Spatial segregation between wild ungulates and livestock outside
protected areas in the lowlands of Nepal
Abstract
Understanding how wildlife interacts with human activities across
non-protected areas are critical for conservation. This is especially
true for ungulates that inhabit human-dominated landscapes outside the
protected area system in Nepal, where wildlife often coexist with
livestock. Here we investigated how elevation, agricultural land,
distance from roads, and the relative abundance of livestock influenced
wild ungulate (chital (Axis axis), nilgai, barking deer (Muntiacus
muntjak), wild boar (Sus scrofa) and sambar (Rusa unicolor)) abundance
and occurrence. We counted all individuals of wild ungulates and
livestock along 35 transects conducted between November 2017 and March
2018 in Bara and Rautahat forests in the lowlands of Nepal. We assessed
abundance and occurrence relation to covariates using Generalized Linear
Models. We found that livestock outnumbered wild ungulates 6 to 1. Wild
boar was the most abundant wild ungulate, followed by nilgai, chital,
barking deer and sambar. We found that elevation and livestock abundance
were the most important covariates affecting the overall abundance of
wild ungulates and the distribution of each individual ungulate species.
Our results suggest spatial segregation between wild ungulates, which
occur mainly on highlands, and livestock that concentrate across lowland
habitats. Our results provide critical information to improve
conservation in community forest areas of Nepal, where wildlife
interacts with people and their livestock. Finding better strategies to
allow the coexistence of ungulates with people and their livestock is
imperative if they are to persist into the future.