Spatio-temporal occurrence of small carnivores in Bagmati-Ratu Complex, Nepal

Small carnivores are generally more adaptable to human-dominated landscapes compared with large carnivores, but have received comparatively limited attention. We evaluated the single-season multi-species occupancy and temporal overlap of five small carnivores in Bagmati-Ratu Complex (BRC) of Madhesh Province, Nepal using camera-trap surveys during January to February 2023. Camera-trap data were used to evaluate single-season multi-species occupancy using Markov Chain Monte Carlo simulations to understand the impacts of anthropogenic and environmental variables on community-level occupancy of small carnivores. We also calculated pairwise activity overlap coefficients (Dhat1) to examine temporal interactions among species. We observed the highest detection probability for jungle cat ( Felis chaus ; p = 0.315), whereas the lowest detection probability was for leopard cat ( Prionailurus bengalensis ; p = 0.245). Occupancy was highest for common palm civet (0.698), whereas lowest for large Indian civet ( Viverra zibetha ; 0.651). The community-level occupancy was negatively associated with area of farmland, whereas settlement area was positively associated at species-level only. All species exhibited strong nocturnal activity patterns, except the jungle cat, which showed some diurnal activity. We found high temporal overlap between the common palm civet and small Indian civet, consistent with their nocturnal behavior (Dhat1 = 0.77). All small carnivores exhibited similar activity patterns, with the reduced activity during the daytime and increased activity from dusk through dawn, indicating strongly nocturnal behavior and suggesting temporal avoidance of humans. These baseline data provide valuable information for understanding the coexistence of humans and small carnivores and can inform future conservation strategies.