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Edgaonkar, A.; Chellam, R.
Food habit of the leopard, _Panthera pardus_, in the Sanjay Gandhi National Park, Maharashtra, India
2002 Mammalia (66): 353-360
Food habits of the leopard (_Panthera pardus_) were studied by scat analysis between December 1995 and July 1996. The study site was Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP), a small, isolated, prey-poor protected area abutting Mumbai city. Two methods of analysis were used in quantifying the leopard's diet, percentage frequency of occurrence of prey hair or claws in the scats and estimation of relative biomass taken by the leopard using a regression equation. Both the methods gave comparable results and domestic dog as the most important component of the leopard's diet. The importance of rodents in the diet was drastically reduced by the relative biomass method. The leopard was also found to take primates, cervids, pigs and birds in lesser numbers. Domestic buffaloes were probably scavenged, and together with domestic dogs made up about 70 % of the diet. It can be concluded that the leopard has adapted to its wild prey impoverished habitat by feeding largely on domestic animals.
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