Diet and prey selectivity of the specialist myrmecophage, Temminck's ground pangolin

Abstract

The diet of Temminck’s ground pangolin Smutsia temminckii (hereafter, pangolin) has thus far been studied only in mesic savannahs. We provide arid-zone dietary data for this species based on direct observations, and compare these to available prey species assemblages. We also report stable carbon and nitrogen isotope enrichment values for liver and scales compared to the diet. Pangolins were recorded consuming four ant (Anoplolepis steingroeveri, Camponotus fulvopilosus, two Crematogaster spp.) and one termite (Trinervitermes trinervoides) species, which represent 7.5 and 25 % of the available ant and termite species, respectively.2 The stable isotope data corroborate the direct observations and confirm that pangolins display a high degree of prey selectivity, however stable isotopes alone were not able to infer the diet of pangolins as a number of non-prey species had similar isotopic values to prey species. Direct observations suggest that these latter species are not preyed on, possibly because they have chemical or mechanical defences or gallery structures that make them unsuitable as prey. Liver was enriched by 3.8 ± 1.2 ‰ (mean ± SD) and 2.5 ± 1.4 ‰ for δ15N and δ13C, respectively, relative to the mean δ15N and δ13C values of the prey species, and scales were enriched by 2.9 ± 1.0 ‰ and 5.3 ± 1.8 ‰, respectively. We observed no seasonal variation or age or sex-related differences in diet, either from direct observations or isotope data. These results support previous findings that pangolins have further specialised within an already unusual mammalian dietary niche.