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Thinley, P.
Understanding the pattern of spatial co-occurrence between tigers, leopards, and black bears in Bhutan through spatial point pattern analysis of their livestock depredation sites
2010  Journal of Renewable Natural Resources of Bhutan (5): 107-119

A study of the pattern of co-occurrence among wild animal species using spatial analysis of their occurrence points is a new concept. Bhutan has many species of mammalian predators of which tigers (_Panthera tigris_), leopards (_Panthera pardus_), dholes (_Cuon alpinus_), and Himalayan black bears (_Ursus thibetanus_) have been reported to kill livestock probably because of decline in their natural prey population and lax herding practices. About 46 cases of livestock depredations by tigers, leopards, and black bears were reported during the year 2005 from Jigme Dorji National Park (JDNP), Jigme Singye Wangchuck National Park (JSWNP), and Bumdeling Wildlife Sanctuary (BWS). Past studies suggested increasing dependence of these predators on livestock in Bhutan which merits an examination of their spatial co-occurrence in their livestock depredation sites. I determined the spatial co-occurrence among tigers and leopards, and leopards and bears using the Global Positioning Systems (GPS) points of livestock depredation sites in Bhutan reported by field staffs. Ripley's K was used to test for spatial randomness of tiger, leopard, and Himalayan black bear kill sites while Cross-K was used to test for spatial co-occurrence of tigers and leopards in JDNP and leopards and Himalayan black bears in BWS. Tigers, leopards, and bears kill sites were not spatially random but clustered with most clustering occurring in the case of leopard kill sites. There was no evidence of spatial co-occurrence of leopards with tigers in JDNP and leopards with Himalayan black bears in BWS.

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