Abstract
A system for rapidly identifying hair specimens by its medullary configuration and scale structure was carried out. Cross sections as well as hair imprints and their drawings prepared from microphotographs, taken especially of those species which are the chief prey base of two top carnivore species found in Gir Protected Area i.e. the Asiatic Lion Panthera leo persica and Leopard P. pardus is presented. This facilitates the identification of prey species of the carnivores through their scat analysis.
Highlights
The hair samples of the prey species were collected from the Sakkarbaug Zoological Garden, Junagadh and from the Municipal Corporation Zoo, Rajkot
The hair samples were collected from the rump portion of the animal
The permanent mountings of hair cross sections were observed under a light binocular microscope under the magnification of 10X as well as 45X and microphotographs were taken at 45X magnification
Summary
Identification of hairs of some mammalian prey of large cats in Gir Protected Area, India. The Gir Protected Area (GPA) is spread over 1412km in western India; where two top carnivore species coexist viz. GPA ranks amongst the top regions in supporting very high large carnivore densities in India. It is important to know the diet of these two sympatric cat species since both are apex predators and of conservation importance. One of the best methods to determine the prey species of carnivores is scat analysis, since scats contain undigested matter of prey like hair, hooves, quills and feathers that can be used for identification (Joslin 1973; Johnsingh 1983; Norton et al 1986; Sinha 1987; Chellam 1993; Mukherjee et al 1994 a,b; Singh et al 1999)
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