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Conservation implications for the Himalayan wolf Canis (lupus) himalayensis based on observations of packs and home sites in Nepal

Abstract:
We provide insights into pack composition and den site parameters of the Himalayan wolf Canis (lupus) himalayensis based on observations of free-ranging wolves in three study areas in Nepal. We combine this with a social survey of the local Buddhist communities regarding human–carnivore conflict, to draw inferences for conservation practice in the Nepalese Himalayas. We recorded eight wolf packs (with an average composition of two adults and three pups), and found five home sites in high-altitude shrubland patches within alpine grasslands at 4,2790-4,940 m altitude. There was a spatial–temporal overlap of wolf home sites and livestock herding during spring and summer, which facilitated human–wolf conflict. The litters of three out of five wolf packs found in Dolpa during 2016 were killed by local people in the same year. In Nepal compensation is offered for depredation by snow leopards Panthera uncia, with associated lowering of negative attitudes, but not for depredation by wolves. We recommend the implementation of financial and educational conservation schemes for all conflict-causing carnivores across the Himalayan regions of Nepal.
Publication status:
Published
Peer review status:
Peer reviewed

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Publisher copy:
10.1017/S0030605317001077

Authors


More by this author
Institution:
University of Oxford
Oxford college:
Lady Margaret Hall
Role:
Author


Publisher:
Cambridge University Press
Journal:
Oryx More from this journal
Publication date:
2017-09-01
Acceptance date:
2017-06-22
DOI:
EISSN:
1365-3008
ISSN:
0030-6053


Keywords:
Pubs id:
pubs:729927
UUID:
uuid:cce00a3b-557d-498b-9763-78087197e0fc
Local pid:
pubs:729927
Source identifiers:
729927
Deposit date:
2017-09-21

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