Bilal Habib

Prey Preferences of the Snow Leopard (Panthera uncia): Regional Diet Specificity Holds Global Significance for Conservation

The endangered snow leopard is a large felid that is distributed over 1.83 million km2 globally. Throughout its range it relies on a limited number of prey species in some of the most inhospitable landscapes on the planet where high rates of human persecution exist for both predator and prey. We reviewed 14 published and 11 unpublished studies pertaining to snow leopard diet throughout its range. We calculated prey consumption in terms of frequency of occurrence and biomass consumed based on 1696 analysed scats from throughout the snow leopards range. Prey biomass consumed was calculated based on the Ackermans linear correction factor. We identified four distinct physiographic and snow leopard prey type zones, using cluster analysis that had unique prey assemblages and had key prey characteristics which supported snow leopard occurrence there. Levins index showed the snow leopard had a specialized dietary niche breadth. The main prey of the snow leopard were Siberian ibex (Capra sibrica), blue sheep (Pseudois nayaur), Himalayan tahr (Hemitragus jemlahicus), argali (Ovis ammon) and marmots (Marmota spp). The significantly preferred prey species of snow leopard weighed 55±5 kg, while the preferred prey weight range of snow leopard was 36–76 kg with a significant preference for Siberian ibex and blue sheep. Our meta-analysis identified critical dietary resources for snow leopards throughout their distribution and illustrates the importance of understanding regional variation in species ecology; particularly prey species that have global implications for conservation.

Disentangling canid howls across multiple species and subspecies: Structure in a complex communication channel.

Wolves, coyotes, and other canids are members of a diverse genus of top predators of considerable conservation and management interest. Canid howls are long-range communication signals, used both for territorial defence and group cohesion. Previous studies have shown that howls can encode individual and group identity. However, no comprehensive study has investigated the nature of variation in canid howls across the wide range of species. We analysed a database of over 2000 howls recorded from 13 different canid species and subspecies. We applied a quantitative similarity measure to compare the modulation pattern in howls from different populations, and then applied an unsupervised clustering algorithm to group the howls into natural units of distinct howl types. We found that different species and subspecies showed markedly different use of howl types, indicating that howl modulation is not arbitrary, but can be used to distinguish one population from another. We give an example of the conservation importance of these findings by comparing the howls of the critically endangered red wolves to those of sympatric coyotes Canis latrans, with whom red wolves may hybridise, potentially compromising reintroduced red wolf populations. We believe that quantitative cross-species comparisons such as these can provide important understanding of the nature and use of communication in socially cooperative species, as well as support conservation and management of wolf populations.

Attitudes of Local People Toward Wildlife Conservation: A Case Study From the Kashmir Valley

People’s attitudes toward wildlife conservation can significantly affect the success of conservation initiatives. Understanding the factors influencing these attitudes is essential for designing strategies to alleviate human–wildlife conflict. Although this topic has been studied extensively across diverse regions, there has been no such study in the Kashmir Division of Jammu and Kashmir state, India. We surveyed 3 administrative units around Dachigam National Park through semistructured interviews (n = 384) to investigate the socioeconomic status of local people, the extent of economic damage caused by wild animals, and people’s attitudes toward wildlife conservation. Results, analyzed using a generalized linear model approach, indicated that about 75% of the respondents suffered crop damage, while 23% suffered livestock predation by wild animals. The majority of respondents expressed favorable attitudes toward wildlife, with only about 16% expressing a negative perception. Gender, crop damage, livestock predation, and total livestock holdings were the strongest variables influencing the attitudes of local people in the study area. The study identified the need to use appropriate mitigation measures to minimize economic damage by wildlife in order to reduce negative local attitudes toward wildlife conservation.

Three decades of wildlife radio telemetry in India: a review

From 1983, there have been three decades of the application and development of radio telemetry for wildlife studies in India. In this article, we review 82 studies from India, covering 47 species from four taxonomic classes. We examine and discuss the trends in the selection of study species, habitats and objectives of radio-telemetry studies and the functional success of radio collars and tags. A strong bias for study species and study region is observed and researchers generally tend not to look beyond the traditional research questions. Habitats that are difficult to access, such as the Trans-Himalayas, the Himalayas and north-eastern India, are overlooked. Most of the studies aimed to infer primary information only, such as home range, migration and movement patterns and habitat preference (53.7%, 47.6% and 28.1% studies, respectively). We expect these trends to change with time as the development of technology allows researchers to explore further. We investigated the tracking histories of 483 animals and the records of 496 radio collars or tags, but detailed information could be acquired for only 330 collars or tags. Of the collars, 49% malfunctioned before the end of their anticipated life due to a variety of reasons, early battery drainage being the prevalent cause. The performance of different technologies and collar manufacturers was also analysed but the small sample size was an issue for most of the cases. Argos-based collars and tags generally failed to record most of the locations precisely and failed to transmit them successfully. Issues with permissions and capturing animals for tagging, particular to India, are also discussed. A uniform and centralized system for granting permissions and guidelines for capturing and handling animals would be beneficial to future telemetry studies.

