Now, Sanjay Gandhi National Park leopard’s diet has more deer, fewer dogs

MUMBAI: The leopards of the Sanjay Gandhi National Park have gone for a dietary shift. And it is wild animals like chital and sambar found within the park boundary that are falling prey to leopards. Though the dog continues to be its principal source of food, “the biomass contribution of dogs to the leopard’s diet” has declined.

A six-month study by Wildlife Institute of India’s Nikit Surve between December 2014 and April 2015 at the SGNP found that wild prey comprised 57% of the leopard’s diet. The analysis was conducted using undigested material from leopard cats. In all, eight potential prey species were encountered. These included chital, sambar, barking deer, wild pig, common langur, bonnet macaque, grey jungle fowl and red spur fowl.

The study showed that chital and sambar contributed around 17% and 16%, respectively, to the biomass of the leopard’s diet.

“Previous studies (Edgaonkar and Chellam, 2002 and Tiwari and Prasad, 2009) showed dog as the principal prey for leopards in their results. But there was a significant difference in the present study and the past two studies in representation of cervids (deer family) in the leopard’s diet. The previous studies showed a very minimal presence of cervids in the leopard’s diet although sambar was available in the study area in good numbers,” states the report.



A comparison between the present and 2002 study shows that in 2002, the dog constituted more than 60% of the leopard’s diet whereas today it is 24.3%.

In the past five years, concerted citizen efforts through NGO ‘Mumbaikars for SGNP’ have ensured that the BMC regularly clears all garbage in the park’s periphery. This has reduced the presence of stray dogs around the park. During the study, stray dogs were found in Aarey, Kashimira and Yeoor.

Reduction in the number of stray dogs could also be a reason for the change in the leopard’s diet, said Vikas Gupta, chief conservator of forests, SGNP. He said the department was now working to create grasslands within the park near Tulsi lake and the old Mafco factory. “This would ensure significant presence of deer in the open and the leopards would be able to find prey easily,” Gupta said.

Naturalists, though, said the grasslands are being created only in one part of the 103 square kilometre park. “There are 31 leopards spread all over the park and these wild cats have their own territories. They are not going to travel so far for a meal and go back,” they said.