696 S. Kumbhojkar et al.
National Park, Pakistan, the leopard similarly subsistedmain- ly on domestic animals, with goats predominating (64.9%) the frequency of occurrence (Shehzad et al., 2015). The differences between our results and other studies are
a consequence of the high number of dogs and cats in our study area. The total dog and cat populations in the area are estimated to be c. 32,500 and 7,500 individuals, respectively (J. Reece, pers. comm., 2019); these species are thus widely available. Cattle and goats are relatively less abundant (31%) because these animals are herded during the day and pro- tected in enclosures at night. Similarly, in Sanjay Gandhi National Park, Mumbai, leopards have adapted to the de- pleted wild ungulate prey base by feeding on dogs found in the surrounding areas and by scavenging on buffalo car- casses (Edgaonkar & Chellam, 2002). In spite of the higher frequency of goats in the leopard
scats we analysed, the relative biomass of cattle was higher, a result of the greater weight of cattle. A similar finding was made in the study of leopard diet in Sri Lanka (Mukenhirn & Eisenberg, 1973). In our study the leopards were probably feeding on discarded carcasses of calves as the Rajasthan Forest Department does not have any records of claims for compensation for predation of cattle. The fact that leopards prey on the most easily available
species (themost numerous), has already been demonstrated (Schaller, 1967; Seidensticker, 1983;Kshettry et al. 2018).With a diet dominated by domestic dogs and cats rather than by domestic livestock, the potential economic impact of the leopards of Jhalana Reserve Forest is lower compared to areas where predation of livestock is high and there is a consequent lack of tolerance for such damage (cf. Margulies & Karanth, 2018). In addition a large proportion of the rural population surrounding Jhalana Reserve Forest are Jains, who practise the conservation of biodiversity, and especially of large felids (Athreya et al., 2018); this facilitates human–leopard coexis- tence (Kumbhojkar et al., 2019). Domestic dogs are a public health problem in India and
elsewhere (Reece & Chawla, 2006) and occasionally attack other small domestic animals (Srinivasan, 2013). For people, dog bites can result in infection, disfigurement, incapacity, post-traumatic stress, and even death, and bites from in- fected dogs account for .90% of rabies cases (Seligsohn, 2014; Taylor et al., 2017). Only 2%of the total dog population in the study area are vaccinated (J. Reece, pers. comm., 2019; Reece & Chawla 2006). Dogs could also transfer infectious diseases to leopards. Canine distemper virus is the second most common cause of death in domestic dogs (Deem et al., 2000) and is also responsible for disease outbreaks amongst the African lion Panthera leo in the Serengeti, the Amur tiger Panthera tigris altaica in the Russian Far East and the Asiatic lion in India (Roelke-Parker et al., 1996; Seimon et al., 2013; ICMR, 2018). Leopards that prey substantially on domestic dogs, as do those of Jhalana Reserve Forest, could be considered as suppliers of a service
to the human population amongst whom they thrive, al- though this potentially exposes the leopards to the canine distemper virus.
Acknowledgements We thank Sudharshan Sharma, Deputy Conservator of Forests, for his guidance, the Rajasthan Forest Department for permission to conduct research on the leopards of Jhalana and for collecting scat and biological samples; Pratiksha Vedpathak, Benazir Bagwan, Aseem Shendye and Abhay Shendye from Swasti Agro and Bio-Products Pvt. Ltd. for technical support and assistance with scat analysis; Satish Pande, Satish Karmalkar, Pramod Deshpande, Sanjay Khatavkar and Rajkumar Pawar of Ela Foundation for provision of equipment and laboratory facilities for scat analysis; Rahul Lonkar; Bablu Gurjar, Abhishek Gurjar, Dayal Gurjar, Shubham Saini, Varad Bansod and Hrishikesh Wagh for help with field surveys, scat collection and washing of the scats; G.V. Reddy, Head of Forest Office, Rajasthan Forest Department arranged training at Sanjay Gandhi National Park, Mumbai, for scat analysis; Vidhya Athreya, Nikit Surve and his team of volunteers for training in the field; and Abhinav Mehta for drafting Fig. 1.
Author contributions Study design, fieldwork: SK, RY; data ana- lyses, writing: all authors.
Conflicts of interest None.
Ethical standards This research do not involve handling of animals and otherwise abided by the Oryx guidelines on ethical standards. SK and RY worked under research permit 171 of the Rajasthan Forest Department.
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