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Behavioural observations on interaction of leopard and striped hyena, western India

  • June 2018
Authors:
Dibyendu Mandal
Dibyendu Mandal
Dibyadeep Chatterjee at Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change
Dibyadeep Chatterjee
  • Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change
Qamar Qureshi at Wildlife Institute of India
Qamar Qureshi
Kalyanasundaram Sankar at Wildlife Institute of India
Kalyanasundaram Sankar
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ISSN 1027-2992
CAT
news
N° 67 | Spring 2018
CATnews 67 Spring 2018
02
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CATnews 67 Spring 2018
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1 Shan Shui Conservation Center, Beijing 100871, China
2 Snow Leopard Trust, Seattle, WA, USA
3 Peking University Center for Nature and Socie-
ty, Beijing 100871, China
*<luzhi@pku.edu.cn>
DIBYENDU MANDAL1, DIBYADEEP CHATTERJEE1, QAMAR QURESHI1 AND K SANKAR2*
Behavioural observations on
interaction of leopard and
striped hyena, western India
Interspecific interactions are crucial for community composition since they govern
species distribution, abundance and broadly species coexistence. Interspecific in-
teractions among carnivores have been well studied in India. However, these were
limited to a few species only and direct observations are rare. Studies on interspeci-
fic interaction between two sympatric carnivores such as leopard and striped hyena
with a wide distribution range throughout peninsular India are rare. We report two in-
stances of interactions between leopard Panthera pardus and striped hyena Hyaena
hyaena. In one instance, a leopard and a striped hyena were photographed feeding
together on an adult nilgai Boselaphus tragocamelus kill of a tigress Panthera tigris.
We have also recorded a breeding female leopard that killed a striped hyena (sub-
adult female) at a den site. We report here photographic evidence on these interac-
tions between leopard and striped hyena for the first time.
striped hyena for food and shelter. As striped
hyena and leopard are both generalists, their
diet niches also overlap considerably (Ari-
vazhagan 2005). Many instances of striped
hyena chasing leopards from their prey have
been recorded (Pocock 1941, Prater 1965).
We present two different observations of
leopard and striped hyena interaction. We
located an adult nilgai kill of a tigress in the
morning of 4 April 2015 in Sariska Tiger Re-
serve (76°17’ to 76°34’ E / 27°5' to 27°33' N),
which is situated in the semi-arid region of
western India. The tigress consumed hardly
20% of the kill and left it. We deployed ca-
mera traps to understand visitation by other
co-predators at the kill. A leopard, possibly
a female and a striped hyena have been ca-
mera trapped feeding together on the same
carcass. The leopard came first to the kill
and started feeding on it. The striped hy-
ena appeared at 19:56 h encircling the kill,
which hyenas often do when they approach a
conspecific at a feeding site (Supporting On-
line Material SOM Figure F1a). They fed on
the carcass for 10 minutes without showing
any kind of aggression (Fig. 1a & SOM F1b).
Leopard and striped hyena largely coexist
with tiger in most of its distribution range in
the Indian sub-continent. Although leopard is
a predator, it sometimes demonstrates op-
portunistic behaviour and scavenges on tiger
kills (Prater 1965). Leopard interaction with
tiger has been well documented. However,
literature on leopard interaction with striped
hyena is limited. Heptner & Sludjkij (1982)
had suggested that leopard competes with
CATnews 67 Spring 2018
21
Kleptoparasitism has been reported in leo-
pards. However, striped hyena and leopard
feeding together has been recorded for the
first time to our knowledge. We continued
camera trapping for a few days and searched
for any evidence of aggressive interaction,
but we did not find anything. Later the ti-
gress came back to the kill and consumed it
(Fig. 1b).
In another incident, a leopard with two cubs
killed a striped hyena in Sariska Tiger Re-
serve on 24 December 2014. The killed hye-
na was from a breeding clan. The clan con-
sisted of a breeding female, two sub-adult
helpers and three pups. Sub-adult striped
hyenas babysit for their mother at dens and
ensure the survival of young pups (Jhala
2013). They can be fatal for young leopards.
Their den site was inside the leopard’s home
range. The leopard detected the den and la-
ter killed the helper striped hyena possibly to
protect her cubs from any potential danger
(Fig. 2a, b & SOM F2). We found the carcass
of the striped hyena next to the den. Initial ex-
amination of bite marks and indirect evidence
such as pugmarks revealed that the hyena
was killed by a leopard. However, the carcass
was left untouched. Consequently, the clan
left the den site after the loss of the female
sub-adult helper hyena.
