20.500.12556/DiRROS-31077 Individual variation in leopard (Panthera pardus) prey composition in Namibian farmlands highlights the importance of wild prey over livestock Human-carnivore conflict, particularly involving livestock depredation, remains a major threat to large carnivore conservation worldwide. To protect their livelihood, farmers often attempt to remove “problem” individuals that specialize in killing livestock, although empirical support for such specialized individuals is limited. Leopards (Panthera pardus) are widespread carnivores that are often involved in human-wildlife conflicts, but most studies have focused on protected areas, even though most of their range is unprotected. We tracked 29 leopards for an average of 422 days over ten years on freehold farmlands of central Namibia to investigate their foraging ecology. We investigated 455 clusters of GPS locations (which often indicate prey consumption), and found 375 identifiable prey remains from 20 species. Wild prey constituted 96.8% of identified kills, with gemsbok (Oryx gazelle), warthog (Phacochoerus africanus), and greater kudu (Tragelaphus strepsiceros) representing 77.3% of all identified prey. Livestock (cattle, Bos spp., and horses, Equus ferus) composed only 3.2% of the kills, with male leopards feeding on livestock three times more frequently than females. While approximately one-third of leopards consumed livestock at least once, no individual exhibited specialization for livestock, although individuals did exhibit specialization for some wild prey. Predation occurred primarily during crepuscular periods, but diel patterns in predation differed between the sexes. These findings challenge assumptions that livestock depredation is driven by habitual livestock-killing leopards and suggest that it may be mostly opportunistic. Our results underscore the value of maintaining wild prey populations and adopting non-lethal management practices to mitigate conflict and promote human-carnivore coexistence across unprotected areas. leopard foraging ecology human-wildlife conflict livestock unprotected areas predation specialization Namibia leopard Panthera pardus prehranjevanje plenjenje konflikti živinoreja Namibija true false true Angleški jezik Slovenski jezik Neznano 2026-07-10 13:38:04 2026-07-10 13:38:04 2026-07-11 03:51:18 0000-00-00 00:00:00 2026 0 0 Nasl. z nasl. zaslona; Opis vira z dne 8. 7. 2026; Soavtorji: Nik Šabeder, Teresa Oliveira, Ruben Portas, Anamarija Žagar, Joerg Melzheimer, Bettina Wachter & Miha Krofel; 22 str. issue 8, article no. 209 Vol. 35 Jul. 2026 0000-00-00 Zaloznikova Objavljeno NiDoloceno 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 2026-07-08 599.742.711:591.5(688.1) 1572-9710 10.1007/s10531-026-03413-w 284053251 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10531-026-03413-w 1 d2f933f9-7c53-11f1-b663-001a4af901a5 https://dirros.openscience.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=47856 RAZ_Allen_Maximilian_L._2026.pdf RAZ_Allen_Maximilian_L._2026.pdf 1 7CE7561F63838CF97032EE86E906CAD2 a1110ad908230e720688b96f0ee085f8b3e4213639bf2010f97f5fab040383bb 0248192f-7c54-11f1-b663-001a4af901a5 https://dirros.openscience.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=47857 Nacionalni inštitut za biologijo 0 0 0