The results
from this study challenge the popular misperception that large carnivores
require wilderness areas to survive. On one hand this greatly expands the area
of interface between humans and leopards which will require a proactive
approach to dealing with potential conflicts on a large scale. However, on the
other hand it opens up many new areas for conservation, greatly increasing the
chances of maintaining the connectivity which is so important to maintain
viable populations in the long term.
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An image of a leopard taken with a camera trap.
(Credit: Vidya Athreya)
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The
conservation of large carnivores like wolves, bears, tigers and lions is always
a challenging task in our modern and crowded world. Humans have modified and
fragmented habitats and often experience a diversity of conflicts with large
predatory neighbours.
There is
currently a major debate going on among conservationists about how to best go
about achieving large carnivore conservation. Alternatives range from a focus
on fencing carnivores into protected areas to allowing them to reoccupy shared
landscapes where they must coexist with human activities. At least part of this
discussion depends on determining to what extent the species can tolerate
living in human-dominated landscapes.
In order to
investigate this a team of researchers from Norway
(Norwegian Institute for Nature Research and Norwegian
University for Life Sciences) and India (Wildlife Conservation Society -- India ) conducted a camera-trapping study around
the town of Akole in western India
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