RESEARCH ARTICLE Dietary Spectrum of Two Sympatric Canid Species in Ladakh, India Tanveer Ahmed 1 • Afifullah Khan 1 • Pankaj Chandan 2 Received: 25 December 2015 / Revised: 1 April 2017 / Accepted: 12 April 2017 Ó Zoological Society, Kolkata, India 2017 Abstract We have conducted a study between May and August 2013 to understand the dietary spectrum of two canid species: Tibetan wolf (Canis lupus chanco) and Red fox (Vulpes vulpes) in one of the most inhospitable landscape of the world. Ladakh is characterized by harsh environmental conditions and low primary productivity and therefore animal populations, particularly of large and medium sized herbi- vores are also low and sparsely distributed. This in turn poses a challenge to the survival of predators. We have attempted to investigate the ways by which the two sympatric canid species are optimizing feeding for their survival in an environment where there is scarcity of wild prey base. Scats of the two species were collected from Chiktan and Rangdum valleys and undigested food remnants were identified. The dietary spectrum of Tibetan wolf was composed of six prey species (2 wild and 4 livestock species). The share of livestock species in the diet was maximum (RO: 62.0%). The Red fox being an opportunistic feeder consumed 19 forgeable items, including small and medium sized mammals, birds, reptiles, insects, plant material, eggs, stones and debris. The livestock species contributed maximum to the diet of Red fox (RO: 22.9%). The dietary niche breadths of both species were more or less similar (0.53 and 0.58) and indicating a generalist feeding behavior. Both the species are surviving in the same environment with a dietary overlap of 0.60. The given infor- mation is expected to aid further studies in Indian Trans- Himalaya. Keywords Canids Á Food habit Á Niche breadth Á Ladakh Á Trans-Himalaya Introduction Ladakh, at an average altitude of 4000 m above sea level, is a cold desert characterised by combination of arctic and desert climatic conditions with low primary productivity (Pfister 2004). The high altitude, low temperature and low humidity coupled with strong winds make the area as one of the most inhospitable landscapes of the world. Since Ladakh is located between Karakoram range to its north and Himalaya to its south, a place where Palaearctic meets the Oriental region and hence supports a unique assem- blage of flora and fauna having affinities of both the bio- geographical realms of the world with adaptations to sur- vive and reproduce in harsh environmental conditions. Ladakh mammalian carnivores (11 species) belonging to four families, include three canids: Tibetan wild dog (Cuon alpinus), Tibetan wolf (Canis lupus chanco) and Red fox (Vulpes vulpes). Among the canids, Tibetan wolf is placed in Appendix I of CITIES (CITES 2013) and Schedule I in the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. Wolves are gregar- ious predator, feed opportunistically on wild and domestic ungulates, lagomorphs, rodents, birds and insects (Vald- mann et al. 1998; Kubarsepp and Valdmann 2003; Nowak et al. 2005; Sharma et al. 2006) and Tibetan wolf is not an exception. Poisoning and deliberate persecution due to depredation on livestock seem to be the important factors responsible for its low population in Ladakh. The wolf’s & Tanveer Ahmed tanveerwildlife@gmail.com Afifullah Khan afifkhan@rediffmail.com Pankaj Chandan pankajchandan@gmail.com 1 Department of Wildlife Sciences, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh 202002, India 2 WWF-India, 172-B, Lodi Estate, New Delhi 110003, India 123 Proc Zool Soc DOI 10.1007/s12595-017-0212-4 T H E Z O O L O G I C A L S O C I E T Y K O L K A T A