IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group - Digital Cat Library |
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| Sharbafi, E.; Farhadinia, M.S.; Rezaie, H.R.; Braczkowski, A.R. | |
| Prey of the Persian leopard (_Panthera pardus saxicolor_) in a mixed forest-steppe landscape in northeastern Iran (Mammalia: Felidae) | |
| 2016 Zoology in the Middle East: 1-8 | |
We carried out a dietary analysis of Persian Leopards, _Panthera pardus saxicolor_, in a temperate region in north-eastern Iran, where the largest population nucleus exists across the subspecies range. We investigated 113 faecal samples collected between February 2009 and March 2010 in Golestan National Park. Faecal analysis revealed that leopards predominantly preyed upon wild ungulates, with the Wild Boar, _Sus scrofa_, being the most important prey species in terms of frequency and biomass. Eleven different prey items were identified, 7 of which were ungulates, comprising 99% of the total food items. We also found a spatial pattern in the prey composition of leopards: cervids were predominantly found in forest landscapes, whereas Wild Sheep, _Ovis orientalis_, was mainly found in steppe habitats, revealing the leopards' predation on medium- to large-sized ungulates. Livestock remains were mainly extracted from steppe samples, but the overall contribution to the leopard diet pattern (approximately 8.5% of consumed biomass) suggested that conflict with human communities, at least within the investigated core parts of the National Park, is not a major concern. The study provides the first illustration of the Persian Leopard's dietary composition in a temperate area with a relatively high diversity of available prey, and can be a baseline for future investigation and human-leopard interaction monitoring. |
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