Sariska Tiger Reserve has a healthy popula-
tion of both leopard (Mondal et al. 2012) and
striped hyena (Gupta et al. 2009) and a rein-
troduced tiger population. The reserve has an
excellent prey base to sustain its carnivore
population (Gupta et al. 2009). Both leopard
and striped hyena can survive in human-dom-
inated landscapes (Athreya 2010), and their
body weight and ecological requirements are
similar. Direct observations of interspecific
interaction between leopards and striped
hyenas are rare. Our observation will certain-
ly add to the limited existing knowledge of
this subject. We recommend further detailed
studies for the conservation of these two
large carnivores.
Acknowledgement
We would like to thank Rajasthan Forest Depart-
ment for necessary permissions for the project.
We thank the Director, Dean and Research Coor-
dinator of the Wildlife Institute of India for facili-
tating the project work and for their support. We
also thank Parag Nigam and P. K. Malik for their
encouragement. Sariska Tiger Reserve staff and
our field assistants Ratan, Rajesh, Mamraj and
Jairam are also thanked for their help in the field.
References
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Athreya V., Odden M., Linnell J. D. C., Krishnas-
wamy J. & Karanth U. 2013. Big Cats in Our
Backyards: Persistence of Large Carnivores
Fig. 1. Camera trap photographs showing (a) leopard and striped hyena feeding together and (b) tigress approaching her kill after
the leopard and the striped hyena left (Photos K. Sankar/WII).
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a
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bad, India. pp. 522-530.
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Chourasia, P. 2012. Estimation of population
and survivorship of leopard Panthera pardus
through photographic capture-recapture sam-
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Supporting Online Material Figures SOM F1a, b
and F2 are available at www.catsg.org.
1 Wildlife Institute of India, Chandrabani, Dehra-
dun, India 248001
2 Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural Hi-
story, Anaikatty, Coimbatore, India 641108
*<dirsacon@gmail.com>
Fig. 2. a) Leopard investigating the den site of striped hyenas, b) female sub-adult striped hyena carcass and the same hyena in front
of the den (Photos K. Sankar/WII).
b
interactions of leopard and striped hyena, India
Mandal D., Chatterjee D., Qureshi Q. & Sankar K. 2018. Behavioural observations on
interaction of leopard and striped hyena, western India. Cat News 67, 20-21. Supporting
Online Material.
SOM F1. Camera trap photographs showing a) leopard at and striped
hyena approaching the kill and b) feeding together (Photos K.
Sankar/WII).
a
b
SOM F2. Leopards close to the densite (indicated by red circle) of
triped hyenas (Photo K. Sankar/WII).
... Interspecific interactions between predator and prey are important to understand the community composition and functioning of the ecosystem (Mandal et al. 2018, Sehgal et al. 2022). The leopard is among the large felids which has the most widespread distribution and is adaptive to survive in various ecosystems (Jacobson et al. 2016). ...
... Top predators like tigers and leopards provide and distribute the carrion among scavengers through their kills ) and limit the access to carrion through competition (Pereira et al. 2014, Allen et al. 2015, Panda et al. 2022. A few interspecies interactions among large carnivores have been reported globally (Pocock 1941, Prater 1965, Jazynka 2018, Mandal et al. 2018, Panda et al. 2022). However, literature on leopard interaction with wild boar feeding on a sambar kill of a leopard was never recorded. ...
... Our observation raises several crucial issues relevant to the behavioural ecology of leopard and its interaction with prey wild boar (see Zehra et al. 2017). Several interspecies interactions have been reported, i.e. leopard and spotted hyena in South Africa (Jazynka 2018), leopard and striped hyena in India (Mandal et al. 2018, Panda et al. 2022). These interesting interspecific interactions are extremely rare throughout the leopard distribution range. ...
Leopard and wild boar sharing a rare meal in the Shiwalik foothills, Himalayas
Article
Full-text available
  • Nov 2023
Understanding the interspecies interactions between predator and prey is important to assess the prey preferences, species coexistence, and abundance for creating conservation and management strategies. In India, many studies have been conducted to understand interspecific interactions between large carnivores and their prey. But to our knowledge, no study has recorded the interaction between leopard Panthera pardus and wild boar Sus scrofa feeding on a sambar Rusa unicolor kill of a leopard. We present the first photographic evidence of such interaction between predator (leopard) and prey (wild boar) feeding together on a carcass in the Shiwalik foothills of the Himalaya.
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... In Africa, lions (Panthera leo) and spotted hyenas (Crocuta crocuta) coexist over food resources and also show competitive behavior (Amorós et al. 2020). Similarly, in India, leopards (Panthera pardus) and striped hyenas (Hyaena hyaena) have been reported feeding together on a carcass (Mandal et al. 2018). One important aspect of this may be the facilitation of carrion resources that large carnivores provide to other scavengers (Allen et al. 2014), but the responses of subordinate scavengers to larger carnivores may also be species-specific. ...
