Patterns of livestock predation risk by large carnivores in India’s Eastern and Western Ghats

Tuberculosis in wild animals in India

India is renowned for its complex megadiverse ecosystems and abundant biodiversity. Bovine tuberculosis (bTB) often remains synonymous with Mycobacterium bovis infection in cattle. The domain of tuberculosis (TB) among wild animals, induced by members of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex organisms (MTBC), is often underexplored and underreported in India. Within this context, instances of wild animal tuberculosis (wTB) have manifested across both captive and free-roaming animals. The sources contributing to wTB in animals can be human, animal, or environmental factors, thus illuminating the complex transmission pathways. The diagnosis of wTB continues to pose a formidable challenge, a consequence of the expansive taxonomic diversity in both the host and the pathogen. Complications inherent in acquiring samples from wildlife, the absence of standardized diagnostic protocols, limited insights into infection prevalence, and resource constraints compound diagnosis. Amidst these, adopting the comprehensive One Health paradigm surfaces as an imperative, accentuating the interconnectedness bridging human, animal, and environmental health. Recognizing key stakeholders and fostering intersectoral collaboration to provide enhanced diagnostic techniques driven by skilled personnel and advanced infrastructure play pivotal roles in a comprehensive strategy. Additionally, leveraging vaccination efforts contributes to effective control. A national wTB surveillance program is a cornerstone, ensuring an integrated and holistic approach to disease management. Through this review, we delve into the current landscape of wTB in India, unveiling its multifaceted challenges, and further explore the multifarious strategies that the One Health approach proffers in this dynamic endeavor.

Measuring perceived fitness interdependence between humans and non-humans

Conservation ethics (i.e. moral concern for non-human organisms) are widespread, but we lack a comprehensive explanation for why people care about other species at all, and why they express strong moral concern for some species but not others. Recent theory suggests that conservation ethics might be rooted in cooperation between humans and members of other species. Building on central predictions of this eco-evolutionary theory, we conducted an online study (N = 651) and exploratory factor analysis to develop two scales that independently measure perceived fitness interdependence (PFI) and conservation ethics. The PFI scale measures perceived shared fate as a proximate indicator of human fitness interdependence with non-human organisms (i.e. the degree to which humans and other organisms influence each other's evolutionary success, that is, survival and reproduction). We designed the conservation ethics scale to measure moral beliefs and attitudes regarding those organisms. Both scales are composed of two factors and demonstrate good internal reliability. By combining insights from various branches of the evolutionary human sciences, including evolutionary anthropology, evolutionary psychology and human behavioural ecology, we offer empirical tools to investigate eco-evolutionary foundations of conservation ethics and behaviour.

Landscape predictors influencing livestock depredation by leopards in and around Annapurna Conservation Area, Nepal

Livestock depredation by leopards is a pervasive issue across many Asian and African range countries, particularly in and around protected areas. Developing effective conflict mitigation strategies requires understanding the landscape features influencing livestock depredation. In this study, we investigated predictors associated with livestock depredation by leopards using 274 cases of leopard attacks on livestock that occurred between 2017 and 2020 in the Annapurna Conservation Area, Nepal. We also examined how livestock predation by leopards varied depending on the species, season, and time. A generalized linear model with binary logistic regression was used to test the statistical significance of variables associated with the presence and absence of conflict sites. The results revealed that the area of forest, agricultural land, length of rivers, slope, proximity to settlements and protected areas, and elevation significantly predicted the probability of leopard attacks on livestock. We also observed a significant increase in the incidence of leopard predation on livestock with decreasing slopes and rising elevations. The areas near human settlements and the protected areas faced a higher risk of leopard predation. The incidence of leopard predation on livestock varied significantly depending on the livestock species, season, and time. Goats were the most highly predated livestock, followed by sheep, cow/ox, and buffalo. A total of 289.11 km2 (or around 5% of the research area) was deemed to be at high risk for leopard predation on livestock. This study's comprehensive understanding of human-leopard conflicts provides valuable insights for planning and implementing measures to reduce damage caused by leopard populations throughout their range.

