A cat among the dogs: leopard diet in a human-dominated landscape in western Maharashtra

Athreya and colleagues analysed leopard scats from a farmland landscape in western Maharashtra to quantify diet where leopards live amid dense human settlement. They found domestic animals, especially dogs, dominated the diet, with dogs alone comprising a large fraction of biomass consumed, alongside cats, livestock, and rodents. The finding showed leopards thriving on anthropogenic food subsidies rather than wild prey, helping explain their persistence outside forests. The authors discussed implications for conflict, disease, and management, suggesting that free-ranging dog populations sustain leopards near people. The study is a key empirical demonstration of how big cats exploit human-associated prey in shared agricultural landscapes.