title: High early life mortality in free-ranging dogs is largely influenced by humans.
abstract: Free-ranging dogs are a ubiquitous part of human habitations in many developing countries, leading a life of scavengers dependent on human wastes for survival. The effective management of free-ranging dogs calls for understanding of their population dynamics. Life expectancy at birth and early life mortality are important factors that shape life-histories of mammals. We carried out a five year-long census based study in seven locations of West Bengal, India, to understand the pattern of population growth and factors affecting early life mortality in free-ranging dogs. We observed high rates of mortality, with only ~19% of the 364 pups from 95 observed litters surviving till the reproductive age; 63% of total mortality being human influenced. While living near people increases resource availability for dogs, it also has deep adverse impacts on their population growth, making the dog-human relationship on streets highly complex.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Kolkata, India.
authors.forename: Manabi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Paul
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Kolkata, India.
authors.forename: Sreejani
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sen Majumder
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Kolkata, India.
authors.forename: Shubhra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sau
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Sciences, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Kolkata, India.
authors.forename: Anjan K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Nandi
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Kolkata, India.
authors.forename: Anindita
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bhadra
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001723:Birth Rate; D003906:Developing Countries; D004285:Dogs; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D008017:Life Expectancy; D009026:Mortality; D011157:Population Dynamics; D011158:Population Growth