Backyard Leopards Caught on Camera

Living with Leopards

In western Maharashtra, India, home of Mumbai, camera traps caught leopards ranging close to houses through the night, though the big cats were largely undetected by people. Despite this close proximity, there are few leopard attacks in this region, said authors of a study of big cats in the Maharashtra, published March 6, 2013, in the journal PLOS One.

The camera traps also snapped jungle cats, jackals, mongoose and people from the local communities. There were 10 large carnivores per 38 square miles (100 square kilometers) in the densely populated area, the study found.

Backyard leopard

A leopard on the prowl. Western Maharashtra is an altered landscape, dominated by crops, devoid of wilderness and wild herbivore prey, the PLOS One study said.

Striped hyena

This is a striped hyena, one of the "urban" carnivores in western Maharashtra.

Jackal

A jackal, one of many large carnivores living in close proximity to humans. (Image: jackal.JPG‎)

Posing

A local resident caught on camera trap.

Voguing?

Two passersby react to the camera trap.