Topcats and underdogs: intraguild interactions among three apex carnivores across Asia's forestscapes

Intraguild interactions among carnivores have long held the fascination of ecologists. Ranging from competition to facilitation and coexistence, these interactions and their complex interplay influence everything from species persistence to ecosystem functioning. Yet, the patterns and pathways of such interactions are far from understood in tropical forest systems, particularly across countries in the Global South. Here, we examined the determinants and consequences of competitive interactions between dholes Cuon alpinus and the two large felids (leopards Panthera pardus and tigers Panthera tigris) with which they most commonly co-occur across Asia. Using a combination of traditional and novel data sources (N = 118), we integrate information from spatial, temporal, and dietary niche dimensions. These three species have faced catastrophic declines in their extent of co-occurrence over the past century; most of their source populations are now confined to Protected Areas. Analysis of dyadic interactions between species pairs showed a clear social hierarchy. Tigers were dominant over dholes, although pack strength in dholes helped ameliorate some of these effects; leopards were subordinate to dholes. Population-level spatio-temporal interactions assessed at 25 locations across Asia did not show a clear pattern of overlap or avoidance between species pairs. Diet-profile assessments indicated that wild ungulate biomass consumption by tigers was highest, while leopards consumed more primate and livestock prey as compared to their co-predators. In terms of prey offtake (ratio of wild prey biomass consumed to biomass available), the three species together harvested 0.4-30.2% of available prey, with the highest offtake recorded from the location where the carnivores reach very high densities. When re-examined in the context of prey availability and offtake, locations with low wild prey availability showed spatial avoidance and temporal overlap among the carnivore pairs, and locations with high wild prey availability showed spatial overlap and temporal segregation. Based on these observations, we make predictions for 40 Protected Areas in India where temporally synchronous estimates of predator and prey densities are available. We expect that low prey availability will lead to higher competition, and in extreme cases, to the complete exclusion of one or more species. In Protected Areas with high prey availability, we expect intraguild coexistence and conspecific competition among carnivores, with spill-over to forest-edge habitats and subsequent prey-switching to livestock. We stress that dhole-leopard-tiger co-occurrence across their range is facilitated through an intricate yet fragile balance between prey availability, and intraguild and conspecific competition. Data gaps and limitations notwithstanding, our study shows how insights from fundamental ecology can be of immense utility for applied aspects like large predator conservation and management of human-carnivore interactions. Our findings also highlight potential avenues for future research on tropical carnivores that can broaden current understanding of intraguild competition in forest systems of Asia and beyond.

Generalization of threats attributed to large carnivores in areas of high human-wildlife conflict

Fear-induced generalization of threats to noninimical stimuli is a behavioral tendency of humans to minimize exposure to potential threats. In human-carnivore conflict zones, people often generalize their fear of predation by obligate carnivores to nonobligate carnivores despite differences in species' predation rates. We investigated the effect of a perceived threat of large obligate carnivores to livestock on tolerance and perception of striped hyena (Hyaena hyaena) in an area of high human-carnivore conflict. We surveyed 197 households through asemistructured questionnaire to determine people's perception and tolerance of striped hyenas in Sathyamangalam and Mudumalai Tiger Reserves after identification of the current distribution range of hyena determined through camera trap and sign surveys. Through the random forest algorithm, we modeled the level of tolerance of striped hyena as a function of loss of livestock to predation and from disease, the perceived threat of predation by hyena, and other socioeconomic attributes. Animal husbandry was a major source of income but was severely affected by livestock loss due to predation and disease. Sixty-nine percent of people were uncertain about predatory behavior of hyena; out of that, 23% reported a negative conservation attitude. Only 6 instances of hyena depredation on livestock and 2 on dogs were reported. Our model confirmed that economic instability associated with increased loss to predation and disease, livestock dependency, and a decrease in family annual income negatively affected people's tolerance of hyena. Perceptual uncertainty related to predatory behavior of hyena also negatively affected people's tolerance. In our study area, economic instability and perceptual uncertainty led to generalization of fear of large carnivores to a nonobligate predator. Such generalization may affect the attitude of people toward many other species. Understanding the role of economic instability and perceptual uncertainty should facilitate conservation of species, such as the hyena, that are vulnerable to false generalization.