Predation analysis has
implications for conservation and management
Date: February 8, 2017
Source: PLOS
Around a quarter of Himalayan
snow leopard and wolf diets are livestock, the rest being wild prey, according
to a study published February 8, 2017 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by
Madhu Chetri from Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, Norway, and
colleagues.
Killing livestock creates
conflicts between top predators and pastoral communities, and is a main
challenge for conserving snow leopards, which are endangered, and Himalayan
wolves, which are rare. These wolves prefer the open grasslands and alpine
meadows that are also frequented by pastoral herders, and snow leopards prefer
the steep terrain associated with montane pastures. To assess prey preferences
of these carnivores, Chetri and colleagues analyzed DNA and hairs in 182 snow
leopard scats and 57 wolf scats collected in the Central Himalayas, Nepal.
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