Living with Leopards

(Image credit: Project Waghoba)

In western Maharashtra, India, home of Mumbai, camera traps caught leopards ranging close to houses through the night, though the big cats were largely undetected by people. Despite this close proximity, there are few leopard attacks in this region, said authors of a study of big cats in the Maharashtra, published March 6, 2013, in the journal PLOS One.

The camera traps also snapped jungle cats, jackals, mongoose and people from the local communities. There were 10 large carnivores per 38 square miles (100 square kilometers) in the densely populated area, the study found.

Backyard leopard

(Image credit: Project Waghoba)A leopard on the prowl. Western Maharashtra is an altered landscape, dominated by crops, devoid of wilderness and wild herbivore prey, the PLOS One study said.

Striped hyena

(Image credit: Project Waghoba)This is a striped hyena, one of the "urban" carnivores in western Maharashtra.

Jackal

(Image credit: Project Waghoba)A jackal, one of many large carnivores living in close proximity to humans. (Image: jackal.JPG‎)

Posing

(Image credit: Project Waghoba)A local resident caught on camera trap.

Voguing?

(Image credit: Project Waghoba)Two passersby react to the camera trap.