Seasonal diet and numbers of prey consumed by Cape foxes Vulpes chama in South Africa

Abstract

The Cape fox Vulpes chama is one of the least studied Vulpes species, and little is known about their diet. By analyzing contents of scats, we determined the seasonal diet of Cape foxes on Benfontein Game Farm (BGF) in South Africa, and determined the biomass and number of rodents consumed. We also determined the diet of Cape foxes on a nearby private livestock ranch (PR) in winter when sheep were lambing. On BGF, murids were the dominant food item, and comprised 44–90% of the biomass consumed across seasons. Other major food items that were seasonally important were leporids and berries. Although arthropods were frequently consumed, they were negligible in terms of biomass consumed. On PR, sheep were found in 19% of scats, but in relatively low amounts per scat, indicating sheep were likely scavenged rather than predated upon. On BGF, the estimated annual consumption was 3,861 rodent/fox, or about 11 rodent/day/fox. Our results indicate Cape foxes feed primarily on small rodents, and therefore Cape foxes might be beneficial to livestock and game farm owners in southern Africa.

Seed dispersal potential of jackals and foxes in semi-arid habitats of South Africa

“…For example, in North America dispersal relationships between plants and animals are usually unspecified, although generalist feeders such as coyotes can became major and important dispersers for several different fruit plants (Willson, 1993). The same is likely true in southern Africa, where jackals and cape foxes are generalist feeders (Klare et al, 2010(Klare et al, , 2014, yet it appears that they are important dispersers for several fruit plants when fruits are consumed in high quantities. The bat-eared fox is a specialized feeder on termites, for which it has several unique adaptations (Klare et al, 2011), although this species, too, appears to be an important disperser for fruit plants when they consume fruits as buffer food in high quantities.…”

“…This research was part of a larger study investigating the ecology and interspecific relationships of cape foxes, bat-eared foxes, and black-backed jackals on several study sites in South Africa (Kamler et al 2012(Kamler et al , 2013bKlare et al 2010Klare et al , 2011Klare et al , 2014. Capture, radiotelemetry monitoring, and scat collection were the primary methods used to investigate the ecology of each species.…”

“…The complete dietary results of the other food categories were reported in previous studies (Klare et al, 2010(Klare et al, , 2011(Klare et al, , 2014, therefore only the results concerning fruit consumption are reported in this paper.…”

“…In semi-arid regions of South Africa, there are three species of small and medium-sized canids that potentially could be major dispersers of fruit plants: cape foxes (Vulpes chama), bateared foxes (Otocyon megalotis), and black-backed jackals (Canis mesomelas). Although previous studies have confirmed that all three of these canid species regularly consume fruit (Kok, 1996;Klare et al, 2010Klare et al, , 2011Klare et al, , 2014Kamler et al, 2012), their potential as important seed dispersers has received little attention. For example, bat-eared foxes, but not cape foxes and jackals, were reported to be a disperser of several species of fruit plants in semi-arid regions of South Africa (Milton and Dean, 2001).…”

Small cats in big trouble? Diet, activity, and habitat use of jungle cats and leopard cats in threatened dry deciduous forests, Cambodia

“…The only exceptions in our study were two scats that contained a fraction of muntjac and civet remains, respectively, suggesting they represented rare scavenging events (Klare et al, 2014). Leopard cats consumed a higher biomass of murids than jungle cats, but consumed less large murids than did jungle cats, indicating leopard cats preyed on smaller species than did jungle cats.…”