Sri Lankan Leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya)

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(02-11-2022, 10:05 PM)Twico5 Wrote: Horton plains leopard with its sambar bull kill

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Sambar Deer tend to make up a high portion of Leopard diet in Horton Plains National Park (Sri Lanka) and adjacent areas due to their abundance in these regions.


'In Agrapatana, Sambar was most frequently represented in scat samples (59.1%), consistent with probable prey availability, given that the study area is contiguous with Horton Plains National Park (HPNP) where sambar density is estimated to be 66.5/km² (Rajapakse 2003). '

'Previous scat analysis from HPNP found sambar in 75.8% of samples (N=22) (Ranawana et al. 1998). That fewer samples contained Sambar here than in HPNP, and more contained Black-naped Hare and Purple-faced Langurs (Table 3; 13.6% compared to 6.8% and 3.4% in HPNP, Ranawana et al. 1998) hints at variation in prey availability between the core of a protected area such as HPNP and an adjoining yet peripheral area such as Agrapatana.'

source: Kittle, Andrew M., et al. "Notes on the diet and habitat selection of the Sri Lankan Leopard Panthera pardus kotiya (Mammalia: Felidae) in the central highlands of Sri Lanka." Journal of Threatened Taxa 6.9 (2014): 6214-6221.



"Sambar are abundant in HPNP, congregating in large herds in the open grasslands."

"Sambar appear to compose the largest proportion of leopard diet here with >75% of scat containing sambar remains (n > 30; Ranawana et al. 1998, Rajapakse 2003)."

source: Kittle, A. M., & Watson, A. C. (2018). "Density of leopards (Panthera pardus kotiya) in Horton Plains National Park in the Central Highlands of Sri Lanka." Mammalia, 82(2), 183-187. Reply