Gray Wolves (Canis lupus) consume free-ranging horses (Equus ferus caballus) on the Chilcotin plateau, British Columbia

Q4 Agricultural and Biological Sciences

The Canadian Field-Naturalist Pub Date : 2023-02-20 DOI:10.22621/cfn.v136i3.2651

S. Parr, W. McCrory

{"title":"Gray Wolves (Canis lupus) consume free-ranging horses (Equus ferus caballus) on the Chilcotin plateau, British Columbia","authors":"S. Parr, W. McCrory","doi":"10.22621/cfn.v136i3.2651","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"We analyzed 122 Gray Wolf (Canis lupus) scats, collected at all seasons during 2013–2017, to determine what wolves were eating in two adjacent study areas of the Chilcotin region, British Columbia: Brittany Triangle and Nemiah Valley. Free-ranging horses (Equus ferus caballus), Mule Deer (Odocoileus hemionus), Moose (Alces americanus), and small mammals contributed to wolf diet throughout the year. In both study areas, horse appeared more frequently than other species in occurrence-per-faeces (OF) and occurrence-per-item (OI) analyses. Horse occurred in 58 of 97 wolf scats from Brittany (OF 59.8%, OI 52.7%), deer in 26 (OF 26.8%, OI 23.6%), small mammals in 17 (OF 17.5%, OI 17.3%), Moose in four (OF 4.1%, OI 3.6%), and bird and fish minimally (both OF <2.5%, OI <2.5%). The sample size in the more human-developed Nemiah Valley was too small to estimate reliable patterns, but results suggest a similar ranking of dietary items. Domestic Cattle (Bos taurus), available in both study areas, appeared infrequently (combined area OF <3.5%, OI <3.0%). Based on our scat findings, free-ranging horses were a regular dietary item for wolves in the area. Studies elsewhere have found that, where wolves and free-ranging horses are sympatric, a predator–prey relationship exists.","PeriodicalId":56136,"journal":{"name":"The Canadian Field-Naturalist","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2023-02-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"The Canadian Field-Naturalist","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.22621/cfn.v136i3.2651","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q4","JCRName":"Agricultural and Biological Sciences","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Abstract

We analyzed 122 Gray Wolf (Canis lupus) scats, collected at all seasons during 2013–2017, to determine what wolves were eating in two adjacent study areas of the Chilcotin region, British Columbia: Brittany Triangle and Nemiah Valley. Free-ranging horses (Equus ferus caballus), Mule Deer (Odocoileus hemionus), Moose (Alces americanus), and small mammals contributed to wolf diet throughout the year. In both study areas, horse appeared more frequently than other species in occurrence-per-faeces (OF) and occurrence-per-item (OI) analyses. Horse occurred in 58 of 97 wolf scats from Brittany (OF 59.8%, OI 52.7%), deer in 26 (OF 26.8%, OI 23.6%), small mammals in 17 (OF 17.5%, OI 17.3%), Moose in four (OF 4.1%, OI 3.6%), and bird and fish minimally (both OF <2.5%, OI <2.5%). The sample size in the more human-developed Nemiah Valley was too small to estimate reliable patterns, but results suggest a similar ranking of dietary items. Domestic Cattle (Bos taurus), available in both study areas, appeared infrequently (combined area OF <3.5%, OI <3.0%). Based on our scat findings, free-ranging horses were a regular dietary item for wolves in the area. Studies elsewhere have found that, where wolves and free-ranging horses are sympatric, a predator–prey relationship exists.

查看原文本刊更多论文

在不列颠哥伦比亚省的Chilcotin高原上，灰狼(Canis lupus)吃掉了自由放养的马(Equus ferus caballus)

我们分析了2013-2017年所有季节收集的122只灰狼(Canis lupus)粪便，以确定不列颠哥伦比亚省Chilcotin地区两个相邻研究区域(Brittany Triangle和Nemiah Valley)的狼吃什么。自由放养的马(Equus ferus caballus)、骡鹿(Odocoileus hemionus)、驼鹿(Alces americanus)和小型哺乳动物全年都是狼的食物来源。在这两个研究区域，马比其他物种更频繁地出现在每个粪便(OF)和每个物品(OI)的分析中。在布列塔尼的97例狼粪中，马粪58例(发生率59.8%，成骨不全率52.7%)，鹿粪26例(发生率26.8%，成骨不全率23.6%)，小型哺乳动物17例(发生率17.5%，成骨不全率17.3%)，驼鹿4例(发生率4.1%，成骨不全率3.6%)，鸟类和鱼类极少(均<2.5%，成骨不全率<2.5%)。在人类更发达的尼米亚山谷，样本量太小，无法估计可靠的模式，但结果表明，饮食项目的排名相似。两个研究区均有家牛(Bos taurus)出现频率较低(合计面积OF <3.5%， OI <3.0%)。根据我们的粪便发现，自由放养的马是该地区狼的常规食物。其他地方的研究发现，在狼和自由放养的马是共生的地方，存在着一种捕食者-猎物关系。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

The Canadian Field-Naturalist Agricultural and Biological Sciences-Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics

CiteScore

0.60

自引率

0.00%

发文量

期刊介绍： The Canadian Field-Naturalist (ISSN: 0008-3550) publishes scientific papers by amateur and professional naturalists and field biologists, reporting observations and results of investigations in any field of natural history, provided they are original, significant, and relevant to Canada.