Research overview: leopard-tiger spatiotemporal partitioning

An overview of how leopards coexist with dominant tigers in Asian forests by partitioning prey size, space and activity. Where tigers are abundant, leopards tend to take smaller prey, shift toward areas of lower tiger density or human edges, and adjust activity to reduce encounters, while still suffering occasional intraguild killing. This survey synthesizes camera-trap and diet evidence on tiger-leopard niche separation, the conditions under which leopards are suppressed or released, and how prey abundance buffers competition. It connects to the classic Nagarahole work on prey partitioning among tiger, leopard and dhole and to broader theory on subordinate-predator coexistence. The topic is important for reserve management, since leopard density often responds to tiger density and shared prey availability.