Scavenging vs hunting affects behavioral traits of an opportunistic carnivore.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Human-induced changes to ecosystems transform the availability of resources to predators, including altering prey populations and increasing access to anthropogenic foods. Opportunistic predators are likely to respond to altered food resources by changing the proportion of food they hunt versus scavenge. These shifts in foraging behavior will affect species interactions through multiple pathways, including by changing other aspects of predator behavior such as boldness, innovation, and social structure.

Methods

To understand how foraging behavior impacts predator behavior, we conducted a controlled experiment to simulate hunting by introducing a prey model to captive coyotes (Canis latrans) and compared their behavior to coyotes that continued to scavenge o

SUBMITTER: Parsons MA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9070321 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature