The importance of rodents in the diet of jungle cat (Felis chaus), caracal (Caracal caracal) and golden jackal (Canis aureus) in Sariska Tiger Reserve, Rajasthan, India

Abstract

Many small carnivores include rodents in their diet. However, due to varying evolutionary strategies, carnivores differ in their metabolism and energy requirements. Hence, comparisons of diet between carnivores would be more meaningful if the body size and energetics of the predators are considered. The diet of three small carnivores (jungle cat Felis chaus; caracal Caracal caracal; golden jackal Canis aureus) from a semi‐arid part of western India was studied through scat analysis, and the importance of rodents in their diet was estimated as a percentage of their daily energy requirement. Although percentage frequency in scats and biomass consumption showed rodents to be equally important to all three carnivores, energy calculations showed that rodents were more important as prey for the felids than the jackal. Up to 70% of the daily metabolizable energy in felids was obtained from rodents, as compared to 45% in the jackal. Rodents are generally viewed as pests, and their importance to the small carnivore community is overlooked. Change in land use over the decades in the arid/semi‐arid tract of western India has led to several adverse as well as favourable modifications in rodent assemblages, which could influence the persistence of species like the caracal and jungle cat in this region, that largely depend on rodents for their survival.

<b>Winter food habits of the Golden Jackal <I>Canis aureus</I> (Mammalia: Carnivora: Canidae) in Patna Bird Sanctuary, Uttar Pradesh, India</b>

“…Feeding on small mammals by jackal is reported in a number of studies in Asian (Demeter & Spassov 1993;Mukherjee et al 2004;Jaeger et al 2007) and the African continents (Lamprecht 1978;Goldenberg et al 2010) and European agricultural areas (Lanszki et al 2006;Lanszki & Heltai 2010). The presence of cattle, Nilgai and civet in the scat of Golden Jackal in the present study indicate scavenging on carcasses.…”

“…Individual Golden Jackals sighted regulary through out the Sanctuaty during the study period numbered 2-8. The scats of Golden Jackal were distinguished from other carnivores (e.g., Common Palm Civet, Indian Fox, stray dogs, Fishing Cat and Jungle Cat) on the basis of their size, shape and associated signs (Weaver & Fritts 1979;Green & Flinders 1981;Mukherjee et al 2004;Majumder et al 2011;Nadeem et al 2012). Ambiguous scats were avoided during data collection.…”

“…It is an omnivorous, opportunistic forager as well as a scavenger in habit. The diet of the Golden Jackal varies according to season and habitat (Schaller 1967;Jhala & Moehlman 2004;Mukherjee et al 2004;Alam et al 2015). Their diet consists of a range of prey species, vegetative matter, fruits and is very flexible depending on the local availability of food items.…”

Food habits and temporal activity patterns of the Golden Jackal Canis aureus and the Jungle Cat Felis chaus in Pench Tiger Reserve, Madhya Pradesh

“…Empirical studies dealing with mammalian carnivores showed that coexisting carnivores tend to have different dietary and activity patterns, indicating that it is a common phenomenon for coexisting species to have different niches (Maddock & Perrin 1993;Tatara & Doi 1994). In India, most of the studies on dietary and temporal activity patterns of carnivores have been carried out on large carnivores (Johnsingh 1983;Karanth & Sunquist 1995;Biswas & Sankar 2002;Andheria et al 2007;Edgaonkar 2008;Ramesh et al 2009) and very few studies were carried out on mesocarnivores (Sankar 1988;Mukherjee 1989;Balasubramanian & Bole 1993;Mukherjee et al 2004;Aiyadurai & Jhala 2006 Qureshi et al 2006;Acharya et al 2007). The overall goal of the present study is (i) to determine the frequency of occurrence of different food items in the diet of these two meso-carnivores in PTR, (ii) to examine the implications of these diet profiles and temporal activity for understanding resource partitioning patterns and ecological sympatry among them in PTR.…”

“…The species is included in CITES Appendix II and Schedule III in the Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972 of India. The Jungle Cat (body weight 5-6 kg) has established itself over a wide range from northern Africa through south-western Asia to India, Ceylon and Indo-China The diets of the Golden Jackal and the Jungle Cat can be studied through scat analysis (Reynolds & Aebischer 1991;Mukherjee et al 1994;Mukherjee et al 2004). A total of 50 Golden Jackal scats and 85 Jungle Cat scats were collected wherever encountered from the intensive study area (292km 2 ).…”