... However, leopards and hyenas are generalist species, and their diet niches overlap considerably, which may lead to greater competition for food (Heptner and Sludjkij 1982;Arivazhagan et al. 2007). It has been reported that striped hyenas chase leopards (Pocock 1941), and leopards have also been documented killing striped hyenas in the Sariska Tiger Reserve (Mandal et al. 2018). Chourasia et al. (2010) reported a significant dietary overlap of 67% between striped hyenas and golden jackals in semi-arid habitats, suggesting the high competition due to the mutual dependence on ungulate carcasses. ...
... Tigers and striped hyenas are both considered to be competitors with leopards (Karanth et al. 2017;Mandal et al. 2018), so we considered tigers and striped hyenas as independent variables to model the carrion used by leopards. Similarly, golden jackals are subordinate to tigers and striped hyenas and also potential competitors, so we considered tigers and striped hyenas as independent variables to model the carrion used by golden jackals (Figs. 2 and 3). ...
Competitive interactions with dominant carnivores affect carrion acquisition of striped hyena in a semi‑arid landscape of Rajasthan, India
Article
Full-text available
  • Dec 2022
Scavenging of carrion is an important ecological process that influences ecological communities and food webs. The competitive inter-and intra-specific interactions in terrestrial vertebrate scavenger communities are likely to limit access to carrion for some scavengers, having direct impacts on their fitness by limiting energetic intake. Striped hyenas (Hyaena hyaena) are well-known facultative scavenger that co-exists with other carnivores (i.e., tigers, Panthera tigris; leopards, Panthera pardus; and golden jackals, Canis aureus) across the landscape. In this study, we assessed the competitive interactions among large carnivores having large sized body (i.e., striped hyenas, tigers, leopards) and a social group foraging mesocarnivore (i.e., golden jackal) through their carrion acquisition with special reference to striped hyenas’ carrion acquisition in the semi-arid region of Rajasthan, India. We deployed camera traps at 14 carcass sites from 2020 to 2022 and considered three main aspects of scavenging behaviour (presence, total feeding time and mean feeding bout duration). We used Generalized Linear Models (GLMS) to understand the competitive interactions among large carnivores and mesocarnivores through their carcass consumption and scavenging efficiency. Our analyses showed that the tigers are dominant scavenger that monopolize carrion resources and reduce consumption time, and hence nutrition gained, of striped hyenas and the other carnivorous scavengers. But leopards and striped hyenas did not show any major negative interactions at carcasses, while both jackals and striped hyenas negatively affected each other’s’ carrion acquisition at carcasses, as a result, striped hyena’s presence affected the carrion acquisition by jackals and also jackals affected the mean feeding bout duration of striped hyenas. Our results highlight the importance of functional traits in intraguild interactions and the potential effects of competition on carrion acquisition. Specifically, large carnivores that have specific traits i.e., large body size negatively affected the subordinate carnivores at carcasses, while the meso-carnivores that have specific traits i.e., social group foraging, negatively affect the carrion acquisition and energetics of solitary feeding striped hyenas.
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... Other thematic studies such as behavior (42,43), disease (42), physiology/morphology (44), and natural history account for 13%, 4%, 3%, and 2% of the literature on striped hyenas in India. ...
... Other thematic studies such as behavior (42,43), disease (42), physiology/morphology (44), and natural history account for 13%, 4%, 3%, and 2% of the literature on striped hyenas in India. ...
An interplay of humans and hyenas in the village dumping grounds: Investigating striped hyena occupancy and potential threats
Thesis
Full-text available
  • Dec 2022
Anthropogenic food provisioning to wildlife is an escalating global phenomenon through various deliberate and unintended means. Wild animals capitalizing on food provided by human activities may lead to positive and negative consequences. One such obligatory means of food provisioning is the waste dumps. Garbage dumping grounds around cities and villages have become a hotspot for subsidized food attracting many wildlife species. Among other species, the striped hyena, a primary scavenger, might get attracted to these human-dominated dumping grounds for food. It increases human-hyena interactions. Unlike spotted hyenas, literature is scarce on striped hyenas required to assess if these interactions involve any risks for potential conflicts or are a way towards coexistence. In this study, we estimate the occupancy (presence/absence) of striped hyenas in a human-dominated landscape - village dumping grounds in Rajasthan, to understand the role such a landscape plays in the survival of the species in coexistence with humans. In addition, we also identify the potential risks associated with such land-sharing. The 156.13 sq. km study area is located outside the Sawai Mansingh Wildlife Sanctuary and encompasses 26 villages. The study adopts a hybrid approach - quantitative plus qualitative. The quantitative approach assists in assessing the striped hyena occupancy in the dumping grounds using field surveys (Indirect sign survey) and general single-species single-season occupancy model analysis in R. The qualitative approach through interviews aided in identifying possible threats to hyenas and humans in the shared landscape - village dumps. The study outcomes show a high occupancy of hyenas in the village dumping grounds. The presence of livestock carcasses, which serves as a source of subsidized food for hyenas, plays a significant role. Especially in our study area, where the corpse of livestock after death are not buried or burnt, or consumed but disposed of in these village dumping grounds due to religious beliefs. Although an air of coexistence between the hyenas and humans exists in the landscape, we have identified certain potential risks in this land sharing that we must address for long-term coexistence. The potential threats identified include ● loss of traditional ecological knowledge down the generations, ● the interaction of hyenas with feral dogs (competition and disease spread), ● the danger from the plastic and chemicals disposed into the dumping grounds, and ● the use of dumping grounds by villagers for defecating. In the long term, such a study will enable proper planning and conservation of the species, mitigation of future conflicts, and forming better waste management policies.
