IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group - Digital Cat Library |
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| Henschel, P. | |
| The conservation biology of the leopard _Panthera pardus_ in Gabon: Status, threats and strategies for conservation | |
| 2008 Manuscript | |
The leopard (_Panthera pardus_) has the greatest geographic distribution of the wild cats, and is the most abundant large felid in Africa. Tropical rainforests comprise a large part of the leopard's range in Africa, and the forests of the Congo Basin in particular have long been considered an important stronghold for the species. While known leopard prey ranges in size from arthropods to the largest ungulates, recent studies suggest that leopards preferentially prey upon species within a weight range of 10-40 kg. In the rainforests of the Congo Basin, species within this weight range are also strongly preferred by bushmeat hunters, creating the possibility that leopards and humans are in direct competition for the same prey. However, baseline knowledge of leopard ecology and responses to human disturbance in African rainforests remain largely unknown. In the present study I investigate how leopard populations respond to competition for prey with hunters. My two principal hypotheses are that (1) leopards exhibit a functional response at hunted sites and switch to smaller, less preferred prey where larger prey species have been depleted; (2) leopards exhibit a numerical response at hunted sites and occur at lower population densities where larger prey species have been depleted. To test this, I collected leopard scats and camera trap data in four rainforest sites in central Gabon exposed to varying levels of anthropogenic disturbance. Hunting intensity is generally highest in the vicinity of settlements, and my four study sites were therefore situated at varying distances from settlements. I analysed camera trap data using capture-recapture models to estimate leopard densities, and employed occupancy modelling to investigate the factors affecting leopard distribution. Mean leopard prey weight and leopard population density were positively correlated to distance from settlements. Occupancy modelling revealed that leopard use of an area increased with prey abundance and distance from settlements. The results of this study imply that leopards in the African rainforest exhibit a strong functional and numerical response to competition with hunters for prey, and that leopards are absent in the direct vicinity of settlements where hunting is most intense. I present a simple geographic leopard population model to identify priority areas for leopard conservation in the Congo Basin. |
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