Howl variation across Himalayan, North African, Indian, and Holarctic wolf clades: tracing divergence in the world’s oldest wolf lineages using acoustics

Abstract Vocal divergence within species often corresponds to morphological, environmental, and genetic differences between populations. Wolf howls are long-range signals that encode individual, group, and subspecies differences, yet the factors that may drive this variation are poorly understood. Furthermore, the taxonomic division within the Canis genus remains contended and additional data are required to clarify the position of the Himalayan, North African, and Indian wolves within Canis lupus. We recorded 451 howls from the 3 most basal wolf lineages—Himalayan C. lupus chanco—Himalayan haplotype, North African C. lupus lupaster, and Indian C. lupus pallipes wolves—and present a howl acoustic description within each clade. With an additional 619 howls from 7 Holarctic subspecies, we used a random forest classifier and principal component analysis on 9 acoustic parameters to assess whether Himalayan, North African, and Indian wolf howls exhibit acoustic differences compared to each other and Holarctic wolf howls. Generally, both the North African and Indian wolf howls exhibited high mean fundamental frequency (F0) and short duration compared to the Holarctic clade. In contrast, the Himalayan wolf howls typically had lower mean F0, unmodulated frequencies, and short howls compared to Holarctic wolf howls. The Himalayan and North African wolves had the most acoustically distinct howls and differed significantly from each other and to the Holarctic wolves. Along with the influence of body size and environmental differences, these results suggest that genetic divergence and/or geographic distance may play an important role in understanding howl variation across subspecies.

A whistle in the woods: an ethogram and activity budget for the dhole in central India

The dhole (Cuon alpinus) is an endangered social canid that inhabits the forests of southern and southeastern Asia. A scarcity of field studies and inconsistent findings have led to a poor understanding of their ecology and conservation status. We compiled an ethogram of dhole behavior based on analysis of 395.35 min of video recordings. We recorded 3,394 behavioral events in 1,654 video clips lasting 10 s each. We classified behavioral events into 6 categories: Locomotion, Resting, Social Behavior, Feeding, Scent Marking, and Miscellaneous. Behavioral events associated with Locomotion were most frequent (40.95%), as was the proportion of time spent on such behaviors (41.89%). Dholes spent the least time exhibiting Miscellaneous and Scent Marking behaviors (1.45% and 2.64%, respectively), as well as the lowest frequency (0.74% and 4.01%, respectively). Although scent marking was relatively rare, we observed unique scent-marking behaviors in this study, including “hind bounce” and “hind scrub.” The time spent on different categories of behaviors differed significantly among males, females, and subadults. We also used camera traps and opportunistic observations to investigate the activity patterns of dholes in dry deciduous forest of Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve in central India, where they are sympatric with other large predators including tigers (Panthera tigris) and leopards (P. pardus). Our findings suggested that dholes were primarily crepuscular. Fundamental knowledge about behavioral ecology is crucial for the conservation of any species, and our findings provide a new foundation for future behavioral research on this endangered social canid.

Triage of Means: Options for Conserving Tiger Corridors beyond Designated Protected Lands in India

The latest tiger census conducted in India during the year 2014 shows that it harbours 57% of the global tiger population in 7% of their historic global range. At the same time, India has 1.25 billion people growing at a rate of 1.7% per year. Protected tiger habitats in India are geographically isolated and collectively holds this tiger population under tremendous anthropogenic pressure. These protected lands are in itself not enough to sustain the growing tiger population, intensifying human-tiger conflict as dispersing individuals enter human occupied areas. These factors – isolation and inadequate size of the protected lands harbouring tiger meta-populations, highlight the need to connect tiger habitats and the importance of corridors beyond protected lands. It is imperative to conserve such corridors passing through private lands to safeguard the long-term survival of the tigers in India. The goal of long-term tiger conservation in India lies in smartly integrating tiger conservation concerns in various sectors where tiger conservation is not the priority. To effectively tap into all these resources, we propose a “Triage of Means” strategy. Here we do not prioritize species, populations or sites due to the non-availability of conservation resources. Instead, we aim to prioritize from available resources (means to achieve conservation) from other sectors where tiger conservation is not the focus. We outline how to prioritise resources available from various sectors into conservation by prioritizing issues hampering tiger conservation beyond protected habitats.

