Leopard Population In North India Could Go Extinct Due To Roadkills, Says New Study

Roadkills - animals killed on the road by vehicles is one of the biggest threats the world's wildlife face today and as the human presence grows in forested areas, such deaths are predicted to go up in the coming days.

Things are not different in India as well, and every year hundreds of animals ranging from wild elephants to tigers, leopards, and deers get killed by speeding vehicles, both inside wildlife sanctuaries and in its peripheries.

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A new report published in the Global Ecology and Biogeography journal says that roadkills pose a grave threat to the leopard population in North India.

North Indian leopard population vulnerable

The study says that the north Indian leopard population is vulnerable to extinction in 50 years if the current roadkill levels persisted.

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It identified four species from around the world as at the highest risk of extinction due to roadkills.

• Leopard Panthera pardus of North India (83% increased risk of extinction from roadkill)
• Maned wolf of Brazil (34% increased risk of extinction)
• Little spotted cat of Brazil (increased extinction risk ranging from 0 to 75%)
• Brown hyena of Southern Africa (increased extinction risk ranging from 0 to 75%).

Global Ecology and Biogeography

The researchers used existing roadkill data on six continents for 392 mammal species for calculations based on roadkill rates, population density, age of sexual maturity, and litter size. The study site covered Rajaji National Park and the Haridwar Conservation area in Uttarakhand for the north Indian leopard population.

¡°It is important to protect the diversity of species on Earth because each species has a role in the ecosystems, and the loss of species triggers the loss of other species within its ecosystem,¡± says Clara Grilo, the study¡¯s lead author and a postdoctoral research fellow with the Universidade de Lisboa in Portugal. ¡°Humans depend on healthy ecosystems like healthy soils, forests, grasslands, rivers, oceans. Otherwise, we risk our own health.¡±

Reuters

Knowing which animal populations are most vulnerable to extinction by roadkill can inform infrastructure management decisions, such as where new roads will go and how to protect vulnerable animal populations in those areas.

These protections can include combinations of underpasses or overpasses with fencing to guide animals to use those passages, Grilo says.

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