A Preliminary Study on the Ecology of the Leopard, Panthera Pardus Fusca in the Sanjay Gandhi National Park, Maharashtra

A Preliminary Study of the Ecology of the Leopard, Panthera Pardus Fusca, was done at Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) in Maharashtra. The diet of the leopard was determined by analysing leopard scats. The major prey of the leopards was found to be domestic dogs, domestic buffalos and rodents. Primates, including rhesus macaques, bonnet macaques and common langurs and cervids, comprising chital, sambar and barking deer were also preyed on. Suggestions for the management of leopards in SGNP include the experimental augmentation of the prey base with wild caught ungulates, monitoring for domestic dog transmitted disease, avoiding reintroduction of leopards trapped on the periphery and outside the park boundaries into the park and monitoring for inbreeding depression by comparing the percentage of abnormal sperm in samples from male leopards in SGNP with those from a larger population of free ranging leopards elsewhere in the country.