Theses and Dissertations

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Author: search.filters.author.Qureshi, QamarSubject: search.filters.subject.Behaviour

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    How Disturbed are the Disturbed Ones ? Impacts of Anthropogenic Stressors on the Socio-Ecological Interactions of Terai Gray Langur (Semnopithecus hector) in Shivalik Hills
    (Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 2021) Dwivedi, Divya; Habib, Bilal; Qureshi, Qamar
    Animals respond to the changes in their habitats numerically and behaviourally. Alterations caused by anthropogenic stresses, like habitat degradation, fragmentation, urbanisation, changes in land use patterns, etc., changes the ecology of most species. Understanding the patterns adopted by these species to successfully survive and reproduce in such habitats is of utmost importance. This study tried to understand the impacts of human disturbance on the socio-ecology of Terai Gray langurs in Shivalik landscape, by comparing the ecology of langur troops inside the protected forest with the troops in disturbed forest. Four troops of Terai Gray langur, of comparable sizes, two in each treatment were selected.
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    Abundance, Habitat Relationships and Behavior of the Semi-Fossorial Indian Desert Jird, Meriones hurriancae, in Kachchh, Gujarat
    (Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 2011) Ramesh, Divya; Jhala, Y.V.; Qureshi, Qamar
    Population sizes, habitat relationships and behaviour are among basic ecological aspects pivotal to demystifying a species and its place in the ecosystem. Numerous in species and number, desert rodents offer immense scope for such investigations. The Indian desert jird, Meriones hurrianae, though common, is remarkably little known. This study, conducted in Kachchh, Gujarat, estimates population sizes, examines factors in the habitat likely to influence their occurrence, and elucidates the activity pattern and time budget across 2 land use types, agricultural and natural areas, during winter (December February) and summer (March-May). Animals were caught in 9 colonies using Sherman traps and population estimated under closed population Capture-Mark-Recapture framework in Program MARK, using individual covariates (age class, gender, body weight, site). Colony parameters (length, width, number of holes) were regressed against known Mark-Recapture (MR) population estimates to develop predictive models for estimating population size from indices. Population sizes varied from 2 to 10 individuals. Number of holes in a colony provided robust estimates of the number of individuals in that colony (N=16, R2=0.96, t=18.19, p
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    Food habits of tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) in Sariska tiger reserve, Rajasthan
    (Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 2003) Avinandan, D.; Sankar, K.; Qureshi, Qamar
    The present study aims at understanding relationship between tiger and its prey in a semi arid tract. The study was conducted in Sariska tiger reserve, Rajasthan over a period of six months from November 2002 to April 2003. Density estimation of major wild and domestic prey species was done to assess availability to tigers in terms of density and biomass. The line transect method was used to estimation prey density
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    Environmental Influences on Space Utilisation and the Activity Budget of Captive Leopards (Panthera pardus fusca) in Five Zoos in Southern India
    (Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 1999) Mallapur, Avanti; Chellam, Ravi; Qureshi, Qamar
    A behavioural study was conducted on leopards in five zoos situated in Thiruvananthapuram, Chennai, Mysore and Bangalore between November 1998 and March 1999. Twenty six leopards were studied in five zoos of which sixteen were singly housed and ten were housed in groups. There were 16 males and 10 females. Only three of the 26 animals were captive born, 10 were captive reared and 13 were wild caught. Fourteen singly housed leopards were studied in on-exhibit and off exhibit enclosures on days with visitor presence and also on zoo holidays, two singly housed leopards were studied in the off-exhibit enclosures only. The group of ten at Bannerghatta Zoological Gardens, Bangalore was studied only in the on exhibit enclosure. Scan sampling method was used to record the behavioural patterns in leopards. The ethogram, which consists of all behaviour observed in five zoos lists 12 behavioural states and 29 behavioural events. The leopard enclosures were divided into imaginary blocks and the utilisation of these grids by the leopard was recorded alongwith behaviour at five-minute intervals. . Each leopard was studied for two days on-exhibit. two days off-exhibit and one zoo holiday. The leopard at Childrens' Park. Guindy was also studied for two excess visitor days during the Pongal festival. Information on each leopard was obtained from zoo records. No significant difference in behaviour was observed between males and females. and wild caught and captive-reared individuals. The behavioural repertoire of female leopards was significantly associated with their period of anoestrus. Stereotypic pacing was found to increase with enclosure size. Leopards housed in larger enclosures exhibited higher levels of activity and stereotypy behaviour. Smaller enclosures housed leopards that rested for longer proportions of time. Activity and resting behaviour peaks in the daily activity budget of the leopards were due to their crepuscular nature. The peaks in stereotypic behaviour in the daily activity budget were influenced by zookeepers' presence. Food-anticipatory behaviour was observed in all leopards before and during feed