The leopard Panthera pardus has a very large distribution range from Southern Africa to the Russian Far East. Nevertheless, it has become rare in many regions due to habitat loss and persecution, and a few subspecies like the Arabian leopard and the Amur leopard are Critically Endangered. To demonstrate the diversity in leopard ecology and conservation, articles from different parts of its range and covering a variety of subjects were chosen for this Highlights. Many more articles on leopards can be found when searching the Library.

• Review 1 - Human-leopard conflict management guidelines
• Review 2 - Evaluating methods for counting cryptic carnivores
• Review 3 - Large carnivore and prey abundance in Namdapha National Park, north-east India.
• Review 4 - Conservation biology of the leopard in Gabon
• Review 5 - Situation of the Arabian leopard in the Republic of Yemen
• Review 6 - Status of the Arabian leopard in the Musandam peninsula, Sultanate of Oman
• Review 7 - Kill rates and food consumption of leopards in Bardia National Park, Nepal
• Review 8 - Observations on the diet of leopards in Baviaanskloof region, South Africa
• Review 9 - Patterns of livestock predation by large mammalian carnivores in the Kingdom of Bhutan
• Review 10 - Species and sex identification from faecal samples of Amur leopard and Siberian tiger

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1

Our experience is that the Forest Department and the local veterinary officers often use antiquated methods to deal with conflict primarily due to lack of training and/or exposure to the conflict situation. The aim is to provide basic scientific information along with the legal aspects, related to conflict, so that better management practices are implemented. Our strategy over the last three years has been to 1. Obtain and share basic scientific information with Forest Department personnel. 2. Provide hands-on assistance to the Department on leopard related problems, both in the field and as scientific recommendations. We hope this booklet is of practical use and we welcome feedback (critical and/or informative) so that this version can be improved.

© V. Athreya & A. V. Belsare

2

We used a density estimate established by intensive monitoring of a population of radiotagged leopards (Panthera pardus) with a detection probability of 1.0 to evaluate efficacy of track counts and camera-trap surveys as population estimators. We calculated densities from track counts using 2 methods and compared performance of 10 methods for calculating the effectively sampled area for cameratrapping data. Compared to our reference density, camera-trapping generally produced more accurate but less precise estimates than did track counts. Our results demonstrate that if applied correctly, camera-trap surveys represent the best balance of rigor and cost-effectiveness for estimating abundance and density of cryptic carnivore species that can be identified individually.

Balme_et_al_2009_Methods_for_counting_cryptic_carnivores.pdf

© A. Sliwa

3

We conducted a camera-trapping survey in the Namdapha National Park, north-east India, conducted as part of a programme to evaluate carnivore and prey species abundance. Clouded leopard (Neofelis nebulosa) was the only large carnivore detected by camera-trapping. Indirect evidences indicated the presence of the wild dog (Cuon alpinus) and leopard (Panthera pardus), however, there was no evidence of tigers (Panthera tigris), suggesting their possible extinction from the lower elevation forests. Relative abundances of all species were appreciably lower than estimates from other tropical forests in south-east Asia. We suspect that illegal hunting may be the cause for the low carnivore and prey species abundance.

Datta_et_al_2008_Large_carnivore_and_prey_abundance_in_Namdapha_NP_India.pdf

© A. Sliwa

4

Tropical rainforests comprise a large part of the leopard's range in Africa. However, baseline knowledge of leopard ecology and responses to human disturbance in African rainforests remain largely unknown. In the present study I investigate how leopard populations respond to competition for prey with hunters. My two principal hypotheses are that (1) leopards exhibit a functional response at hunted sites and switch to smaller, less preferred prey where larger prey species have been depleted; (2) leopards exhibit a numerical response at hunted sites and occur at lower population densities where larger prey species have been depleted. I collected leopard scats and camera trap data in four rainforest sites in central Gabon exposed to varying levels of anthropogenic disturbance.

