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[email protected] Website: www.ncf-india.org Citation Gubbi, S., Menon, A.M., Prabhu, K., & Suthar, S. (2021) The leopards of Marikanive: Population estimation of leopards in the Marikanive State Forest, Chitradurga , Nature Conservation Foundation, Mysore, India. Contents Acknowledgements 1 Introduction 2 Study area 3 Methodology 7 Results 9 Discussion 11 References 17 Appendices 21 Acknowledgements We sincerely thank the Karnataka Forest Department for permissions to carry out the study in Marikanive State Forest in Chitradurga Forest Division, and also for all the support provided by them. We are grateful to Shri S S Lingaraja, Chief Conservator of Forests, and Shri K Chandrashekara Nayaka, Deputy Conservator of Forests of Chitradurga Division for all the cooperation during our work. We would like to acknowledge the support provided by Shri T. Neelakantappa, Assistant Conservator of Forests of Hiriyur Sub-Division. We would like to sincerely thank the Range Forest Officers; Shri Harsha D. L. (Hiriyur Range) and Ms. Sujatha (Hosadurga Range). All the Deputy Range Forest Officers, Forest Guards and Watchers have proved to be the greatest source of assistance and we are thankful to them. 1 Introduction Leopards (Panthera pardus) are one of the most widespread large carnivores belonging to the Felidae family. They are distributed over most of Africa, covering entire sub-Saharan Africa and part of North Africa, while in Asia they are spread from the Middle East to the Pacific Ocean (Jacobson et al.