time. Individuals that were studied on-exhibit and off-exhibit exhibited higher levels of stereotypic behaviour off-exhibit and higher levels of activity behaviour on-exhibit. The presence of visitors also influences the behaviour repertoire of captive leopards. All singly housed leopards studied on days with visitor presence and zoo holidays exhibited higher levels of activity on zoo holidays and higher levels of resting behaviour on days with the presence of visitors. Six individuals were studied singly and then as pairs. The proportion of activity and resting behaviour exhibited when they were housed in pairs was higher and stereotypic behaviour, though not statistically significant, was lower than when they were singly housed. The utilisation of space differed between singly and group-housed leopards. Singly housed individuals utilised the "edge" and "back" zones of their enclosures more and the sructurally "enrich" zone less than group-housed leopards. Most of the leopards utilised the "edges" of their enclosure for stereotyping. the "back" zone for resting and the "rest" of the enclosure for activity behaviour. The structural features found within the enclosures that housed leopards were of two categories; sleeping platforms. trees and sheds that stimulated resting behaviour and logs. snags and tree trunks that stimulated activity behaviour. In enclosures that were structurally enriched with sleeping platforms, sheds or trees, leopards utilised the "enrich" zone of the enclosure for resting instead of the "back" zone. Enclosures having logs and snags. the "enrich" zones is utilised to exhibit activity behaviour. The utilisation of the structurally enriched zones of the enclosures was positively correlated with enclosure complexity. Leopards in structurally enriched enclosures exhibited higher levels of activity and lower levels of resting than the barren enclosures The factors that were found to influence the behavioural repertoire of captive leopards have been taken into consideration while recommending environmental enrichment techniques for the renovations of old enclosures and the construction of new ones.
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    The Grey tit (Parus major caschmerensis) in Northern India: Behaviour and Ecology in the non-breeding season
    (Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 1995) Quader, Suhel; Johnsingh, A.J.T.; Qureshi, Qamar
    Studied the grey tit (Parus major caschmerensis) in Naina Devi Sanctuary. in the Shivalik hills of the Himachal Pradesh Himalaya. This is a subspecies of the well-studied great tit which ranges over a large part of Eurasia. The study had two main components: a. to investigate the non-breeding behaviour and ecology of this bird in India, and to interpret the findings with respect to what is known about the species from more northern areas (a comparative approach). b. to study the behaviour of individuals in the context of short· and long-tenn processes (in the winter, examples of these might be survival and reproduction. respectively), I collected data on colour-banded grey tits by following individuals, and recording behaviour using the point-sampling technique with one-minute intervals. Field work was carried out between December 1994 and April 1995. Throughout this study, I refer to the subspecies in India as grey tits, those studied in Europe and Japan as the great tit, and to the species as a whole as Parus major. In a comparison with what is known about great tits, the following points emerge: .Grey tits do not spend the winter in flocks of conspecifics; instead. they are either solitary or in pairs. This is associated with comparatively high winter temperatures, and may be the result of a low seasonality in resource abundance allowing for greater territorial site-fidelity. Sexual dimorphism in bill shape mirrors that found in a previous study on great tits in England, where males have deeper and shorter beaks than females, tend to forage more on beech seeds, and are more efficient at doing so than females. Grey tits show a sexual dimorphism in beak shape paralleling this, and males exhibit a strong tendency to forage more on Acacia catechu (from which largely pods are taken) than females, implying that similar ecomorphological processes can operate in populations widely separated in space. Grey tits use a wider variety of foraging substrates than their more northern counterparts, and correspondingly spend less time foraging on the ground. This is' associated with the absence of any congeners, although whether it is a case of competitive release is open to dispute. The Indian birds seem to spend more time feeding than what has been reported for English great tits. The greater time spent feeding is perhaps unexpected given the comparatively higher winter temperatures, and longer day-lengths in Naina Devi than in northern Europe. While a strict comparison of different studies may not be entirely valid, the solitary/pair living habit of grey tits may result in lower levels of aggression, and this may allow for more feeding time. The date of laying is related to the duration for which the male and female have been together (i.e pairing date). Birds which paired early bred early, though this is based on a limited sample of four pairs. If this relationship is causal, and if reproductive success decreases through the breeding season (as has been shown for many temperate species), it would imply a strong selection pressure for early pairing in the great tit. As breeding approached, males spent less time feeding than in the winter, and were involved in greater territorial activity such as singing. Female time budgets showed a similar, though nonsignificant trend over the season. Pooling sexes, the proportion of time spent tended towards a decrease as summer drew near. This decrease approached statistical significance.