Journey to the Leopard land: Life in Kathmandu valley

Yatra chituwa bhumi ko: kathmandu upatyaka ko jiwan

यात्रा चितुवा भुमिको: काठमाण्डौ उपत्यकाको जीवन

I work at Center for Molecular Dynamics Nepal (CMDN), a conservation genetics lab in Nepal, as bioinformatics specialist since 2015. I have been involved in research works on Bengal tigers (Panthera tigris) at CMDN since then. Through this research, I got introduced into the world of conservation genetics specializing my skills in population genetics through various computational tools mainly STRUCTURE software. This exposure helped me gain the knowledge about how powerful tools like population genetics can be used to study ecology of an apex predator across a landscape they range. Bengal tigers are found across Terai Arc Landscape (TAL) in southern plains of Nepal, where their populations are fragmented mainly into three geographical divisions by various anthropogenic features. The landscape genetics study of the tigers across TAL clearly revealed that these populations have three main genetic subdivisions and a moderate level of gene flow affected by habitat fragmentation. CMDN also collaborates with NGOs, INGOs and researchers from national and international academic institutions to study population genetics of snow leopard (Panthera uncia). Through these involvements, I have got the chance to review various ways of studying these charismatic big cats that play a vital role in their respective ecosystems using tools of molecular ecology.

Big cats have always fascinated me since my childhood. Specifically, the leopard (Panthera pardus; in nepali: Chituwa, चितुवा) has had an important impact from earlier part of my life. I grew up in Kathmandu hearing news about leopard encounters just about 5km distance away from my house. These incidents I believe have left a deep impact in my mind. Now that I am into wildlife research, I started realizing that these particular cats, unlike its two congeneric cousins (tiger and snow leopard), are not given the same priority although they play an equally important role in their ecosystem. Big cats across the globe are being increasingly threatened due to various human activities, and it is our duty to help secure their future for the sake of greater ecosystem health. Being on top of the food chain, big cats help to keep numbers of herbivores in check and thus regulates their population, which in turn will affect the sound distribution of flora in the forests. They are an excellent example of ecosystem engineers. Thus, every big cat is equally important and worth the protection for the benefit of whole ecosystem including all flora and fauna within it.

I realized that I needed to do something for these neglected big cats (leopards) that calls my hometown its home too since ages and generations. I started hiking in the forests of surrounding hills in Kathmandu valley. These hikes played huge role to grow my deep passion towards leopards. It helped me train my skills of tracking various signs that these elusive cats left in their territory. I still remember that moment when I saw my first ever pugmark of a leopard in a small forest patch just about 1 km away from nearest human settlement in the hills of Kathmandu. My enthusiasm and curiosity increased that led me find many more interesting signs of leopards around the valley. I started taking notes and recording these data which helped me develop my field biology skills unknowingly. Conclusively, all of these were helping me to understand leopards better than any written materials would have had, although I regularly and unreservedly refer to various books and literatures for acquiring knowledge about their ecology, behavior and evolutionary enigmas. They are one masterpiece creation of nature that is currently under threat. They need us and it is our duty to secure their future not just for them, but for the mountains that depend upon them.

My boss, Dr Dibesh Karmacharya, came up with an idea of developing a molecular tool that can identify as well as differentiate multiple felid species genetically in single assay. I started working in silico on reference genome sequences of wild felids and soon enough designed a molecular assay to identify and differentiate multiple species of felids using PCR technique. Experiments were carried out to validate these assays in the lab. Along this effort, I started putting up a proposal for Rufford Small Grant in order to test these tools on actual field collected non-invasive genetic samples (scats/poops) and study the wild felids around Kathmandu valley. This would also help me in my passion driven research endeavor to study leopards. Thankfully, the Rufford Foundation generously decided to fund us in our effort to develop such tool and study the wild felids around Kathmandu valley, which would aid most importantly in the field of leopard conservation. I am immensely thankful to the Rufford Foundation for providing such a great source of encouragement. My nice colleagues and good friends played huge role in supporting me throughout this path to help me secure this grant that will now allow me to achieve my goal. By studying these cats in the mountains I have hiked, breathed and lived, I hope to understand about their amazing secretiveness and elusiveness but mainly their evolutionary antiquity that has shaped them into such a magnificent beast ever appeared on the planet.

