Movement of large carnivores across human dominated landscapes
In our study areas, large carnivore species living outside PAs exhibited
greater mean displacement (25.29%) than the species inside PAs with a
single exception of the dhole. Dholes moved with higher speeds (i.e.
with longer step lengths) among the 3 large carnivores sharing a similar
habitat inside PAs. Predominantly occurring in disturbed habitats,
wolves showed the highest movement amongst all 4 carnivores whereas the
leopards in natural areas showed the least. Our findings are contrary to
the findings of Tucker et al., (2018) that suggested mammalian movement
in human dominated areas is only up to one half the extent of their
movement in natural areas with relatively low human pressures. The major
limitation of Tucker’s study was that it did not include species,
especially large carnivores from developing countries with high human
and carnivore densities, livestock and fragmented landscapes.
We also found tigers outside PAs moved at higher speeds than inside PAs.
Our result on wolves and tigers outside PAs ties well with previous
studies wherein cougars and lions in human dominated landscapes
exhibited higher speeds while traversing through fragmented human
dominated areas to reduce time spent in multiple use areas (Kertson,
Spencer, Marzluff, Hepinstall-Cymerman, & Grue 2011; Valeix, Hemson,
Loveridge, Mills, & Macdonald 2012).
Across sexes, both male and female tigers traveled more at night than
during the day. Male tigers traveled faster than female tigers owing to
larger home ranges and longer distance to cover in habitat matrix. As
males exhibit multiple core areas in human altered landscapes, the
movement rate to travel between core areas was high.
Leopards took the highest time (1258.50±485.59) to return from the point
of maximum displacement to the point of origin. Leopards survive in the
presence of large predators like tigers and pack-living dholes that make
up for their size in numbers. Intense intraguild competition has driven
leopards to the boundaries of the study area where they are faced with
human pressures. Under such circumstances, leopards travel from one core
area to other and spend more time in such core areas. This strategy
enables them to co-exist with large carnivores and humans.
Interestingly, tigers outside PAs took comparatively lesser time (141.4
± 44.77) to cover their home range than tigers inside PAs (208.4 ±
167.7) even though their home ranges (95% contour) outside PAs were
larger in size. As discussed, tigers in human disturbed areas move
faster owing to presence of habitat matrix between core areas. which
enables them to cover larger areas in shorter time.