Feeding Habits of Leopards and Leopard Cats in the Fragmented Forests Surrounding the Kathmandu Valley
ABSTRACT Large‐scale anthropogenic developments in the metropolitan areas of Nepal and the rural to urban influx of people have exacerbated human–wildlife conflicts across human‐altered landscapes of Nepal. The Kathmandu Valley has experienced large‐scale urbanization and has subsequently witnessed...
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Wiley
2025-02-01
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| Series: | Ecology and Evolution |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.70927 |
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| author | Prajwol Manandhar Keren S. Pereira Naresh Kusi Jyoti Joshi Noam Levin Hemanta K. Chaudhary Claudia Wultsch Sandesh Lamichhane Suman Bhandari Laba Guragain Rajesh M. Rajbhandari Berndt J. V. Rensburg Salit Kark Dibesh Karmacharya |
| author_facet | Prajwol Manandhar Keren S. Pereira Naresh Kusi Jyoti Joshi Noam Levin Hemanta K. Chaudhary Claudia Wultsch Sandesh Lamichhane Suman Bhandari Laba Guragain Rajesh M. Rajbhandari Berndt J. V. Rensburg Salit Kark Dibesh Karmacharya |
| author_sort | Prajwol Manandhar |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | ABSTRACT Large‐scale anthropogenic developments in the metropolitan areas of Nepal and the rural to urban influx of people have exacerbated human–wildlife conflicts across human‐altered landscapes of Nepal. The Kathmandu Valley has experienced large‐scale urbanization and has subsequently witnessed substantial incidents of human–wildlife conflicts given the increasing levels of human encroachment into remnant wildlife habitats. Here, we applied DNA metabarcoding in combination with geospatial analysis to study the feeding ecology of two urban carnivores, the leopard (Panthera pardus) and the leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis), in the forests surrounding the Kathmandu Valley and to check whether the leopards' predation on domestic animals contributes to human‐leopard conflict in this region and to obtain a baseline data on the dietary habits of the poorly studied leopard cat. We found that leopards were highly dependent on domestic animals in areas dominated by human‐use activities (agricultural and built‐up areas), whereas leopard cats mostly predated on wild rodents. Through our work, we highlight the importance of domestic prey in the diets of urban carnivores like leopards and demonstrate the influence human‐induced habitat disturbance has on the ecology of local wildlife. This study generates critical information which will help to inform conflict mitigation strategies and conservation planning for the two carnivore species, in addition to identifying areas within the region that are susceptible to human–wildlife conflicts. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-0a20c485e90a477b928e3915b44a2bc1 |
| institution | Matheson Library |
| issn | 2045-7758 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-02-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
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| series | Ecology and Evolution |
| spelling | doaj-art-0a20c485e90a477b928e3915b44a2bc12025-07-23T08:27:17ZengWileyEcology and Evolution2045-77582025-02-01152n/an/a10.1002/ece3.70927Feeding Habits of Leopards and Leopard Cats in the Fragmented Forests Surrounding the Kathmandu ValleyPrajwol Manandhar0Keren S. Pereira1Naresh Kusi2Jyoti Joshi3Noam Levin4Hemanta K. Chaudhary5Claudia Wultsch6Sandesh Lamichhane7Suman Bhandari8Laba Guragain9Rajesh M. Rajbhandari10Berndt J. V. Rensburg11Salit Kark12Dibesh Karmacharya13Center for Molecular Dynamics Nepal Kathmandu NepalSchool of the Environment University of Queensland St Lucia Queensland AustraliaHimalayan Wolves Project Salenstein SwitzerlandCenter for Molecular Dynamics Nepal Kathmandu NepalDepartment of Geography The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Jerusalem IsraelCenter for Molecular Dynamics Nepal Kathmandu NepalBioinformatics and Computational Genomics Laboratory, Hunter College City University of New York New York New York USASchool of Forestry and Natural Resource Management, Institute of Forestry Tribhuvan University Kathmandu NepalShivapuri Nagarjun National Park Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Kathmandu NepalShivapuri Nagarjun National Park Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Kathmandu NepalCenter for Molecular Dynamics Nepal Kathmandu NepalSchool of the Environment University of Queensland St Lucia Queensland AustraliaSchool of the Environment University of Queensland St Lucia Queensland AustraliaCenter for Molecular Dynamics Nepal Kathmandu NepalABSTRACT Large‐scale anthropogenic developments in the metropolitan areas of Nepal and the rural to urban influx of people have exacerbated human–wildlife conflicts across human‐altered landscapes of Nepal. The Kathmandu Valley has experienced large‐scale urbanization and has subsequently witnessed substantial incidents of human–wildlife conflicts given the increasing levels of human encroachment into remnant wildlife habitats. Here, we applied DNA metabarcoding in combination with geospatial analysis to study the feeding ecology of two urban carnivores, the leopard (Panthera pardus) and the leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis), in the forests surrounding the Kathmandu Valley and to check whether the leopards' predation on domestic animals contributes to human‐leopard conflict in this region and to obtain a baseline data on the dietary habits of the poorly studied leopard cat. We found that leopards were highly dependent on domestic animals in areas dominated by human‐use activities (agricultural and built‐up areas), whereas leopard cats mostly predated on wild rodents. Through our work, we highlight the importance of domestic prey in the diets of urban carnivores like leopards and demonstrate the influence human‐induced habitat disturbance has on the ecology of local wildlife. This study generates critical information which will help to inform conflict mitigation strategies and conservation planning for the two carnivore species, in addition to identifying areas within the region that are susceptible to human–wildlife conflicts.https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.70927DNA metabarcodingfeeding ecologyhabitat disturbanceKathmandu ValleyPanthera pardusPrionailurus bengalensis |
| spellingShingle | Prajwol Manandhar Keren S. Pereira Naresh Kusi Jyoti Joshi Noam Levin Hemanta K. Chaudhary Claudia Wultsch Sandesh Lamichhane Suman Bhandari Laba Guragain Rajesh M. Rajbhandari Berndt J. V. Rensburg Salit Kark Dibesh Karmacharya Feeding Habits of Leopards and Leopard Cats in the Fragmented Forests Surrounding the Kathmandu Valley Ecology and Evolution DNA metabarcoding feeding ecology habitat disturbance Kathmandu Valley Panthera pardus Prionailurus bengalensis |
| title | Feeding Habits of Leopards and Leopard Cats in the Fragmented Forests Surrounding the Kathmandu Valley |
| title_full | Feeding Habits of Leopards and Leopard Cats in the Fragmented Forests Surrounding the Kathmandu Valley |
| title_fullStr | Feeding Habits of Leopards and Leopard Cats in the Fragmented Forests Surrounding the Kathmandu Valley |
| title_full_unstemmed | Feeding Habits of Leopards and Leopard Cats in the Fragmented Forests Surrounding the Kathmandu Valley |
| title_short | Feeding Habits of Leopards and Leopard Cats in the Fragmented Forests Surrounding the Kathmandu Valley |
| title_sort | feeding habits of leopards and leopard cats in the fragmented forests surrounding the kathmandu valley |
| topic | DNA metabarcoding feeding ecology habitat disturbance Kathmandu Valley Panthera pardus Prionailurus bengalensis |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.70927 |
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