ± 63.6/hh/yr)² contributed significantly to the livelihood of the people (26.5 ± 1.3%). The income from fuelwood (US$ 188.1 ± 2.2/hh/yr), fodder (US$ 335.0 ± 10.0/hh/yr) and livestock grazing (US$ 618.1 ± 59.9/hh/yr) contributed 5.6 ± 0.3%, 9.3 ± 0.6%, and 11.6 ± 1%, respectively, to the household's total income. Reliance on forest resources was positively associated with the number of livestock and female participation in resource extraction, and negatively with the employment, age, education of respondents, and use of modern source of energy -Liquid Petroleum Gas. People incurred a cost of US$ 110.5 ± 4.7/hh/yr due to livestock depredation. It was estimated that benefits drawn from the forest exceed the losses incurred due to livestock depredation. Therefore, we recommend that a cost-benefit analysis is essential before designing conflict mitigation strategies. Since the compensatory schemes in India have largely struggled to achieve their objectives, it is, therefore, emphasised to find other measures, such as payment of ecosystem services (PES), to reduce conflict for maintaining a peaceful co-existence of human and carnivores.     

Density of Wild Prey Modulates Lynx Kill Rates on Free-Ranging Domestic Sheep

Understanding the factors shaping the dynamics of carnivore–livestock conflicts is vital to facilitate large carnivore conservation in multi-use landscapes. We investigated how the density of their main wild prey, roe deer Capreolus capreolus, modulates individual Eurasian lynx Lynx lynx kill rates on free-ranging domestic sheep Ovis aries across a range of sheep and roe deer densities. Lynx kill rates on free-ranging domestic sheep were collected in south-eastern Norway from 1995 to 2011 along a gradient of different livestock and wild prey densities using VHF and GPS telemetry. We used zero-inflated negative binomial (ZINB) models including lynx sex, sheep density and an index of roe deer density as explanatory variables to model observed kill rates on sheep, and ranked the models based on their AICc values. The model including the effects of lynx sex and sheep density in the zero-inflation model and the effect of lynx sex and roe deer density in the negative binomial part received most support. Irrespective of sheep density and sex, we found the lowest sheep kill rates in areas with high densities of roe deer. As roe deer density decreased, males killed sheep at higher rates, and this pattern held for both high and low sheep densities. Similarly, females killed sheep at higher rates in areas with high densities of sheep and low densities of roe deer. However, when sheep densities were low females rarely killed sheep irrespective of roe deer density. Our quantification of depredation rates can be the first step towards establishing fairer compensation systems based on more accurate and area specific estimation of losses. This study demonstrates how we can use ecological theory to predict where losses of sheep will be greatest, and can be used to identify areas where mitigation measures are most likely to be needed.     

Habitat shift and time budget of the Tibetan argali: the influence of livestock grazing

Livestock production is the primary source of livelihood and income in most of the high steppe and alpine regions of the Indian Trans-Himalaya. In some areas, especially those established or proposed for biodiversity conservation, recent increases in populations of domestic livestock, primarily sheep and goats, have raised concern about domestic animals competitively excluding wild herbivores from the rangelands. We evaluated the influence of domestic sheep and goat grazing on the habitat use and time budget of the endangered Tibetan argali Ovis ammon hodgsoni in the proposed Gya-Miru Wildlife Sanctuary, Ladakh, India. We asked if the domestic sheep and goat grazing and collateral human activities relegate the argali to sub-optimal habitats, and alter their foraging time budgets. Data were collected on habitat use and time budget of a population of c. 50 argalis before and after c. 2,000 sheep and goats moved onto their winter pasture in the Tsabra catchment of the aforementioned reserve. Following the introduction of domestic sheep and goats, argalis continued to use the same catchment but shifted to steeper habitats, closer to cliffs, with lower vegetation cover, thus abandoning previously used plant communities with denser cover. Argalis’ active time spent foraging also decreased by 10% in response to the presence of livestock. These results suggest a clear disturbance effect of livestock on argalis, and indicate a potential for competition, conceivably a significant disadvantage for argalis in winter when forage availability is minimal.