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Sloth bears behave aggressively toward humans when threatened and are among the most dangerous wildlife in India. Safety messaging for those who live in sloth bear country must be accurate to be effective, and messaging may need to be modified to account for regional differences in human-bear relationships. The timing of sloth bear attacks on the Deccan Plateau of Karnataka, both by season and by time of day, deviated enough from those reported in other areas such that it warranted further investigation. We compared data from eight studies of human-sloth bear conflict from across the Indian subcontinent and explored possibilities as to why differences exist. Seasonally all studies reported that human-sloth bear conflict was highest when human activity in the forest was greatest, though the season of highest human activity varied significantly by region (χ2 = 5921, df = 5, P χ2 = 666, df = 5, P

Monitoring dispersal, habitat use, and social mixing of released ungulates is crucial for successful translocation and species conservation. We monitored 127 female bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis) released in three populations from 2000 to 2009 to investigate if augmented bighorns expanded and shifted seasonal ranges, used different habitat compared with resident females, and if animals mixed socially. Augmented bighorns in all populations expanded range use compared with residents by shifting utilization distributions. Size of utilization distributions, however, were smaller for augmented females compared with residents in all areas except one. Overlap of seasonal utilization distributions between augmented and resident bighorns and use of slope and elevation differed across populations. In two populations, differences in size and overlap of seasonal utilization distributions and use of slope and elevation supported the hypothesis that habitat use of bighorns in their source area influenced their habitat use after release. Mixing between resident and augmented adult females occurred on average during only 21% of sightings and was similar across populations. Our results clarify how augmented bighorns mix with resident animals and how habitat use is modified following augmentations. Such information is needed to improve bighorn sheep augmentations and can be applied to augmentations of other ungulates.