Henschel_2008_Status_and_conservation_of_leopards_in_Gabon.pdf

© A. Sliwa

5

The Arabian leopard (Panthera pardus nimr) is categorised as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List. Yemen was identified as a key range state for conservation of the Arabian leopard but its current status there is unclear. Local reports suggest that leopards may still be present in a few localities but no systematic field work has been carried out to confirm these and there is a chronic lack of in-country capacity for survey and assessment. This project aims to address both issues and has two principal objectives: (1) carry out a rapid assessment survey of Wada'a, the most prominent area of Yemen with recent confirmed records of leopards, and (2) initiate a capacity-building programme to ensure long-term sustainability of leopard conservation within the country.

© D. Mallon

6

Arabian leopards were known to be present on the Omani territory of the Musandam peninsula until 1997, but there have been no records of leopards since. It was therefore important to survey this region to establish whether the Arabian leopard still survived in the north of Oman and how much, if any, of its prey base remained. Possible sign of Arabian leopard was found at the end of the 2006 survey, in February. Firm evidence of Arabian leopard was found during the 2007 survey. However, the population is thought to be very small and probably not viable. The research also showed that Arabian tahr and gazelle, two important leopard prey animals, are no longer present or at very low numbers, probably due to competition pressures from goat livestock.

© A. Sliwa

7

We found leopard kills by searching within areas with clusters of locations from radio collared leopards. The three leopards consumed 89.2 kg of meat from five chital, one domestic dog and two birds during 19 days of 24-h intensive tracking, rendering an average daily food intake of 4.7 ± 0.3 kg per capita. Twenty-five prey items (14 chital, one muntjac, four primates and six birds) were found during 180 days of daily monitoring of the female. All edible biomass was consumed in all kills, except for three chital, and the rate of kill consumption was positively related to the age of her cubs. The average daily food consumption of the female was 4.0 ± 0.3 kg/day, the kill rate (days/kill) including all prey categories was 5.6 ± 0.4 days, and the kill rate of ungulates was 10.6 ± 0.7 days.

Odden_&_Wegge_2009_Kill_rates_and_food_consumption_of_leopards_in_Nepal.pdf

© A. Sliwa

8

This study attempted to quantify livestock depredation by leopards by comparing leopard diet within and outside the reserve. Leopard scats from both areas were analysed for prey items. The mountain reedbuck was the most frequently utilized prey, followed by vlei rat, bushbuck, rock hyrax and grysbok. There was a significant difference in the frequency of prey items between the reserve and the rangeland samples in terms of the relative contribution of the prey taxa. Medium-sized and small ungulates were heavily utilized in the reserve, whilst the diet in rangelands was composed largely of small mammals (including small ungulates). Only two scats contained the remains of domestic animals.

Ott_et_al_2007_Diet_of_leopards_in_Baviaanskloof_South_Africa.pdf

© A. Sliwa

9

We examined predation activity throughout Bhutan on a variety of livestock types using data gathered over the first two years (2003-2005) of a compensation scheme for livestock losses. One thousand three hundred and seventy five kills were documented, with leopards killing significantly more livestock (70% of all kills), than tigers (19%), bears (8%) and snow leopards (2%). About 50% of livestock killing were of cattle, and about 33% were of horses, with tigers, leopards and snow leopards killing a significantly greater proportion of horses than predicted from availability. Examination of cattle kills showed that leopards killed a significantly greater proportion of smaller prey (e.g., calves), whereas tigers killed a significantly greater proportion of larger prey (e.g., bulls).

Sangay_&_Vernes_2008_Human-wildlife_conflict_in_the_Kingdom_of_Bhutan.pdf

© A. Sliwa

10

Amur leopard Panthera pardus orientalis is among the most endangered leopards of the world. They are mainly distributed in Primorye Krai, Russian Far East, with a few tiny plots in China and North Korea. Primorye Krai is sympatrically inhabited by another endangered feline species, Siberian tiger Panthera tigris altaica. As a preparation for the study of genetic structure of these two endangered species, we developed primer sets for species and sex identification from faecal extracts, since distinguishing between leopard and tiger based on the appearance of their faeces is ambiguous and determining the sex ratio is critically important for conservation.

Sugimoto_et_al_2006_Species_and_sex_id_of_Amur_leopard_and_tiger_from_scats.pdf

© A. Sliwa