Leopards prefer domestic dogs as prey

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Leopards in the Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) in North Mumbai have

taken a liking to domestic dogs, which has emerged as their favourite

prey.

 

An analysis of 117 scats, collected between May 2008 and March 2009, by

the

Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) has indicated that almost half of

the

prey detected in the droppings was domestic dog.

 

A combination of dog, rodents and wild boar formed almost 90 per cent of

the

prey, the study said. The findings correlated with the results of the

human-leopard interaction survey which indicated that dog/livestock

lifting

is common in areas surrounding the park.

 

" Leopards are well-known to be opportunistic and due to abundance of

domestic dogs around SGNP, the big cats seems to be largely surviving on

small prey as a total of 81 per cent of hairs were identified as

belonging

to species weighing less than 20kg, " BNHS Project-Head (City Forest)

Krishna

Tiwari told PTI here.

 

This is contradictory to the common belief by ecologists that leopards

tend

to consume prey in the weight range of 20 to 70 kg, he said.

 

Covering a area of almost 103 sq km, SNGP, which spans over Thane

district

and Mumbai suburban division, is home to 24 leopards, as per the 2008

census

report.

 

According to Tiwari, the trend poses no danger to the survival of the

leopards as the consumption of dogs and other domestic livestock

fulfills

all its nutritional requirement.

 

" As long as the prey it consumes is disease free, the leopard has

nothing to

fear, " he said. " Last year, a leopard, that was surviving on a diet of

only

dogs was caught at Kolshet in Thane district.

 

It was found weighing a good 65-70 kg, which is an indication of a

completely healthy animal, " he said. However, Tiwari said, the trend may

bring the leopard in direct conflicts with the humans.

 

The natural habitat for the leopard is disappearing rapidly due to

encroachment from slums and residential complexes. This encroachment has

greatly reduced the original territory of big cats, encouraging a higher

incidences of human-leopard conflict when the animals stray from their

home

ranges in search of food, he said.

 

According to Tiwari, a further study on prey abundance and density

within

SGNP is required to identify whether there is a lack of natural prey for

the

leopards in the national park or if they are choosing dogs over natural

prey

on the basis of convenience or abundance.

 

" Only then will it be possible to understand whether the leopards are

heavily depending on dogs as a functional response to reduced wild

ungulate

prey density or because it is a more convenient option to prey on

domestic

canines, " he said.

 

http://www.mid-day.com/news/2009/may/270509-leopard-dogs.htm

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