Abstract:
Scat analysis is one of the most frequently used methods to assess carnivoran diets,
and global positioning system (GPS) cluster methods are increasingly being used
to locate feeding sites for large carnivorans. However, both methods have inherent
biases that limit their use. GPS methods to locate kill sites are biased towards large
carcasses, while scat analysis overestimates the biomass consumed from smaller
prey. We combined carcass observations and scats collected along known movement
routes, assessed using GPS data from four African lion Panthera leo prides
in the Kruger National Park, South Africa, to determine how a combination of
these two datasets change diet estimates. As expected, using carcasses alone underestimated
the number of feeding events on small species, primarily impala Aepyceros
melampus and warthog Phacochoerus africanus, in our case, by more than
50%, and thus significantly underestimated the biomass consumed per pride per
day in comparison with when the diet was assessed using carcass observations
alone. We show that an approach that supplements carcass observations with
scats that enables the identification of potentially missed feeding events increases
the estimates of food intake rates for large carnivorans, with possible ramifications
for predator–prey interaction studies dealing with biomass intake rate.
