IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group - Digital Cat Library |
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| Fr”hlich, M., | |
| Studying the foraging ecology of leopards (_Panthera pardus_) using activity and location data: an exploratory attempt | |
| 2011 Full Book | |
Leopards (_Panthera pardus_) are considered to have the most wide ranging distribution of all felids, but outside savanna habitats their ecology is poorly understood. To improve our knowledge on feeding habits of these elusive carnivores, we used telemetric data obtained by GPS-Plus collars of Vectronic Aerospace GmbH with included dual-axis accelerometers in the Cederberg Mountains of the Western Cape, South Africa. Apart from spatial use and activity pattern, hunting activity of a single female leopard was examined using a novel approach of combining both GPS cluster analysis and activity data obtained by acceleration measurement during June 2008 - July 2009. In total, 2588 GPS positions with a fix success of 87% were obtained. The leopard avoided open flats and spent most time on rocky slopes of the Cederberg's Fynbos section. During summer, tendencies of a crepuscular activity pat-tern were found, but shifted towards diurnality in winter. Within the GPS cluster investigation period of 254 days, 78 potential kill sites from GPS data records were identified. Fifty-four of these sites were investigated 171 ñ 91 days (mean ñ sd) after the potential predation event which resulted in the detection of prey remains at 31 sites and thus a success rate of 57.4 %. The majority (76%) of prey consisted of rock hyraxes Procavia capensis and klipspringers Oreotragus oreotragus, diurnal species that live in rugged terrain. We were not able to distinguish confirmed kill clusters from non-kill clusters using Generalized additive modeling (GAM) of activity data. However, there was a significant difference between the activity pattern at small-kill (rock hyrax, rock rabbit) sites and large-kill (antelope) sites. Furthermore, results of frequency analyses of activity data allowed the differentiation between feeding cluster and non-feeding activity outside clusters. The combination of different methods such as GPS telemetry and acceleration data provides a valuable means in regions like the rugged and largely inaccessible Cederberg Mountains, where direct observation and scat collection are difficult. However, future studies on the foraging ecology of leopards will require a larger sample size, shorter fix intervals and earlier field investigations |
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