Differential predation by leopards (Panthera pardus) on livestock in the forest-human interphase area of northern India.

The solution to human-leopard conflict requires novel insights into the phenomenon. For mitigating its commonest cause i.e., livestock depredation, most spatial studies map the different livestock species as a single entity. Contradictory to it, we discretely mapped the species vulnerable to livestock depredation. Along with the spatial factors, both time and season impacted the phenomenon. The livestock were more vulnerable during the day while grazing with the attacks peaking between January to March, and were comparatively less vulnerable in corrals. The cattle, killed in the largest numbers, was less vulnerable to attacks throughout the landscape. In comparison, the goats and sheep were killed successively in smaller numbers, were more widely vulnerable in the landscape. The latter two species were generally killed in sparse vegetation in a rugged terrain around the peripheral areas of forests, while cattle were killed in denser vegetation, deep inside the forests. When compared under the different landuse landcover classes, attacks in corrals differed from all three livestock species, while the attacks on cattle spatially differed from goats and sheep, but there was no difference between the latter two. The larger cattle offer more food but is difficult to kill, while goats and sheep are easier to subdue. These strategies are usually an outcome of the trade-offs between reward (biomass) and the risks (persecution risk) when hunting within a human-wildlife interphase landscape. The leopards living close to humans uses differential strategies for specific livestock, which require species specific mitigation interventions.