Response of leopards to re-introduced tigers in Sariska Tiger Reserve, Western India

MONDAL, K.; GUPTA, S.; BHATTACHARJEE, S.; QURESHI, Q; SANKAR, K. 2012. Response of leopards to re-introduced tigers in Sariska Tiger Reserve, Western India. International Journal of Biodiversity and Conservation 4(5):228-236. doi: 10.5897/IJBC12.014

Abstract. Tigers got exterminated from Sariska Tiger Reserve before 2005. After that, five tigers were re-introduced to Sariska during 2008 to 2010. The present study compared the abundance, site occupancy and temporal activity pattern of leopard before and after tiger re-introduction. The population of leopard was estimated by mark-recapture technique using camera traps during 2008 to 2010 in an effective trapping area of 223.3 km2. Before tiger re-introduction (2008), the leopard density was estimated to be 7.6±0.6 (SE) /100 km2 and after tiger reintroduction it was 6.2±0.8 /100 km2(2009) and 3.1±0.4 /100 km2 (2010). It was observed that the density of leopard declined significantly (Two sample T-Test; P = 0.0002) from 2008 to 2010. Rate of site occupancy was calculated through site-wise capture history of leopard obtained from camera traps. Before tiger re-introduction the probability of site utilization of leopard was 0.75, while after tiger re-introduction probabilities of site utilization of leopard and tiger were estimated at 0.54 and 0.52 respectively and the co-occurrence of both the species was 0.51. Temporal activity patterns of tiger and leopard were investigated from photo captures. Prior to the release of tigers, mean activity time of leopard was 20: 57 h (95% CI 20: 19 to 22: 53) but shifted to 22: 35 h (21: 02 to 01: 25 h) after tiger release (Watson’s U2 test: p<0.005). The present study showed that there was a decline in the leopard population after tiger re-introduction and considerable segregation between the two carnivores along the spatial and temporal axes.