Mumbaikars & their big cat neighbours share screen space

With ‘Urban Jungle’ as the working title,the documentary that will be aired in 144 countries in 68 languages late next year,is a product of footage gathered by the National Geographic team over the last eight years. The series will also capture the existence of Burmese Pythons in Bangkok,Red-tailed Hawks in New York,coyotes in Chicago and maned sloths in Rio de Janeiro among others. “We are trying to understand what makes certain animals better than others at adapting to urban ecosystems,” said Luck.

The leopard documentary is also part of an ongoing six-month research being conducted by wildlife expert Krishna Tiwari and his team. Working on a grant from the National Geographic Society,the team will document the movement and behaviour of leopards in conflict areas in the city. After acquiring necessary permissions from the state forest department,high-tech infrared camera traps coupled with motion sensors have been set up at Aarey,Mulund,Goregaon and Borivali,along the periphery of Sanjay Gandhi National Park,to track the animals without disturbing them. “We are trying to see how leopards react to dog barks and if they display any territorial wars or not. We have selected sites based on the recent pattern of attacks,” said Tiwari.

Big cat expert and capture specialist Boone Smith,who is hosting the show,retraced a leopard’s trek from Yeoor to Kopat. “Based on GPS coordinates,we retraced the animal’s trail and were amazed that the leopard went unnoticed even though it moved close to human settlements,” said Smith,who traced the leopard for three to four days based on pugmarks and scat study.

The leopard documentary has been filmed by award-winning filmmaker Sandesh Kadur and Kris Benton.

anjali.lukose@expressindia.com