Abstract:
Southern Africa has a diverse large carnivore guild. When this large carnivore guild is
confined to fenced protected areas, the degree of intraguild competition may increase.
Dietary overlap is a notable point of competition and can have considerable effects on lower
trophic levels. We considered the prey preferences, dietary overlap, and dietary niche
breadth of the large carnivore guild in Madikwe Game Reserve through direct observations
and scat analysis, over one year of sampling. These data were analysed using the Jacobs’
index for prey preference, the Pianka’s index for dietary overlap and Levin’s index for dietary
niche breadth. Leopards (Panthera pardus), cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus) and African wild
dogs (Lycaon pictus) had a high degree of dietary overlap and were specialized in their
diet selection. Lions (Panthera leo), brown (Parahyaena brunnea) and spotted hyaenas
(Crocuta crocuta) also showed a high degree of dietary overlap and had broad diets. Our
results show similarities to those of open systems, suggesting that large carnivore diet
selection may not be negatively affected when they are confined by fences.We recommend
further investigations into the variables which may affect site-specific carnivore diet
selection.
