An adaptable but threatened big cat: density, diet and prey selection of the Indochinese leopard ( Panthera pardus delacouri ) in eastern Cambodia

Abstract

We studied the Indochinese leopard (Panthera pardus delacouri) in eastern Cambodia, in one of the few potentially remaining viable populations in Southeast Asia. The aims were to determine the: (i) current leopard density in Srepok Wildlife Sanctuary (SWS) and (ii) diet, prey selection and predation impact of leopard in SWS. The density, estimated using spatially explicit capture–recapture models, was 1.0 leopard/100 km2, 72% lower than an estimate from 2009 at the same site, and one of the lowest densities ever reported in Asia. Dietary analysis of 73 DNA confirmed scats showed leopard consumed 13 prey species, although ungulates comprised 87% of the biomass consumed (BC). The overall main prey (42% BC) was banteng (Bos javanicus), making this the only known leopard population whose main prey had adult weight greater than 500 kg. Consumption of wild pig (Sus scrofa) was also one of the highest ever reported (22% BC), indicating leopard consistently predated on ungulates with some of the largest adult weights in SWS. There were important differences in diet and prey selection between sexes, as males consumed mostly banteng (62% BC) in proportion to availability, but few muntjac (Muntiacus vaginalis; 7% BC), whereas females selectively consumed muntjac (56% BC) and avoided banteng (less than 1% BC). Predation impact was low (0.5–3.2% of populations) for the three ungulate species consumed. We conclude that the Indochinese leopard is an important apex predator in SWS, but this unique population is declining at an alarming rate and will soon be eradicated unless effective protection is provided.

Estimating the density of small population of leopardPanthera pardususing multi-session photographic□sampling data

“…There are two possible reasons supporting that the density has not changed between the two sessions. First, "top-down" regulation due to human persecution which causes higher anthropogenic mortality (Rosenblatt et al, 2016;Rostro-García et al, 2018;Sharma et al, 2014). However, we found little evidence that the Bafq leopard population suffers direct anthropogenic persecution.…”

“…We included a trap-specific behavioral response in the baseline detection model because we expected that the leopard behaviour can change after being detected at a specific trap for the duration of the session (bk). We were also interested in quantifying sex-specific baseline encounter rate (g 0 ) and spatial scale (σ), both of which are widely seen in leopard studies (Braczkowski et al, 2016;Goldberg et al, 2015;Rostro-García et al, 2018). We finally fitted session-stratified estimates, meaning that all parameters vary across sessions (i.e., years), by maximising the likelihood.…”

“…The persistence of small leopard populations can be adversely affected by demographic stochasticity through reducing survival and fecundity (Rostro-García et al, 2018;Williams et al, 2017). Importantly, controlling two threats, prey depletion and leopard persecution, both inside Bafq as well as nearby areas to support individuals dispersing from this breeding population are crucial.…”

“…However, when the population size is very small, several challenges arise for SECR density estimates (Gerber et al, 2014). Most importantly, infrequent detections (Mohamed et al, 2019;Rostro-García et al, 2018), the low number of individuals detected (Hearn et al, 2017;Sharma et al, 2014) and variability in detection among individuals (Alexander et al, 2015;Gerber et al, 2014) can compromise SECR models' precision. The SECR method also requires sampling to be conducted relatively densely to obtain sufficient recaptures of individuals on multiple cameras; this is required for adequate estimates of the spatial scale parameter (σ) (Sollmann et al, 2013;Wilton et al, 2014).…”

Wildlife and Livelihoods in the Cardamom Mountains, Cambodia

“…Several larger-bodied mammals have been nationally extirpated through over-hunting including the Javan Rhinoceros (Rhinoceros sondaicus), with no confirmed sightings in the Cardamoms or Cambodia since the 1980's (Daltry and Momberg, 2000) and the Indochinese tiger (Panthera tigris tigris), which was declared functionally extinct in Cambodia in 2016 (WWF, 2016). The Indochinese leopard (Panthera pardus delacouri) was found to have declined in abundance by 72% between 2009 and 2014 in the Srepok Wildlife Sanctuary, Eastern Cambodia, most probably due to widespread snare hunting, and is now under threat of national extirpation (Rostro-García et al, 2018). In 2000, of the 67 mammal species recorded in the Cardamom mountains, 26 were threatened or near-threatened according to the IUCN Red list, with the greatest threat coming from commercial hunting (Daltry and Momberg, 2000).…”