Livestock rearing and agriculture are the main sources of communities to sustain livelihood in the developing country like middle-mountain of the Nepal. Leopard is a top predator in habitat of mid-hill which is a major conflict wild animal. Forest degradation and declining wild prey population bring leopard to conflict. The spatial and temporal patterns of human-wildlife conflicts are poorly documented at provincial and national level that hinders in formulating effective conflict mitigation plan at real field. To assess pattern of human-leopard conflict (HLC) at spatial and temporal scale, primary data was collected through registered human wildlife conflict case collection which were triangulated through interview with victim(n=156) and we used maximum entropy along with relevant predictor variables to predict and map HLC risk area at provincial level. The cases of HLC are increasing trend last the five years. Annual average of 2.16 human death which shows increasing trend (p<0.05), 5.16 human injury which shows decreasing trend (p>0.05) and annual average of 159.6 livestock depredation which shows increasing trend (p<0.05) were recorded in last five years. Winter is a main season of depredation and goat was main depredated livestock. Out of total US$ 86892.25 ($17378.45/year) economic loss, 78.57% was paid as relief indicating implementation of government’s relief fund of human-wild conflict. Results revealed mid elevated southern facing areas are more prone to HLC with an ecological variable mean annual temperature as top predictor including livestock density and distance to road. Predator-proof livestock corrals, educating local communities about wildlife behavior and timely management of problem animals will contribute to reduce the conflict.

Background: Asian Woollyneck Ciconia episcopus is large wading bird whose conservation status has been recently down-listed, despite a lack of general knowledge on its nesting ecology and breeding success. Thus, in this study we conducted the most comprehensive survey on the nesting ecology of this species to date. Methods: We located 39 nesting sites across 18 districts of Nepal and recorded nest tree characteristics for the nine tree species they nested in. We also used Maxent modelling to further understand factors important for nesting habitat suitability and to identify new areas for future surveys. Results: They most commonly nested in Simal Bombax ceiba (n =21), followed by Sal Shorea robusta (n=6) and Salla Pinus roxburghii (n=4). The mean height of the nesting tree, nest height and tree diameter were 29.8 ± 5.8m (±SD), 1.03 ± 0.35m & 25.3 ± 5.8 m respectively. Nesting and fledging success were additionally recorded from 31 nesting attempts at 19 of these nesting sites between 2016 and 2020. Woollyneck had an estimated nesting success probability of 0.81 ± 0.07 and a mean fledging success of 1.94 ± 0.25 (±SE) chicks per nest. MaxEnt modelling identified a total potential suitable nesting habitat area of 9.64 % (14228km2) of total area in Nepal, with this located within 72 districts (out of 77), mostly in the western part of Nepal. The modelling parameters suggest that slope, land-use, precipitation and forest were important determinants of nesting habitat suitability. Conclusions: The most likely district reported by the model for Woollyneck nesting habitat has not previously reported nests which suggests additional survey effort in this region is warranted. We recommend that priority should be given to conserve taller trees close to settlements and cropland, and future studies should consider the potential impact of climate change on nesting suitability of this species.

Understanding niche overlap with other wild species and domestic cattle is useful to conserve and manage the wildlife in their natural habitat. We assessed habitat niche breadth and overlap among the two sympatric wild ungulates: spotted deer (Axis axis) and swamp deer (Cervus duvaucelii) and, indigenous intermediate ruminants, and domestic cattle in Shuklaphanta National Park, Nepal during the dry season. Our objective was to explore the interspecific competition by studying the habitat use by these species. The assumption was made that the presence of pellets is a proof for habitat used by species. Grid based surveys with total 96 sample plots each of size 20 m * 20 m in 6 sample grids (2 * 2 km2) with 24 sub-grids (500 * 500 m2) were used for locating pellets group. Levin’s niche breadth and Morisita’s overlap index were calculated to determine the niche breadth, and the habitat overlap respectively. The Levin’s measure of niche breadth suggested that spotted deer had the highest adaptability with an index value of 0.94 followed by domestic cattle 0.50, and swamp deer 0.33 in our study area. Thus, it was concluded that spotted deer is a habitat generalist whereas swamp deer are specialists and mostly preferred grasslands after a fire. Also, there was high habitat overlap index value of 0.83 between domestic cattle and spotted deer whereas the swamp deer and the spotted deer showed moderate habitat overlap of 0.57. The swamp deer had low habitat overlap as well as spatial overlap with domestic cattle. Grassland management should be carried out for the benefit of ungulate species as the study showed the preference of swamp deer on grassland after a fire. Similar studies should be conducted including seasons and places prior to implementing appropriate habitat management activities intended to reduce interspecific competition for co-existence.