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Brown hyaena (Parahyaena brunnea) diet composition from Zingela Game Reserve, Limpopo Province, South Africa

Brown hyaena (Parahyaena brunnea) diet composition from Zingela Game Reserve, Limpopo Province,... Brown hyaenas Parahyaena brunnea are classified as ‘Near Threatened’. Although predominantly scavengers, they are frequently blamed for livestock depredations leading to persecution. Information on brown hyaena diets is important for understanding the degree of potential conflict with farming livelihoods and exploring diet variation across their range and how this might shift in response to land use change. Here we explore the diet of brown hyaena on a game reserve in the Limpopo Province, South Africa. We collected scats in 2013 (n = 55) and 2018 (n = 73) from Zingela Game Reserve to identify mammalian prey based on the cuticular scale imprints and cross-sectional appearance of hairs found in scat. Artiodactyls were most frequently consumed (total relative frequency of occurrence = 69.6%), dominated by common duiker Sylvicapra grimmia and steenbok Raphicerus campestris. Smaller prey were also common with Rodentia appearing in 15.8% of scats, although for all prey items there was some variation between years. We found only one occurrence of a domestic species in scats (donkey Equus africanus). Set alongside other studies from across southern Africa the results illustrate that brown hyaena are flexible in their diet and that domestic animals generally only represent a very small proportion of their diet. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png African Zoology Taylor & Francis

Brown hyaena (Parahyaena brunnea) diet composition from Zingela Game Reserve, Limpopo Province, South Africa

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Brown hyaena (Parahyaena brunnea) diet composition from Zingela Game Reserve, Limpopo Province, South Africa

Abstract

Brown hyaenas Parahyaena brunnea are classified as ‘Near Threatened’. Although predominantly scavengers, they are frequently blamed for livestock depredations leading to persecution. Information on brown hyaena diets is important for understanding the degree of potential conflict with farming livelihoods and exploring diet variation across their range and how this might shift in response to land use change. Here we explore the diet of brown hyaena on a game reserve in the Limpopo...
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Publisher
Taylor & Francis
Copyright
© 2019 Zoological Society of Southern Africa
ISSN
2224-073X
eISSN
1562-7020
DOI
10.1080/15627020.2019.1600430
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Brown hyaenas Parahyaena brunnea are classified as ‘Near Threatened’. Although predominantly scavengers, they are frequently blamed for livestock depredations leading to persecution. Information on brown hyaena diets is important for understanding the degree of potential conflict with farming livelihoods and exploring diet variation across their range and how this might shift in response to land use change. Here we explore the diet of brown hyaena on a game reserve in the Limpopo Province, South Africa. We collected scats in 2013 (n = 55) and 2018 (n = 73) from Zingela Game Reserve to identify mammalian prey based on the cuticular scale imprints and cross-sectional appearance of hairs found in scat. Artiodactyls were most frequently consumed (total relative frequency of occurrence = 69.6%), dominated by common duiker Sylvicapra grimmia and steenbok Raphicerus campestris. Smaller prey were also common with Rodentia appearing in 15.8% of scats, although for all prey items there was some variation between years. We found only one occurrence of a domestic species in scats (donkey Equus africanus). Set alongside other studies from across southern Africa the results illustrate that brown hyaena are flexible in their diet and that domestic animals generally only represent a very small proportion of their diet.

Journal

African Zoology – Taylor & Francis

Published: Jul 5, 2019

Keywords: carnivore; human-carnivore conflict; human-wildlife conflict; predator; scat analysis

References

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