No silver bullet? Snow leopard prey selection in Mt. Kangchenjunga, Nepal

In this study, we investigated the impact of domestic and wild prey availability on snow leopard prey preference in the Kangchenjunga Conservation Area of eastern Nepal—a region where small domestic livestock are absent and small wild ungulate prey is present. We took a comprehensive approach that combined fecal genetic sampling, macro- and microscopic analyses of snow leopard diets, and direct observation of blue sheep and livestock in the KCA. Out of the collected 88 putative snow leopard scat samples from 140 transects (290 km) in 27 (4 × 4 km2) sampling grid cells, 73 (83%) were confirmed to be from snow leopard. The genetic analysis accounted for 19 individual snow leopards (10 males and 9 females), with a mean population size estimate of 24 (95% CI: 19–29) and an average density of 3.9 snow leopards/100 km2 within 609 km2. The total available prey biomass of blue sheep and yak was estimated at 355,236 kg (505 kg yak/km2 and 78 kg blue sheep/km2). From the available prey biomass, w..., Scat samples were collected from the natural habitat of snow leopards in defined sampling grids and transects. 
The collected samples were processed for identification of species, sex, and individuals. Genetic analyses (DNA extraction, species identification, sex identification, and individual identification) of putative snow leopard scat samples were conducted following the protocol developed by Karmacharya et al., 2011, adopted from Janecka et al. (2008)., , # No silver bullet? Snow leopard prey selection in Mt. Kangchenjunga, Nepal

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.vq83bk3rn](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.vq83bk3rn)

## Description of the data and file structure

Note: To protect this species, coordinates were removed from the data files.

### File 1 Name: Data\_genetic\_file1.csv

File 1 Description: Snow leopard genetic file of Kanchenjunga Nepal

File 1 Variables:

* Primers: Nucleic acid sequence that provides a starting point for DNA synthesis (allele size)
* Sequence: One-dimensional ordering of monomers, covalently linked within a biopolymer
* Sample ID: Unique scat sample for analysis of genotype
* Internal ID: Unique name of each sample identification to cross verify with sample ID
* Sex: Male and female-identified from sex identification genetic analysis
* Individual: Unique individual identified by genetic analysis
* Location: Specific site of individual sample and snow leopard derived from GPS location
* Allele 1: One of two or m...