Tigers, Terrain, and Human Settlement Influence the Occupancy of Leopards (<i>Panthera pardus</i>) in Southwestern Tarai, Nepal.

ABSTRACT: Maintaining a healthy population of common leopards, a highly adaptive felid, requires updated information on their spatial occurrence. In Nepal's Tarai region, leopards coexist with tigers, which are well-studied felid throughout its range. However, knowledge is very scarce on the patterns of leopard occupancy. We conducted an occupancy survey using remote cameras in southwestern Tarai, particularly in Shuklaphanta National Park, Nepal, to assess habitat use by leopards from December 2022 to January 2023. Naive and model-averaged occupancy estimates were 0.51 and 0.6563 (SE: 0.022, 95% CI: 0.612, 0.70), respectively. The detection of leopards was negatively correlated with the presence of tigers. Leopard occupancy was higher closer to human settlement and higher in rugged terrain. At a ti

SUBMITTER: Joshi LR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11745899 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature