Going with, or going to the dogs: City Serenade of Multispecies Survival

Nishant Kumar , Bharti Sharma

1. As tropical cities rapidly urbanise, multispecies coexistence faces unprecedented challenges. Ground-dwelling (dogs), arboreal (macaques), and aerial (black kites) urban commensals navigate complex social-ecological systems shaped by anthropogenic resource provisioning, cultural practices, and architectural constraints. Despite escalating human-animal conflicts—20 million annual dog bites in India alone, macaque territorial instability, and aviation safety concerns from avian aggregations—management interventions remain reactive and species-specific, failing to address underlying social-ecological drivers. A critical gap persists in understanding how ritual feeding practices, urban waste systems, and socioeconomic inequalities structure coexistence dynamics across taxonomic guilds in South Asian megacities. 2. We investigated multispecies urban ecology across Delhi’s socioeconomically diverse neighborhoods (2012-2024), integrating quantitative population assessments with ethnographic insights. For free-ranging dogs, we conducted photographic capture-recapture surveys across 14 stratified sampling units (2.95 km²), quantifying density, pack structure, and food subsidy availability. For rhesus macaques, we documented displacement intervention outcomes at Dr. B R Ambedkar University Delhi (2023-24), tracking recolonisation dynamics following removal of 50 individuals. Semi-structured interviews with 65 stakeholders—including security guards, residents, and administrators—illuminated human dimensions of coexistence. We contextualised findings within long-term black kite research demonstrating synchronisation between population dynamics and human cultural practices. 3. Delhi harbours an estimated 795,313 free-ranging dogs (530±89 dogs/km²) supported by 327,069 feeding stations and 85,109 garbage points—infrastructure with combined carrying capacity approaching 1.6 million dogs. Pack density correlated strongly with feeding infrastructure (r=0.856, p<0.001) rather than incidental waste, while high-density areas exhibited male-biased sex ratios (r=-0.589, p=0.027). Macaque populations achieved full numerical recovery within one month post-displacement despite 31% removal, demonstrating futility of translocation without addressing religious provisioning and architectural accessibility. Ethnographic data revealed socioeconomic gradients in conflict vulnerability: outdoor workers bore disproportionate costs while possessing minimal management agency. Cultural ambivalence toward ritual feeding—simultaneously expressing spiritual obligation and conflict concern—defied simplistic intervention prescriptions. 4. Multispecies coexistence emerges through dynamic negotiation across biological, spatial, and temporal scales rather than fixed states amenable to technical solutions. Effective management requires modifying human practices—feeding systems, waste infrastructure, architectural design—rather than controlling animal populations directly, cantering environmental justice alongside ecological understanding in tropical urban planning.