A series of camera traps set to capture images of some of Tanzania's most elusive carnivores revealed that many of the animals snapped, including leopards, are fussy about where they live.

The research into how different habitats in the east African country are used by meat eating animals found that all the surveyed species tended to avoid cropland - suggesting conversion of land for growing food could have a serious impact on wildlife.

Scientists from the Zoological Society of London, the Wildlife Conservation Society and the Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute accumulated 1,500 records of carnivores at 400 sites in 11 protected areas.

The camera traps revealed the habitat preferences of many elusive species - such as the bushy tailed mongoose - whose lives had previously not been well documented because they live in forested areas or are nocturnal.

The data is being used to find out more about where they choose to live and how they might respond to changes to their habitat caused by impacts such as development and climate change.

Nathalie Pettorelli from ZSL said: "Carnivores are generally thought to be fairly tolerant to land conversion, yet our study suggests that they may be more sensitive to development than previously thought, and that protected areas need to be sufficiently large to ensure that these charismatic animals will roam in Tanzania for the decades to come.