I fully dedicate this project to these big cats of Kathmandu valley. My journey that started long time ago just attained a kick-start height in the stepping-stone. And I look forward to continue explore the surmounting nature that beholds these enigmatic wild cats and many other walks of life. To the leopard, for the Chituwa. 

Jai Chituwa!

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Leopards in Chandragiri landscape

Phantom of Kathmandu

Chandragiri landscape is a hilly range covering most of south-western ridge of Kathmandu valley. The hills are preserved by community forestry management, and are full of dense lush green hill forests. This landscape elevates from around 1500m asl to above 2500m asl with varying degree of vegetation types along the altitudinal gradients. It is an important biodiversity area, but not much of it has been studied in detail.

Leopards are largest wild carnivore and on top of the food chain in this landscape. They share their habitat throughout the landscape with humans along villages mostly in fringes and base of the hill range. Barking deer, wild boar, rhesus and assamese macaques could form the main prey base for leopards in this landscape. Stray or feral dogs roaming freely along the human settlements could also form one of the main urban prey options for leopards. Other sympatric carnivores include leopard cat, jungle cat, large indian civet, masked palm civet and golden jackal.

The indirect signs like scats, pugmarks and scratch marks of leopards are observed very often in the jungles of this landscape.  One day it so happened that I even felt a very fresh yet pungent smell of a spray or urine mark of leopard while walking a trail under canopy of the jungle. I felt the leopard could have been very near but never did I see it then. There are cases of leopards in conflict with people in and around the human settlements in the landscape. Settlement areas like Kirtipur, Matatirtha, Pharping, Chalnakhel are some of the regions around this landscape where leopards sneak into, mainly in search of domestic prey such as goats, stray cattle, pet animals and stray dogs.  Since Jan 2016 to Feb 2017, two leopards have been caught at two different occasions from local houses in Kirtipur and were released elsewhere in natural habitat; one leopard got killed in a man leopard conflict in Matatirtha; while another leopard died of an unidentified cause in Chalnakhel. This makes at least four leopards to have been removed from the area in just about one year time. We don’t know how many leopards still prowl this landscape, but it may not be long that they get to survive many generations to come.

PHOTOS:

FILE PHOTOS:

leopard captured after tranquilized in Kirtipur (Jan 2016).

Photo source: himalayan times

leopard rescued after tranquilized by Radha K Gharti, senior 

vet of zoo and kathmandu's professional leopard catcher

(Feb 2017).  Photo source: nepalireporter.com

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Phantom of mighty Hills

HILLS STALKER

My hometown Kathmandu (valley) is surrounded all around by massive structures of gigantic hills with varying degree of dense jungles within them. Being an avid hiker, I regularly go hiking into these hills over weekends. One such beast prowls the terrain that has got reputation of a fearsome phantom of these mighty hills. My quest to follow trail of the phantom has led me into understanding so much about the magnificence of these beasts. And more I follow them, the more I get the feeling of getting closer to them which excites me so much but it just remains very short-lived. The phantom always succeeds in what it does best, disappearing into the midst of clouds through the densest and hardest terrain of the globe. The beast is so enigmatic and elusive that you seldom even get to feel their shadow. But my commit to track down these evanescence has led me train my sixth sense that is now able to grab their signatures in one of least thought areas. These areas where you would have never expected them to have been there. Yes these beast prowls the vicinity of the urban region, yet their presence are never ever felt or detected and it is the product of that millions of years of evolution that they are so good at doing. We need not fear the presence of the spiritual beast, rather the time has come for us to live alongside the phantom for CO-EXISTENCE is not impossible and is always better than conflict. Leopards were and are in the spirit of these majestic hills, but whether they will be in coming future is all upon us. They are dying, and yet are given least attention (click to know more). They need us.

