The leopard that learnt from the cat and other narratives of carnivore–human coexistence in northern India

Abstract

Different cultures around the world conceptualize nature, and wild‐ life in particular, in ways that can be radically divergent from the formalized, modern, urban, academic understanding of the same con‐ cept (Aiyadurai, 2016; Gebresenbet, 2017; Govindrajan, 2015; Hill & Webber, 2010; Knight, 2003; Lescureux et al., 2011; Saunders, 1998). Currently, as reflected in conservation literature, the approach to studying wildlife–human interactions usually lies in the domains of the ecological and socio‐economic sciences, often reducing very complex issues to metrics like economic damage or resource value that can be easily quantified in monetary terms (Inskip & Zimmermann, 2009). Received: 13 August 2018 | Accepted: 8 May 2019 DOI: 10.1002/pan3.10039