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| Ahmed, K.; Khan, J. | |
| Food habits of leopard in tropical moist deciduous forest of Dudhwa National Park, Uttar Pradesh, India | |
| 2008 International Journal of Ecology and Environmental Sciences (34): 141-147 | |
Scats analysis was used to determine the food habit of leopard (_Panthera pardus fusca_) in the tropical moist-evergreen forest of Dudhwa National Park (DNP) Northern India. A total of 74 scats were collected and analyzed. Scat contents were analyzed in terms of relative frequency of occurrence and the relative prey biomass consumed. A minimum of 20 different prey species were identified. Diet diversity in leopard scats was found to be 1.045. The average weight of the animal consumed by leopard in the intensive study area was 45 kg. In terms of biomass, the most important single prey species was chital (_Axis axis_) making up to 19.75% of biomass consumed followed by rodents (17.35%) and Nilgai (11.44%). Wild ungulates together accounted for 28.44% of all prey species consumed. Domestic livestock contributed only 5.08%. Study showed that leopard avoid direct competition from tiger by using peripheral forest in terms of space and by segregating prey species in terms of size. The ability of leopard to exploit smaller prey species gives them advantage over tiger when faced with human induced habitat changes. |
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