Carnivores in a metropolitan forest island: first spatial capture-recapture estimates reveal high densities of leopards and striped hyenas in Jaipur, India

Abstract

Urban protected areas (PAs) have become important habitats for wildlife in rapidly expanding human-dominated landscapes. These PAs may provide refuge and continuously abundant resources, which may enable some adaptable carnivores to persist and attain high abundances. However, little is known about the population ecology and interactions between carnivores sharing such spatially restricted and disturbed urban habitats. We evaluated the densities and spatio-temporal interactions of leopards (Panthera pardus) and striped hyenas (Hyaena hyaena) in Jhalana-Amagarh Conservation Reserve, a protected area (PA) embedded within the metropolis of Jaipur, India. During May-July 2025, we deployed 30 paired camera-traps and used spatially explicit capture-recapture models to estimate density and individual activity centres. We further quantified their diel activity and temporal overlap using kernel density estimation. Leopard density was estimated at 7.03 {+/-} 1.31 individuals/10 km sq and striped hyena density at 4.06 {+/-} 0.96 individuals/10 km sq, with activity centres of both species occurring in close proximity and frequently towards the reserve periphery. Both species were predominantly nocturnal and showed high temporal overlap ({Delta}4 = 0.801, CI=0.73-0.86). Our results report exceptionally high leopard and striped hyena densities in an urban PA and exemplify the importance of small PAs within rapidly expanding cities, stressing the need for finer-scale studies more broadly to understand the mechanisms shaping interactions between the two species. However, such systems require careful management of food subsidies, habitat quality and connectivity along with long-term monitoring of population viability, disease dynamics and human-wildlife conflict.