Large carnivores are often persecuted by humans due to conflict over livestock and shared prey. Most of these species face multiple serious threats to their survival, 77% have declining populations and 61% are classified as threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Īmong mammals, the large carnivores form a highly endangered group, and the future of many of these species is uncertain. This ‘existence value’ is independent of value associated with wildlife viewing or other wildlife ‘use’. Furthermore, many people derive value from knowing that large carnivores exist in the wild. Tourism, including wildlife viewing, is especially important in the developing world where it is a significant or growing component of the Gross Domestic Product in 11 of the 12 countries that contain 80% of the world's poor. Large carnivores are also associated with important economic and social human benefits due to their role as one of the primary drivers of wildlife viewing tourism. For example, in West Africa, lion ( Panthera leo) and leopard ( Panthera pardus) declines coincided with an increase in the abundances of olive baboons ( Papio anubis)-a species that can pose a threat to agricultural crops-and declines in the abundances of small ungulates and primates. In addition, large carnivores can provide important ecosystem services. In Australia, dingoes ( Canis dingo) can limit fox ( Vulpes vulpes) populations, indirectly benefiting numerous small mammals, many of which are endangered. For example, wolves ( Canis lupus) may reduce elk ( Cervus canadensis) numbers directly or may change their behaviour, leading to changes in plant species diversity, plant species abundance and songbird communities. Many of these species have significant direct effects on their prey, which can lead to additional indirect effects. Large terrestrial carnivores are an ecologically important group of species. Together these results show the importance of a holistic approach to conservation that involves protecting both large carnivores directly and the prey upon which they depend. Of the 494 prey species in our analysis, an average of just 6.9% of their ranges overlap protected areas. In particular, the clouded leopard ( Neofelis nebulosa), Sunda clouded leopard ( Neofelis diardi), tiger ( Panthera tigris), dhole ( Cuon alpinus) and Ethiopian wolf ( Canis simensis) all have at least 40% of their prey classified as threatened on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List and, along with the leopard ( Panethra pardus), all of these species except the Ethiopian wolf have at least 50% of their prey classified as declining. We consider spatial variation in prey endangerment, changes in endangerment over time and the causes of prey depletion, finding considerable evidence that loss of prey base is a major and wide-ranging threat among large carnivore species. Here, we assess the importance of prey depletion as a driver of large carnivore endangerment globally using lists of prey species for each large carnivore compiled from the literature. Large terrestrial carnivores are an ecologically important, charismatic and highly endangered group of species.
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