Foraging ecology of African wolves (Canis lupaster) and its implications for the conservation of Ethiopian wolves (Canis simensis)

Tariku Mekonnen Gutema; Anagaw Atickem; Diress Tsegaye; Afework Bekele; Claudio Sillero-Zubiri; Jorgelina Marino; Mohammed Kasso; Vivek V Venkataraman; Peter J Fashing; Nils C Stenseth

doi:10.1098/rsos.190772

Foraging ecology of African wolves (Canis lupaster) and its implications for the conservation of Ethiopian wolves (Canis simensis)

R Soc Open Sci. 2019 Sep 11;6(9):190772. doi: 10.1098/rsos.190772. eCollection 2019 Sep.

Authors

Tariku Mekonnen Gutema^{1

2}, Anagaw Atickem^{3

4}, Diress Tsegaye⁵, Afework Bekele⁴, Claudio Sillero-Zubiri^{6

7}, Jorgelina Marino^{6

7}, Mohammed Kasso⁴, Vivek V Venkataraman⁸, Peter J Fashing^{1

9}, Nils C Stenseth^{1

4}

Affiliations

¹ Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Synthesis (CEES), Department of Biosciences, University of Oslo, PO Box 1066, Blindern, 0316 Oslo, Norway.
² Department of Natural Resources Management, Jimma University, PO Box 307, Ethiopia.
³ Cognitive Ethology Laboratory, German Primate Center, Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Kellnerweg 4, 37077 Göttingen, Germany.
⁴ Department of Zoological Sciences, Addis Ababa University, PO Box 1176, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
⁵ Department of Biosciences, University of Oslo, PO Box 1066, Blindern, 0316 Oslo, Norway.
⁶ Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, Zoology Department, University of Oxford, Tubney House, Tubney OX13 5QL, UK.
⁷ IUCN SSC Canid Specialist Group, Oxford, UK.
⁸ Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse, Toulouse 31000, France.
⁹ Department of Anthropology and Environmental Studies Program, California State University Fullerton, 800 North State College Boulevard, Fullerton, CA 92834, USA.

Abstract

African wolves (AWs) are sympatric with endangered Ethiopian wolves (EWs) in parts of their range. Scat analyses have suggested a dietary overlap between AWs and EWs, raising the potential for exploitative competition, and a possible conservation threat to EWs. However, in contrast to that of the well-studied EW, the foraging ecology of AWs remains poorly characterized. Accordingly, we studied the foraging ecology of radio-collared AWs (n = 11 individuals) at two localities with varying levels of anthropogenic disturbance in the Ethiopian Highlands, the Guassa-Menz Community Conservation Area (GMCCA) and Borena-Saynt National Park (BSNP), accumulating 845 h of focal observation across 2952 feeding events. We also monitored rodent abundance and rodent trapping activity by local farmers who experience conflict with AWs. The AW diet consisted largely of rodents (22.0%), insects (24.8%), and goats and sheep (24.3%). Of the total rodents captured by farmers using local traps during peak barley production (July to November) in GMCCA, averaging 24.7 ± 8.5 rodents/hectare/day, 81% (N = 3009) were scavenged by AWs. