Temporal overlap in use of shared latrines by brown hyena and spotted hyena

Scent marking at latrines is used by a variety of mammals for communicating an individual's reproductive status, social rank, or territory. Both brown hyenas (Parahyaena brunnea) and spotted hyenas (Crocuta crocuta) make use of latrines. Previous research showed that the presence of the more dominant spotted hyena negatively affects the presence of brown hyena. As both species rarely occur in the same area, little is known about the temporal patterns of using shared latrine sites. Central Tuli, Botswana, is home to one of the highest densities of both spotted and brown hyena in southern Africa. We conducted a camera trap study and monthly scat counts for monitoring the visitation and defecation rates of brown and spotted hyenas at shared latrines to examine the temporal patterns of latrine use. Our results showed seasonal differences in latrine use, with lower visitation and defecation rates for both species during the wet season. We found high temporal overlap in latrine use for the two species. However, the time interval between consecutive spotted – brown hyena visits was larger than for consecutive brown hyena–spotted hyena and consecutive conspecific visits during the dry season, suggesting that brown hyena seem to show fine-scale temporal avoidance of spotted hyenas at shared latrine sites. The presence of spotted hyenas, or other large carnivores, could possibly inhibit intraspecific communication for brown hyena at shared latrine sites.