Please be advised that the site will be down for maintenance on Sunday, September 1, 2024, from 08:00 to 18:00, and again on Monday, September 2, 2024, from 08:00 to 09:00. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
dc.contributor.author | Jumbam, Keafon R.![]() |
|
dc.contributor.author | Périquet, Stéphanie![]() |
|
dc.contributor.author | Dalerum, Fredrik![]() |
|
dc.contributor.author | Le Roux, Aliza![]() |
|
dc.date.accessioned | 2019-07-29T11:24:25Z | |
dc.date.issued | 2019 | |
dc.description.abstract | The bat-eared fox (Otocyon megalotis) is considered a termite specialist. However, studies of its diet have been limited to indirect methods, such as scat and stomach content analyses, resulting in intraspecific dietary variations due in part to methodological differences. Because diet plays a central role in the social dynamics of these canids, we hereby contribute further to our knowledge about their dietary habits. We present 2-year data of direct observations of foraging bouts of 19 habituated bat-eared foxes in the kalahari desert of South Africa, as well as data on seasonal variation in invertebrate prey communities obtained through pitfall and sweep net trapping. Despite showing a diet breadth reflective of a specialised forager across all seasons, foxes exhibited substantial seasonal variation in diet breadth with a broader range of food categories utilised in summer compared to the other seasons. Supplementary food categories appear to not have been utilised opportunistically, but it is unclear what drove the preference for some food categories over others. A literature review indicated strong effects of local conditions on the utilisation of supplementary food across southern Africa. Our data support bat-eared foxes as obligate termite specialists but highlight that they appear to have the ability to show dietary flexibility based on both temporal and spatial variations in food abundance. | en_ZA |
dc.description.department | Zoology and Entomology | en_ZA |
dc.description.embargo | 2020-05-20 | |
dc.description.librarian | hj2019 | en_ZA |
dc.description.sponsorship | The Bat-Eared Fox Research Project was funded by the National Research Foundation (NRF) Thuthuka Grant (TTK1206041007) awarded to Prof. A. le Roux and NRF Grant No. 90491 awarded to Dr F Dalerum. F Dalerum was further supported by a grant from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (RYC-13-14662). We thank the Kalahari Research Trust, Kuruman River Reserve and Kalahari Meerkat Project (supported by ERC Grant No. 294494 to T H Clutton-Brock since 1 July 2012) for logistical support and access to conduct work on the reserve. | en_ZA |
dc.description.uri | https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/tafz20 | en_ZA |
dc.identifier.citation | Keafon R Jumbam, Stéphanie Périquet, Fredrik Dalerum & Aliza le Roux (2019) Spatial and temporal variation in the use of supplementary food in an obligate termite specialist, the bat-eared fox, African Zoology, 54:1, 63-71, DOI: 10.1080/15627020.2019.1596754. | en_ZA |
dc.identifier.issn | 1562-7020 (print) | |
dc.identifier.issn | 2224-073X (online) | |
dc.identifier.other | 10.1080/15627020.2019.1596754 | |
dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/2263/70817 | |
dc.language.iso | en | en_ZA |
dc.publisher | NISC (Pty) Ltd and Informa UK Limited (trading as Taylor & Francis Group) | en_ZA |
dc.rights | © Zoological Society of Southern Africa. This is an electronic version of an article published in African Zoology, vol. 54, no. 1, pp. 63-71, 2019. doi : 10.1080/15627020.2019.1596754. African Zoology is available online at : https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/tafz20. | en_ZA |
dc.subject | Bat-eared fox (Otocyon megalotis) | en_ZA |
dc.subject | Diet breadth | en_ZA |
dc.subject | Food availability | en_ZA |
dc.subject | Seasonal variation | en_ZA |
dc.subject | Termite specialist | en_ZA |
dc.subject | Patterns | en_ZA |
dc.subject | Selection | en_ZA |
dc.subject | Population | en_ZA |
dc.subject | Prey | en_ZA |
dc.subject | Behavior | en_ZA |
dc.subject | Diet | en_ZA |
dc.subject | Field observations | en_ZA |
dc.title | Spatial and temporal variation in the use of supplementary food in an obligate termite specialist, the bat-eared fox | en_ZA |
dc.type | Postprint Article | en_ZA |