Sloth Bear Attacks on Humans in Central India: Implications for Species Conservation

Singh, Nisha; Sonone, Swapnil; Dharaiya, Nishith

doi:10.26077/2mgq-fs29

Cited by 5 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…Livelihood requirements are fulfilled by collecting different types of forest produce for household consumption, as well as providing subsistence income for the family (Musavi and Khan 2016). Besides timber and bamboo, Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFP) also play a significant role and provide a subsistence livelihood for the forest dwellers residing around the forest areas (Mardaraj 2015;Singh 2018). The high degree of dependence and requirements of the families over many years has resulted in the degrading of the forest habitat and loss of wildlife.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In India, sloth bears (Melursus ursinus Shaw, 1791) are the most common species of bears involved in conflicts, which are primarily non-life-threatening events (Singh 2018). Other bear species in India interact with people with less frequency and at different magnitudes of conflict.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Bears often venture into areas of human settlement, kill livestock, destroy crops, and injure or kill people (Mardaraj 2014). Human-sloth bear interactions have been studied in several protected areas (including buffer zones) across the species' range, where bears encounter people from traditional communities that live in and near forests and subsist on forest resources (Debata et al 2017;Lamichhane et al 2018;Singh et al 2018). If sloth bears and their habitat are to be effectively protected, it is imperative to cooperate with local communities that coexist with these animals.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Community stance towards sloth bear (Melursus ursinus) conservation in Odisha, India

et al. 2023

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Abstract. Mardaraj PC, Pirie TJ, Sethy J, Behera S. 2023. Community stance towards sloth bear (Melursus ursinus) conservation in Odisha, India. Biodiversitas 24: 2521-2526. The human dimension is an essential component of extensive carnivore management and conservation. People living in bear habitats often fear encounters with these animals, and negative interactions can significantly affect people's livelihoods, attitudes, and tolerance toward the conservation initiatives of bears. To investigate the effect of such interactions on people's attitudes and livelihoods, we surveyed 510 households through semi-structured interviews located around five reserve forests of the Nilgiri wildlife range in a coastal district of Odisha, India. Gender, education, dependency on the forest, and specifics of bear encounters were the parameters taken to know the villagers' attitudes toward bear conservation. The average age of respondents was 46 (17-88) years; 78.8% (n= 402) were male. There are 37.5% of the respondents below the poverty level with annual incomes less than $ 514 USD. The majority of respondents, 85%, showed favorable opinions regarding sloth bears (Melursus ursinus Shaw, 1791), with only 15% expressing a negative perception. Bears were encountered by 87% of the total participants, with 45% encountering a sloth bear weekly. The study identified that 82.9% of villagers were more likely to state sloth bears were problematic rest disagreed with it. The educated interviewer was strongly supporting bear conservation in that landscape. The perspectives of the villagers and their experiences on their adverse feeling toward the bears need to minimize through suggested participatory and community-based mitigation strategies for long time conservation of the sloth bear in the landscape.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Community stance towards sloth bear (Melursus ursinus) conservation in Odisha, India

et al. 2023

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“…None of these estimates was reliable enough to monitor the population trends because of the differential data collection methods and types of data used in the analyses ( Sathyakumar et al, 2012 ; Dharaiya, Bargali & Sharp, 2016 ). The sloth bear is an omnivorous generalist, long-ranging ursid and often comes in conflict with humans ( Rajpurohit & Krausman, 2000 ; Bargali, Akhtar & Chauhan, 2005 ; Garcia, Joshi & Dharaiya, 2016 ; Debata et al, 2017 ; Dhamorikar et al, 2017 ; Singh, Sonone & Dharaiya, 2018 ). The ever-increasing human population, subsequent habitat fragmentation and human-sloth bear conflicts are significant concerns for conserving this species.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

N-mixture model-based estimate of relative abundance of sloth bear (Melursus ursinus) in response to biotic and abiotic factors in a human-dominated landscape of central India

Chaudhuri

Rajaraman

Sankar

et al. 2022

PeerJ

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Reliable estimation of abundance is a prerequisite for a species’ conservation planning in human-dominated landscapes, especially if the species is elusive and involved in conflicts. As a means of population estimation, the importance of camera traps has been recognized globally, although estimating the abundance of unmarked, cryptic species has always been a challenge to conservation biologists. This study explores the use of the N-mixture model with three probability distributions, i.e., Poisson, negative binomial (NB) and zero-inflated Poisson (ZIP), to estimate the relative abundance of sloth bears (Melursus ursinus) based on a camera trapping exercise in Sanjay Tiger Reserve, Madhya Pradesh from December 2016 to April 2017. We used environmental and anthropogenic covariates to model the variation in the abundance of sloth bears. We also compared null model estimates (mean site abundance) obtained from the N-mixture model to those of the Royle-Nichols abundance-induced heterogeneity model (RN model) to assess the application of similar site-structured models. Models with Poisson distributions produced ecologically realistic and more precise estimates of mean site abundance (λ = 2.60 ± 0.64) compared with other distributions, despite the relatively high Akaike Information Criterion value. Area of mixed and sal forest, the photographic capture rate of humans and distance to the nearest village predicted a higher relative abundance of sloth bears. Mean site abundance estimates of sloth bears obtained from the N-mixture model (Poisson distribution) and the RN model were comparable, indicating the overall utility of these models in this field. However, density estimates of sloth bears based on spatially explicit methods are essential for evaluating the efficacy of the relatively more cost-effective N-mixture model. Compared to commonly used index/encounter-based methods, the N-mixture model equipped with knowledge on governing biotic and abiotic factors provides better relative abundance estimates for a species like the sloth bear. In the absence of absolute abundance estimates, the present study could be insightful for the long-term conservation and management of sloth bears.

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Use of the MaxEnt model to predict changes in sloth bear (Melursus ursinus) habitats in the Gandaki River Basin, Nepal

et al. 2022

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Sloth Bear Attacks on Humans in Central India: Implications for Species Conservation

Cited by 5 publications

References 0 publications

Community stance towards sloth bear (Melursus ursinus) conservation in Odisha, India

Community stance towards sloth bear (Melursus ursinus) conservation in Odisha, India

N-mixture model-based estimate of relative abundance of sloth bear (Melursus ursinus) in response to biotic and abiotic factors in a human-dominated landscape of central India

Use of the MaxEnt model to predict changes in sloth bear (Melursus ursinus) habitats in the Gandaki River Basin, Nepal

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