Specific features of feeding of the Amur tiger Panthera tigris altaica (Carnivora, Felidae) in a densely populated locality (with reference to Bol’shekhekhtsirskii Reserve and its environs)

Abstract

Specific features of feeding of the Amur tiger (Panthera tigris altaica) in the Bol'shekhekhtsirskii Reserve located in a densely populated locality (15 km to the north of the city of Khabarovsk) have been inves tigated. For a long time (1992)(1993)(1994)(1995)(1996)(1997)(1998)(1999)(2000) the diet of tigers consisted 100% of wild animals, although the accessi bility of domestic animals, dogs, in particular, was high. From 2000 to 2007, in their feeding, the proportion of dogs increased (up to 47%), and the proportion of wild animals decreased (50.8%). Tigers attacking dogs were physically weakened (broken fangs, wounds, inflicted by humans, diseases). It was shown that even in a densely populated locality, the tiger's diet includes domestic animals only at exposure to different negative factors.

Plant‐eating carnivores: Multispecies analysis on factors influencing the frequency of plant occurrence in obligate carnivores

“…Furthermore, it has been suggested that grasses are selectively eaten because they are free of secondary plant compounds, unlike those in other plant groups (Hoppe-Dominik, 1988). Indeed, undigested Poaceae and Cyperaceae plants were detected in 40%-50% of the scat of leopards (Hart et al, 1996) and tigers (Tkachenko, 2012), similar to that in the scat of puma and jaguarundi (Rocha-Mendes et al, 2010).…”

“…These so called “big cats” constitute one of the basal lineages of extant felid species (Li et al., 2016 ). Fruit consumption has not been reported for them; however, the presence of grasses and shrubs has been detected in numerous cases (e.g., Jumabay‐Uulu et al., 2014 ; Ott et al., 2007 ; Tkachenko, 2012 ). Hoppe‐Dominik stated that leopards ( Panthera pardus ) may eat grasses to keep their digestive tract moving during starvation (Hoppe‐Dominik, 1988 ).…”