Diet of Leopards Panthera pardus fusca inhabiting protected areas and human-dominated landscapes in Goa, India
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Abstract
The diet of leopards occupying human-dominated and protected areas (PAs) in Goa, India was analyzed through scat analysis. A total of 117 scats, 55 from wildlife sanctuaries/ national parks and 62 from human-dominated areas were collected and analyzed. Analysis of 55 scats from protected forest revealed the presence of only wild prey in the leopard diet, whereas 61% of scats collected from human-dominated areas consisted of only wild prey, 29% of domesticated animals, and 10% a mixture of both wild prey & domesticated animals. Of the prey biomass consumed in human-dominated areas, domestic animals constituted only 33% of the leopard diet. Among all leopard scats, 71% contained only one prey species, 28% contained two species, and 1% contained three.
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