Density estimation of leopard cat Prionailurus bengalensis using capture-recaptures sampling in lowland forest of Pakke Tiger Reserve, Arunachal Pradesh, India

Abstract In this study, we estimated leopard cat abundance and density using photographic capture-recapture methods. The leopard cat, Prionailurus bengalensis, is a common spread small cat in Asia, which is mainly nocturnal and solitary in nature. It occurs in across a range of habitat types. The study was conducted in Pakke Tiger Reserve (PTR) 26°54′–27°16′N, 92°36′–93°09′E), which lies in the eastern Himalayan state of Arunachal Pradesh (27°29′–29°23′N 94°02′–95°15′E) and covers an area of 862 km2. Population status and abundance estimates were made through individual identification using camera trapping combined with mark-recapture methods. A total of 900 trap nights yielded seven leopard cat individuals, with 16 left flank and nine right flanks. The population abundance was 7±1.0 and the density was 3.2 individuals/100 km2. Estimated probability of capture, p-hat=0.15. Program closure test indicates that closure assumption was not violated in the study. Our density estimates (3.21) seems to be low as the leopard cat shares resources with five other small cats in the area.

The Cuon Enigma: Genome survey and comparative genomics of the endangered Dhole (Cuon alpinus)

The Asiatic wild dog is an endangered monophyletic canid restricted to Asia; facing threats from habitat fragmentation and other anthropogenic factors. Dholes have unique adaptations as compared to other wolf-like canids for large litter size (larger number of mammae) and hypercarnivory making it evolutionarily notable. Over evolutionary time, dhole and the subsequent divergent wild canids have lost coat patterns found in African wild dog. Here we report the first high coverage genome survey of Asiatic wild dog and mapped it with African wild dog, dingo and domestic dog to assess the structural variants. We generated a total of 124.8 Gb data from 416140921 raw read pairs and retained 398659457 reads with 52X coverage and mapped 99.16% of the clean reads to the three reference genomes. We identified ~13553269 SNV’s, ~2858184 InDels, ~41000 SVs, ~1854109 SSRs and about 1000 CNVs. We compared the annotated genome of dingo and domestic dog with dhole genome sequence to understand the role of genes responsible in pelage pattern, dentition and mammary glands. Positively selected genes for these phenotypes were looked for SNP variants and top ranked genes for coat pattern, dentition and mammary glands were found to play a role in signalling and developmental pathways. Mitochondrial genome assembly predicted 35 genes, 11 CDS and 24 tRNA. This genome information will help in understanding the divergence of two monophlyletic canids, Cuon and Lycaon, and the evolutionary adaptations of dholes with respect to other canids.

Catch me if you can: Species interactions and moon illumination effect on mammals of tropical semi-evergreen forest of Manas National Park, Assam, India

Species interaction plays a vital role in structuring communities by stimulating behavioral responses in temporal niche affecting the sympatric associations and prey-predator relationships. We studied relative abundance indices (RAI) and activity patterns of each species, temporal overlap between sympatric species, and effects of moon cycle on predator-prey relationships, through camera-trapping in tropical semi-evergreen forests of Manas National Park. A total of 35 species were photo-captured with 16214 independent records over 7337 trap nights. Overall, relatively high number of photographs was obtained for large herbivores (11 species, n=13669), and low number of photographs were recorded for large carnivores (five species, n=657). Activity periods were classified into four categories: diurnal (day-time), nocturnal (night-time), crepuscular (twilight), and cathemeral (day and night time) of which 52% records were found in diurnal period followed by 37% in nocturnal phase whereas only 11% photographs during twilight. Small carnivores were strictly nocturnal (leopard cat and civets) or diurnal (yellow-throated marten and mongooses); whereas large carnivores were cathemeral (tiger, leopard, clouded leopard and Asiatic black bear). Analysis of activity patterns throughout the 24-h cycle revealed a high degree of temporal overlap (>60%) among most of the sympatric species; however, differences in the activity peaks were found between most of the species pairs. Moon phase was classified according to the percentage of visible moon surface as new (0-25%), waxing (25-50%), waning (50-75%) and full moon (75-100%). Moon phase did not have any correlation with activity of large carnivore and large prey. The large carnivore followed the feed and starve pattern of cyclic activity. The activity of small carnivore was influenced negatively by moonlight (partial correlation r = −0.221, p<0.01). The result suggests that large carnivores were active non-differentially across moon phases; however, small carnivores showed significantly high activity in darker nights. These patterns indicate that small predators may differ their activity temporally as an anti-predator strategy or otherwise to increase their foraging efficiency.