Mirza Azhar Beg

Food habits of the snow leopard Panthera uncia (Schreber, 1775) in Baltistan, Northern Pakistan

The snow leopard (Panthera uncia) inhabits the high, remote mountains of Pakistan from where very little information is available on prey use of this species. Our study describes the food habits of the snow leopard in the Himalayas and Karakoram mountain ranges in Baltistan, Pakistan. Ninety-five putrid snow leopard scats were collected from four sites in Baltistan. Of these, 49 scats were genetically confirmed to have originated from snow leopards. The consumed prey was identified on the basis of morphological characteristics of hairs recovered from the scats. It was found that most of the biomass consumed (70%) was due to domestic livestock viz. sheep (23%), goat (16%), cattle (10%), yak (7%), and cattle–yak hybrids (14%). Only 30% of the biomass was due to wild species, namely Siberian ibex (21%), markhor (7%), and birds (2%). Heavy predation on domestic livestock appeared to be the likely cause of conflict with the local inhabitants. Conservation initiatives should focus on mitigating this conflict by minimizing livestock losses.

First record of Mus cookii (Cook’s mouse) from Pothwar, Pakistan: a probable case of range extension?

Abstract The Southeast Asian species Mus (Mus) cookii Ryley 1914 has been previously reported from southern China, Nepal, northeastern and peninsular India, Myanmar, north and central Thailand and Vietnam. A cytochrome b (Cytb) gene analysis revealed the presence of M. cookii which significantly expands the known western range of this species. However, it is unclear whether the M. cookii population in the Pothwar region represents a historical or recent westward range expansion or, on the contrary, a relictual source population that further experienced an historic eastward range expansion into Southeast Asia.

Mitochondrial Genetic Diversity and Phylogeography of Mus musculus castaneus in Northern Punjab, Pakistan

Regions of Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and northwestern India have been proposed as the place of origin of Mus musculus castaneus. But despite the fact that Pakistan encompasses an important part of its range, M. m. castaneus populations in Pakistan have not been the subject of intensive genetic and biogeographic studies, except for a very small number of samples included in past studies. We studied genetic variation in M. m. castaneus (CAS) from northern Punjab Province, Pakistan, by using cytochrome b (Cytb) analysis in a sample of 98 individuals. Median-joining network revealed four well differentiated CAS sub-lineages coexisting within a small geographical region; these had previously been thought to have largely non-overlapping geographic distributions. Moreover, haplotypes from Pakistan occupied a central position in the network and all identified global haplotypes were also present in Pakistan. All identified CAS sub-lineages proved to be highly diverse on the basis of haplotype and nucleotide diversity indices. Tajimas D test and Fus Fs tests of neutrality suggest recent population expansions in all sub-lineages. Expansion times were estimated as 21,760–134,930, 10,800–64,400 and 4950–30,665 ybp using substitution rates of 2.5%, 5% and 11%, respectively. Our results support the hypothesis that northern Punjab Province in Pakistan is the most likely source area for M. m. castaneus, and that the CAS sub-lineages in this region have undergone rapid population expansion events at different time periods, which appear to have benefitted from human-mediated transport, although one of them clearly predates the establishment of human settlements in this region.

Effect of Seasonal Swings and Age Specific Variations on Body Weight of Indian Gerbille (Tatera indica)

Mumtaz Akhtar1, Shabana Naz2,*, Muhamamad Iqbal3, Waqar Azeem4 and M.A. Beg5 1Department of Biology, Government Post-Graduate College for Women, Sargodha 2Department of Zoology, Government College University, Faisalabad 3Department of Statistics, University of Sargodha, Sargodha 4University College of Agriculture, University of Sargodha, Sargodha 5Department of Zoology and Fisheries, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad

Seasonal variation in the reproductive tract of the Indian flying fox, Pteropus giganteus (Brünnich, 1782)

Seasonal variation in the reproductive tract of Pteropus giganteus was studied at 13 sites of the Pothwar Plateau and Islamabad Capital Territory. Ninety-three dead specimens were collected from roosts, orchards and home-based small cultivations of fruit trees. In males, seasonal differences in testis length, testis width, cauda epididymidis length and penis length were recorded. Positive correlations were found between body weight, body length and all parameters of male reproductive tract. Significant monthly variations in testes conditions (viz. flaccid and turgid) were observed. In females, seasonal variation in reproductive tract weight, ovary length, ovary width, uterus length and uterus width were seen. In females, a strong relationship of body weight with total body length and female reproductive tract parameters were found. In flying foxes’ population of Pothwar, first mating was observed in December-January and second in June-July, suggesting two mating seasons in winter and summer.