Cub Survival in a Wild Leopard (<i>Panthera pardus fusca</i>) Population

Abstract

We investigated the survival of cubs in a wild Indian leopard (Panthera pardus fusca) population in the Jhalana Reserve Forest (JRF), India. The research focuses on analyzing the survival of leopard cubs during their first two years of life. Survival functions were estimated using the Kaplan–Meier method based on data collected with trail cameras over four years from 2018 to 2021. We found that the mean survival probability of cubs during the first year of life was 0.739, indicating that this period is particularly challenging for their survival. In the second year, the survival probability increased to 0.831, reflecting an improvement in survival as the cubs grew older. The combined survival rate over the two-year period, calculated as the product of the first- and second-year survival rates, was 0.618. These findings highlight the critical periods in the early life stages of leopard cubs, which are essential for developing effective conservation strategies in fragmented habitats to enhance their survival.

Keywords

• <i>Panthera pardus fusca</i>
• Jhalana Forest Reserve
• parturition
• matriline
• breeding success