Leopard occupancy and habitat use in the multi-use Chitwan-Annapurna Landscape, Nepal

We estimated leopard ( Panthera pardus fusca ) occupancy in a multi-use region within Nepal’s Chitwan-Annapurna Landscape (CHAL) to evaluate leopard habitat use and inform conservation planning in areas where most of the species’ habitat occurs outside protected areas. In 2021, sign surveys were conducted along 1,277 km of transects distributed among 145 grid cells of 7 x 7 km within a 7,105 km² study area, where 226 leopard signs (pugmarks and scats) were documented. We used an occupancy modeling framework to evaluate the influence of environmental and anthropogenic factors on leopard habitat use. We found that leopard occupancy (ψ = 0.73 ± 0.17 CI) was strongly and positively associated with areas used by wild prey such as barking deer ( Muntiacus muntjak ), rhesus macaques ( Macaca mulatta ), spotted deer ( Axis axis ), and wild boars ( Sus scrofa ). Our results provide evidence that large carnivores like leopards can persist in human-dominated landscapes when native prey remains abundant, underscoring the need for community-based conservation that sustains both prey and predator populations beyond protected areas. By estimating leopard occupancy outside of protected areas, the research establishes a baseline for developing management strategies to ensure the continued existence of leopards in Nepal's multi-use landscapes.