Study on Diurnal Activity Pattern of Captive Leopard (Panthera pardus) in Alipore Zoological Garden, Kolkata, India

Wild carnivorous animals are difficult to be housed in captivity due to their wide home range and specific diet.As captive animal's behavioural data are used as a welfare indicator, diurnal behavioural study and time budgeting of a male leopard (Panthera pardus) was carried out from 10:00 h to 17:00 h from June 2022 to May 2024 in Alipore Zoological Garden, Kolkata, India by using focal sampling method for 33,600 min.During observation period, the study identified 15 active behaviours, 9 passive behaviours, 4 other, and 1 stereotypic behaviour, pacing.The leopard showed significant variations in behavioural activities among different seasons and in different diurnal hours.During monsoon season, the leopard spent most of its time sleeping (26.230.47%)whereas, pacing (26.050.48%)during winter season and sitting (23.310.37%)during summer season.During all the seasons, active behaviours like feeding of offered feed was recorded with highest value followed by walking.Again, among the passive behaviours the leopard allocated most of its time sleeping during monsoon while, sitting during summer.When different diurnal hours were compared, walking was found to reach the peak in the first hour of observation during monsoon (5.83%) and summer (8.88%) whereas, during winter in the 1 st , 3 rd and 6 th hours of observation (5.27-5.69%).The leopard allocated majority of its time sleeping (50.83%) during 4 th hour of observation in monsoon and sitting (32.22%) during 3 rd hour of observation in summer.During winter season, the leopard was mostly engaged in stereotypic pacing (51.94%) in 1 st hour of observation.The incidence of higher stereotypic activity suggests the need of further studies for enlightening the cause of this abnormal behaviour and whether there is any need for adopting conservation strategies for their well-being in captivity.