Abstract
In the urban landscape of develo** countries like India, three species, i.e., humans, cattle, and dogs coexist and interact regularly. In the current study, we evaluated the intra- and interspecific interactions with special reference to street cattle in an urban area. We conducted the study at ten different locations in Raipur City and observed different types of possible interactions. We found licking and butting as the most frequent positive and negative intraspecific interactions, respectively among individuals of the street cattle population. The frequency of neutral interaction among the three species is statistically significantly higher than either positive or negative interactions. The positive interaction between cattle and dogs was more than the negative interaction. But, in the case of cattle-human interactions, the negative interaction was greater than the positive interaction. A statistically significant time-of-day variation was noticed in the licking, playing, mounting, pushing, and butting behavior under the intraspecific interaction category in the cattle. The negative interaction of cattle with dog and human, human towards cattle, positive interaction of dog towards cattle, and neutral interactions between cattle-dog and cattle-human also exhibited time-of-day variability. In conclusion, all three species coexist in the urban landscape with a markedly higher frequency of neutral interaction followed by negative interactions among them. For the welfare of all three species minimization of dum** of open garbage is recommended as one of the key strategies to overcome the cattle and dogs menace on the urban streets of India and elsewhere.
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Acknowledgements
This work is a part of the Doctor of Philosophy thesis of one of the authors (BKS). We are grateful to the University Grants Commission, New Delhi, for support through its DRS-SAP scheme sanctioned in the thrust area—Chronobiology to the School of Studies in Life Science, Pandit Ravishankar Shukla University, Raipur. We are also thankful to the Municipal Corporation of Raipur, India, for their cooperation and for providing us with the data on dustbin installations and a map of Raipur city. We record our special thanks to Mr. Radhe Lal Markam for assisting us during the field study. The Head of the Department, School of Studies in Life Science, Pandit Ravishankar Shukla University, Raipur obliged us by providing logistics support. We are also obliged to the anonymous reviewer for offering us valuable suggestions for the improvement of the manuscript.
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This work was supported by the University Grants Commission, New Delhi, India under the scheme of Joint CSIR-UGC NET for Junior Research Fellowship [Sr. No. 2121530765. Ref. No: 20/12/2015 (ii) EU –V dated 18/05/2016] to BKS.
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All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Data collection and analysis were performed by BKS. The first draft of the manuscript was written by BKS and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Sahu, B.K., Pati, A.K. & Parganiha, A. Intra- and interspecific interactions in the Indian urban ecosystem with special reference to street cattle as the pivot. Urban Ecosyst 26, 1829–1842 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11252-023-01423-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11252-023-01423-y