The cost of sympatry: spatio-temporal patterns in leopard dietary and physiological responses to tiger competition gradient in Rajaji Tiger Reserve, Uttarakhand, India.

Apex predators have critical roles in maintaining the structure of ecosystem functioning by controlling intraguild subordinate populations. Such dominant-subordinate interactions involve agonistic interactions including direct or indirect impacts on the subordinates. As these indirect effects are often mediated through physiological processes, it is important to quantify such responses to better understand population parameters.

Effects of faecal inorganic content variability on quantifying glucocorticoid and thyroid hormone metabolites in large felines: Implications for physiological assessments in free-ranging animals.

Faecal glucocorticoid (GC) and triiodothyronine (T3) metabolites and their interactions are increasingly used to monitor perceived stress and nutritional challenges in free-ranging animals. However, a number of extrinsic and intrinsic factors including hormone-inert dietary materials, inorganic matters etc. are known to affect reliable hormone metabolite quantifications.