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... This asks for a further investigation regarding the dynamics of exploitative competition between leopard and lion in the study area. The striped hyena (Hyaena hyaena Linnaeus, 1758) is another large carnivore sympatric with leopards in Gir and, due to similar body weight and resources required, can compete intensively (Mandal et al. 2018). However, hyena density in the western part of Gir is very low (< 2 hyena/100 km 2 ) (Alam et al. 2015) compared to leopards and therefore there is significantly less chance that hyena could impact the leopard population. ...
... However, hyena density in the western part of Gir is very low (< 2 hyena/100 km 2 ) (Alam et al. 2015) compared to leopards and therefore there is significantly less chance that hyena could impact the leopard population. However, Mandal et al. (2018) found that leopard killed a hyena individual in Sariska tiger reserve, India; therefore, it could be interesting to study the impact of leopards and lions on the hyena population and distribution in Gir. ...
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Big Cats in Our Backyards: Persistence of Large Carnivores in a Human Dominated Landscape in India
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Protected areas are extremely important for the long term viability of biodiversity in a densely populated country like India where land is a scarce resource. However, protected areas cover only 5% of the land area in India and in the case of large carnivores that range widely, human use landscapes will function as important habitats required for gene flow to occur between protected areas. In this study, we used photographic capture recapture analysis to assess the density of large carnivores in a human-dominated agricultural landscape with density >300 people/km2 in western Maharashtra, India. We found evidence of a wide suite of wild carnivores inhabiting a cropland landscape devoid of wilderness and wild herbivore prey. Furthermore, the large carnivores; leopard (Panthera pardus) and striped hyaena (Hyaena hyaena) occurred at relatively high density of 4.8±1.2 (sd) adults/100 km2 and 5.03±1.3 (sd) adults/100 km2 respectively. This situation has never been reported before where 10 large carnivores/100 km2 are sharing space with dense human populations in a completely modified landscape. Human attacks by leopards were rare despite a potentially volatile situation considering that the leopard has been involved in serious conflict, including human deaths in adjoining areas. The results of our work push the frontiers of our understanding of the adaptability of both, humans and wildlife to each other's presence. The results also highlight the urgent need to shift from a PA centric to a landscape level conservation approach, where issues are more complex, and the potential for conflict is also very high. It also highlights the need for a serious rethink of conservation policy, law and practice where the current management focus is restricted to wildlife inside Protected Areas.
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ESTIMATION OF STRIPED HYENA HYAENA HYAENA POPULATION USING CAMERA TRAPS IN SARISKA TIGER RESERVE, RAJASTHAN, INDIA
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Full-text available
  • Sep 2009
We used camera trap based capture-recapture method to estimate the population size of Striped Hyena Hyaena hyaena in Sariska Tiger Reserve. Twenty-five days of camera trapping was done with a sampling effort of 1,675 trap nights from January to April 2008. Camera traps yielded a total of 85 Hyena photographs of 26 individuals within an effective trapping area of 229.7 sq. km. Heterogeneous Jacknife model was best fit in estimating population with a capture probability of 0.31 P(hat). Population size was 34 ±(SE 5.4) and density was estimated as 15.1 ±6.2 hyena/100 sq. km (spatially explicit model). The study revealed that camera based capture-recapture method is an effective tool for assessing the population size of Striped Hyena in Sariska.
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The fauna of British India. Mammalia II Taylor and Francis
  • Jan 1941
  • R I Pocock
Pocock R. I. 1941. The fauna of British India. Mammalia II Taylor and Francis, London.
Food habits of leopard (Panthera pardus fusca), dhole (Cuon alpinus) and striped hyena (Hyaena hyaena) in a tropical dry thorn forest of southern India
  • Jan 2007
  • 178-187
  • C Arivazhagan
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Big Cats in Our Backyards: Persistence of Large Carnivores Fig. 1. Camera trap photographs showing (a) leopard and striped hyena feeding together and (b) tigress approaching her kill after the leopard and the striped hyena left (Photos K. Sankar/WII). Human Dominated Landscape in India
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