Leopards encountering a spot of bother

A cat among the dogs: leopard diet in a human-dominated landscape is the intriguing title of an article published in September by Vidya Athreya, an ecologist with the Centre for Wildlife Studies in Bangalore. 

Her research confirms a widespread belief, among ordinary Indians, that leopards have a penchant for eating domestic dogs.

Athreya studies leopard/human relationships, a hot topic in India where the big cats are sighted, occasionally, even in large cities. Leopards hardly ever attack people but the exploits of some notorious ones live on in folk memory. The infamous Rudraprayag leopard, for example, killed 125 people before it was despatched by the legendary Jim Corbett in 1926.