Seasonal Dietary Patterns and Hunting Strategies of the Indian Panthers (Panthera pardus fusca) in the Aravalli Hills of Southern Rajasthan: A Long-term Scatological Analysis

Abstract

For efficient conservation of apex predators of any region in remaining fragmented forest and wildlife areas of that region it is important to better understand their dietary habits and patterns in relation to seasons, variety of animals, and region (urban, village). Semi-arid landscapes of the Aravalli hills in southern Rajasthan of Indian sub-continent is primarily dominated by Indian Panther (Panthera pardus fusca) an apex carnivore of the region. Present study investigates the dietary habits, dietary composition and hunting behaviour of the Indian Panther in Sisarma Banki Forest (SBF) and Sajjangarh Wildlife Sanctuary (SWS) of Southern Rajasthan during the four years of study time period from November 2014 to October 2018. Through the scatological investigation and analysis of 150 scats (86 - SBF & 64 - SWS) collected between 2014 and 2018, total thirteen distinct prey species were identified through microscopic hair and bone examination (8 - wild and 5 - domestic) which revealed a diverse spectrum for Panther prey-base ranging from small rodents to large ungulates. While rodents remained a consistent and primary dietary staple across most seasons with notable exception of summer, a significant transitional increase toward domestic livestock hunting was observed during the summer and winter months in Panthers dietary proportions. Statistical evidence suggests reliance on domestic animals was significant which accounted about 57.85% of the diet in winter and 63.14% during summer exhibiting profound behavioural plasticity of Panthers with increasing cases of exploiting domestic prey -bases when compared to seasonal wild prey-base fluctuations. All these findings agrees to the fact that due to depleting natural prey-base in their fragmented wild landscapes, Panthers without any alternative choice were forced to remain an ecological generalist driving their increased dependency on domestic livestock, which calls an urgent attention to all stakeholders for immediate action to restore natural prey-base and practical implementation of landscape-level conservation strategies on ground-level to mitigate potential Human-Panther Conflicts (HPC).