My quest began on early 2015 after I returned from Finland finishing my masters, but started to detect these signatures only by late 2015 (the elusiveness!!!). Here are some of the trails of Leopards Panthera pardus of Kathmandu valley:

PUGMARKS:

CLAW MARKS:

 

SCATS OF LEOPARD:

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Leopards of the higher Canopy

Cats from the clouds

Right from the beginning of evolution of Felidae, it is believed that the cats have gradually evolved from a life style that best suits them in the trees. With the ever occurring climate change, arose the grasslands and less-covered forests, when about cats started evolving into the grounds, while still possessing the instinct of climbing. Prehistoric extinct bigcats such as Smilodons and other saber and non-sabertooths, and today's bigcats lions and tigers have become fully or semi-land dwelling ones. While leopards and jaguars still are very much capable of ruling the third dimension of the jungle. There remains another bigcat even more agile in the trees, as well as have also evolved enough to be adaptable in further dimensions of forests. The cat I am describing here actually comes from the clouds, which is why they are also called as Clouded Leopard. Basically, cloud like spotted patterns in their beautiful fur have given them the name, but it has also very much coincided with the interpretation of the cats from high above the clouds.

Very highly arboreal among all Pantherinae cats, clouded leopards genus comprise of two species. The mainland clouded leopard Neofelis nebulosa distributed along the mainland south-east asia into as west as himalayan foothills of mid-western Nepal in south asia, while Sundaland clouded leopard Neofelis dairdi are distributed in the islands of Sumatra and Borneo in south-east asia. These cats are meduim-sized, although being much closer to Panthera bigcats than to any other Felinae small cats species. Highly believed to be dependent on dense rainforests, they have already gone extinct from Taiwan in last decade. Their habitat is very much fragmented throughout their range. Their main threat being the destruction of their habitat, where the south-east asian regions are facing today's fastest deforestation rate. Besides, due to their wonderful patterns, the demand for their pelt in the south-east asian illegal trade have worsened their status further, making them one of most illegally poached wildcat species in the region. 

Their elusive and very secretive nature have made most scientists almost impossible to study their ecology and behaviour in their natural environment, so most knowledge about the cat comes from studies in captive facilities. Very agile and skilled climber, they are believed to spent most of their time in the canopy regions of forests. Their prey ranges from small mammals to birds and to even some small deer species, monkeys, wild boars etc. So if the forest has a very healthy population of all these animals and less human disturbances, these cats are believed to be found in higher densities. Clouded leopards can hunt animals in the trees, stalking, chasing, as well as jumping through the trees. Their hind ankle joint can rotate horizontally allowing them to use their hind paws to grab the branches while descending or hanging upside down. They are the only bigcats which can descend headfirst efficiently like a squirrel, and move through fragile branches of lianas in the canopy of the forests hanging upside down as efficiently as monkeys. Like real leopards, they carry their prey high up in the tree to feed upon in order to avoid any disturbances from other competitors of the forests.

Very rarely able to see one in the wild, there is not a single documentary of the bigcat filmed in the real wild settings. A documentary Return of the clouded leopards attempts to document a rewilding measure of two orphaned clouded leopard cubs in a north-eastern part of India near Bhutanese border. My opinion on the sightings of the cat is somewhat in similar interpretations like that of the ghost cat from the mountains, the snow leopards. Snow leopards are regarded very elusive and majestic ones, one should be really lucky to see one in the wild. Almost same is for clouded leopards, maybe very few people have got the chance to see one in the wild. Here I report some sighting footages posted on youtube by such lucky person, Richard Howard. And I really praise them for sharing the rarest footage with us. The footage as mentioned in the description is captured in the forests of Borneo, so its the Sundaland clouded leopard species. The leopard is seen moving through branches high up in the tree, and also possibly carrying a monkey kill on its powerful jaws as it jumps from the branches to branches. It is in fact a very wonderful footage even if not in a very good quality, but very much worth it. 

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