{"title":"日本北部日本獾(Meles anakuma)的饮食习惯:与食物供应的关系","authors":"Yuki Shikama, Taichi Araki, Tomohito Ito, Yamato Tsuji","doi":"10.3106/ms2023-0024","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Abstract. We studied temporal (monthly and inter-yearly) variations in the dietary habits of wild Japanese badgers (Meles anakuma) inhabiting Ishinomaki City, northern Japan through fecal analyses, focusing on the relationship with the availability of main diets. The diets of the badgers in our study site were mainly composed of three items: fruits, arthropods, and earthworms, which were similar to those in other study sites in Japan. The degree of fruit and earthworm feeding by the badgers was higher throughout the year, whereas arthropod feeding was higher during spring and summer. Vertebrates were less detected in badger feces. During the fall of 2021, the percentage of fruits was greater than that in 2020, while that of arthropods and earthworms showed reverse trends, likely due to inter-yearly difference in fruit availability. For the three predominant food items, no significant correlation was found between feeding and availability. Our results imply that, similar to European badgers, the Japanese badger can be viewed as a generalist animal that uses profitable resources when available but shifts their preference to other food resources when availability of other primary food resources increases.","PeriodicalId":49891,"journal":{"name":"Mammal Study","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8000,"publicationDate":"2023-09-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":"{\"title\":\"Dietary Habits of Japanese Badgers (Meles anakuma) in Northern Japan: Relationship with Food Availability\",\"authors\":\"Yuki Shikama, Taichi Araki, Tomohito Ito, Yamato Tsuji\",\"doi\":\"10.3106/ms2023-0024\",\"DOIUrl\":null,\"url\":null,\"abstract\":\"Abstract. We studied temporal (monthly and inter-yearly) variations in the dietary habits of wild Japanese badgers (Meles anakuma) inhabiting Ishinomaki City, northern Japan through fecal analyses, focusing on the relationship with the availability of main diets. The diets of the badgers in our study site were mainly composed of three items: fruits, arthropods, and earthworms, which were similar to those in other study sites in Japan. The degree of fruit and earthworm feeding by the badgers was higher throughout the year, whereas arthropod feeding was higher during spring and summer. Vertebrates were less detected in badger feces. During the fall of 2021, the percentage of fruits was greater than that in 2020, while that of arthropods and earthworms showed reverse trends, likely due to inter-yearly difference in fruit availability. For the three predominant food items, no significant correlation was found between feeding and availability. Our results imply that, similar to European badgers, the Japanese badger can be viewed as a generalist animal that uses profitable resources when available but shifts their preference to other food resources when availability of other primary food resources increases.\",\"PeriodicalId\":49891,\"journal\":{\"name\":\"Mammal Study\",\"volume\":null,\"pages\":null},\"PeriodicalIF\":0.8000,\"publicationDate\":\"2023-09-06\",\"publicationTypes\":\"Journal Article\",\"fieldsOfStudy\":null,\"isOpenAccess\":false,\"openAccessPdf\":\"\",\"citationCount\":\"0\",\"resultStr\":null,\"platform\":\"Semanticscholar\",\"paperid\":null,\"PeriodicalName\":\"Mammal Study\",\"FirstCategoryId\":\"99\",\"ListUrlMain\":\"https://doi.org/10.3106/ms2023-0024\",\"RegionNum\":4,\"RegionCategory\":\"生物学\",\"ArticlePicture\":[],\"TitleCN\":null,\"AbstractTextCN\":null,\"PMCID\":null,\"EPubDate\":\"\",\"PubModel\":\"\",\"JCR\":\"Q3\",\"JCRName\":\"ZOOLOGY\",\"Score\":null,\"Total\":0}","platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Mammal Study","FirstCategoryId":"99","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.3106/ms2023-0024","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"ZOOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
Dietary Habits of Japanese Badgers (Meles anakuma) in Northern Japan: Relationship with Food Availability
Abstract. We studied temporal (monthly and inter-yearly) variations in the dietary habits of wild Japanese badgers (Meles anakuma) inhabiting Ishinomaki City, northern Japan through fecal analyses, focusing on the relationship with the availability of main diets. The diets of the badgers in our study site were mainly composed of three items: fruits, arthropods, and earthworms, which were similar to those in other study sites in Japan. The degree of fruit and earthworm feeding by the badgers was higher throughout the year, whereas arthropod feeding was higher during spring and summer. Vertebrates were less detected in badger feces. During the fall of 2021, the percentage of fruits was greater than that in 2020, while that of arthropods and earthworms showed reverse trends, likely due to inter-yearly difference in fruit availability. For the three predominant food items, no significant correlation was found between feeding and availability. Our results imply that, similar to European badgers, the Japanese badger can be viewed as a generalist animal that uses profitable resources when available but shifts their preference to other food resources when availability of other primary food resources increases.
期刊介绍:
Mammal Study is the official journal of the Mammal Society of Japan. It publishes original articles, short communications, and reviews on all aspects of mammalogy quarterly, written in English.