Diet and prey selection of clouded leopards and tigers in Laos

Abstract

In Southeast Asia, conservation of ‘Vulnerable’ clouded leopards (Neofelis nebulosa) and ‘Endangered’ tigers (Panthera tigris) might depend on the management of their preferred prey because large felid populations are limited by the availability of suitable prey. However, the diet of clouded leopards has never been determined, so the preferred prey of this felid remains unknown. The diet of tigers in the region has been studied only from one protected‐area complex in western Thailand, but prey preferences were not determined. To better understand the primary and preferred prey of threatened felids, we used DNA‐confirmed scats and prey surveys to determine the diet and prey selection of clouded leopards and tigers in a hilly evergreen forest in northern Laos. For clouded leopards, the primary prey was wild pig (Sus scrofa; 33% biomass consumed), followed by greater hog badger (Arctonyx collaris; 28%), small rodents (15%), and mainland serow (Capricornis sumatraensis; 13%; hereafter, serow). For tigers, the primary prey was wild pig (44%), followed by serow (18%), sambar (Rusa unicolor; 12%), and Asiatic black bear (Ursus thibetanus; 10%). Compared to availability, serow was positively selected by both clouded leopards (D = 0.69) and tigers (0.61), whereas all other ungulate species were consumed in proportion to the availability or avoided. Our results indicate that clouded leopards are generalist predators with a wide prey spectrum. Nonetheless, mid‐sized ungulates (50–150 kg) comprised nearly half of their diet, and were the preferred prey, supporting a previous hypothesis that the enlarged gape and elongated canines of clouded leopards are adaptations for killing large prey. Because serow was the only ungulate preferred by both felids, we recommend that serow populations be monitored and managed to help conservation efforts for clouded leopards and tigers, at least in hilly evergreen forests of Southeast Asia.

Effects of human disturbances on wildlife behaviour and consequences for predator-prey overlap in Southeast Asia

“…The effects of disturbance on predator behaviour may be mediated by the responses of their prey, or vice versa. For example, clouded leopards shift from nocturnal in intact forests towards peak activity near dawn within disturbed forests (0600 h; Supplementary Table 19), likely adapting to an altered prey base, and indeed their overlap with some pigs, macaques, and the great argus pheasants increase in disturbed areas (Supplementary Table 22) [42][43][44] . Likewise, leopard cats' shift from crepuscular to nocturnality has previously been reported to hunt nocturnal rodent crop pests in disturbed forest edges [45][46][47][48] .…”

“…Exceptions include all sizes of porcupines (both small and medium-sized), which are allowed to compete, and all sizes of strictly herbivorous ungulates [i.e., Malay tapir ( Tapirus Indicus ), sambar deer ( Rusa unicolor ), red muntjac ( Muntiacus muntjak ), and mouse deer], which are also allowed to compete. For apex predators, we allow tiger, leopard, and clouded leopards to compete because they are known to share prey species 42 . Predator-prey pairs are established for species with (i) overlapping ranges, (ii) at least one or both species possessing a predominantly carnivorous diet, and (iii) predators can only predate species of the same size category or lower (with an exception for medium-sized clouded leopards that are allowed to predate large ungulates, as noted above 42 ).…”

“…For apex predators, we allow tiger, leopard, and clouded leopards to compete because they are known to share prey species 42 . Predator-prey pairs are established for species with (i) overlapping ranges, (ii) at least one or both species possessing a predominantly carnivorous diet, and (iii) predators can only predate species of the same size category or lower (with an exception for medium-sized clouded leopards that are allowed to predate large ungulates, as noted above 42 ). We also assume that omnivores do not predate other species, since most omnivorous species within our community primarily consume insects, fungi, carrion, and potentially animals <1 kg such as rodents and birds that are excluded from this study.…”

The extremely small body size of Williamson’s mouse deer (Tragulus williamsoni) allows coexistence with sympatric larger ungulates through temporal avoidance

“…This may be why Williamson's mouse deer had a near-significant positive association with the relative abundance of northern red muntjac. Additionally, although wild boar, Chinese serow and sambar may be important prey terms of the Asian golden cat, dhole and clouded leopard (Neofelis nebulosa) (Kamler et al, 2012;Kamler et al, 2020;Rasphone et al, 2022), the neutral associations with the relative abundance of wild boar, Chinese serow and sambar and the presence of sambar may be due to Williamson's mouse deer having a trade-off between the benefits of reducing predation risk and habitat damage (reduced food availability and destruction of the refuges of Williamson's mouse deer) by the abundant larger ungulates (Foster et al, 2014).…”

A most aggressive bear: Safari videos document sloth bear defense against tiger predation

“…In Southeast Asia, sun bears (Helarctos malayanus) and Asiatic black bears (Ursus thibetanus) occur regularly in tiger scats(Kawanishi & Sunquist, 2004;Naing et al, 2020;Vongkhamheng, 2011). In a hilly evergreen forest of Laos, Asiatic black bears accounted for 10% of the tiger diet in terms of ingested biomass(Rasphone et al, 2022). In the Russian Far East, Asiatic black bears or brown bears occurred in 8.4% of Amur tiger scats, and represented 2.2% of tiger kills (4.5% during the non-hibernating season); predation was mainly on adult bears(Seryodkin et al, 2018) Kerley et al (2015).…”