Evidence of a high density population of harvested leopards in a montane environment

Chase Grey, J.N.; Kent, V.T.; Hill, R.A.

Abstract

Populations of large carnivores can persist in mountainous environments following extensive land use change and the conversion of suitable habitat for agriculture and human habitation in lower lying areas of their range. The significance of these populations is poorly understood, however, and little attention has focussed on why certain mountainous areas can hold high densities of large carnivores and what the conservation implications of such populations might be. Here we use the leopard (Panthera pardus) population in the western Soutpansberg Mountains, South Africa, as a model system and show that montane habitats can support high numbers of leopards. Spatially explicit capture-recapture (SECR) analysis recorded the highest density of leopards reported outside of state-protected areas in sub-Saharan Africa. This density represents a temporally high local abundance of leopards and we explore the explanations for this alongside some of the potential conservation implications.

Citation

Chase Grey, J., Kent, V., & Hill, R. (2013). Evidence of a high density population of harvested leopards in a montane environment. PLoS ONE, 8(12), Article e82832. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0082832

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Dec 1, 2013
• Deposit Date: May 10, 2013
• Publicly Available Date: Dec 22, 2013
• Journal: PLoS ONE
• Electronic ISSN: 1932-6203
• Publisher: Public Library of Science
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 8
• Issue: 12
• Article Number: e82832
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0082832
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1485545