Predation ecology of large sympatric carnivores as influenced by available wild ungulate prey in a tropical deciduous forest of Central India

Predation ecology of large sympatric carnivores, tiger, leopard and dhole, as influenced by available wild ungulates, chital, sambar, nilgai, gaur and wild pig, were studied between January 2007 and June 2010 in a tropical deciduous forest of Central India. Both line transect and vehicle transect methods were used to estimate population structure and sex ratios of wild ungulates. The observed adult sex ratio (female : male) was found to be skewed towards females for all ungulates. A total of 123 tiger kills were recorded in the cold season and 162 in the hot season, 32 leopard kills were recorded during the cold season and 48 during the hot season and 32 dhole kills were recorded in the cold season and 55 in the hot season. The age-sex class distribution of each ungulate species in the kill data was compared with the corresponding population age-sex distribution recorded from line transects and vehicle transects. All three large carnivores preferred medium-sized prey species, e.g. chital. A significant difference was observed when comparing different health conditions of prey species predated by the three large carnivores. The observed difference in prey choice as per their body size is a strategy adopted by large carnivores to partition prey resources, thus increasing the potential to avoid intra-guild competition.