Inner Mongolia, The Eastern Part Of The Three Canine Animal Feeding And Food Niche Overlap Study

Food habits studies of predators using fecal remains are non-invasive and cost efficiient. They provide a reliable index to actual prey consumed and can provide insight into predator foraging strategies.Wolves(Canis lupus),Red Foxes(Vulpes vulpes) and Raccoon Dogs (Nyctereutes ussurienusis Matschie) are the primary canine predators in the East Pasture of Inter Mongolia and are sympatric in distribution.Objectives for this study were to compare food habits of Wolves,Red Foxes and Raccoon Dogs and to determine if them exhibited food niche overlap in areas where they are sympatric.From August to October of 2007 and from March to July 2008,59 wolf scats,124 red fox scats and 134 raccoon dog scats were collected in the Dalai Lake Nature Reserve of China.Fecal samples of these species were analyzed for food items by hand separation of major diagnostic prey remains into mammalian,insect,avian,vegetation and others prey categories.Mammalian prey remains were further identified comparing hair and tooth samples with collections available or using a hair key.The frequency of occurrence and dry weight of remains of each food item in the faeces were calculated.Horse(3.90%occurrence and 1.18%dry weight),Cattle(10.39%occurrence and 15.72%dry weight),sheep and coat(36.36%occurrence and 49.86%dry weight) constituted the bulk of the wolf diet,while small rodents(76.31%occurrence and 84.24%dry weight) were most frequently eaten by the fox.Small rodents(22.69%occurrence and 25.85%dry weight)were important to the raccoon dog,but it also frequently consumed birds(39.81%occurrence and 52.60%dry weight) and insects(26.39%occurrence and 13.32%dry weight).The wolf was the most and the red fox the least omnivorous of these carnivores,according to the diversity index.The food niches of the wolf and the red fox overlapped more than that of the raccoon dog and others species.These 3 carnivores share many resources,suggesting that competition may occur among them;however,their diets also differ to some extent,which help them to avoid competition. Furthermore,the raccoon dog are dormant during winter,when food is scarcest,which may be the reason why all these species can coexist in rather unproductive prairie.