Elephants show a strong selection towards areas with high foraging opportunities at the landscape level making top-down decisions by first selecting patch types within landscapes and finally species within them. Understanding forage selection in a multi-use landscape is critical for prioritising patches for habitat management, ensuring availability of selected forage, helping in minimizing pressure on food crops and subsequent negative interactions with people. We assessed dry season forage selection in a multi-use landscape of West Bengal state, India.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThere are many ways in which large carnivores and humans interact in shared spaces. In this study we provide insights into human-leopard relationships in an entirely modified, human-dominated landscape inhabited by dense populations of humans (266 per km), their livestock (162 per km) and relatively high densities of large predators (10 per 100 km). No human deaths were recorded, and livestock losses to leopards numbered only 0.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThere is increasing evidence of the importance of multi-use landscapes for the conservation of large carnivores. However, when carnivore ranges overlap with high density of humans, there are often serious conservation challenges. This is especially true in countries like India where loss of peoples' lives and property to large wildlife are not uncommon.
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