Leopard (Panthera pardus) occupancy in the Chure range of Nepal

Conservation of large carnivores like leopards requires large and interconnected habitats. Despite the wide geographic range of the leopard globally, only 17% of their habitat is within protected areas. Leopards are widely distributed in Nepal but their population status and occupancy is poorly understood. We carried out the sign-based leopard occupancy survey across the entire Chure range (~19,000 km2)to understand the habitat occupancy along with the covariates affecting their occupancy. Leopard signs were obtained from in 70 out of 223 grids surveyed, with a naïve leopard occupancy of 0.31. The model-averaged leopard occupancy was estimated to be 0.5732 (SE 0.0082) with a replication level detection probability of 0.2554 (SE 0.1142). The top model shows the additive effect of wild boar, ruggedness, presence of livestock and human population density positively affecting the leopard occupancy. The detection probability of leopard was higher outside the protected areas, less in the high...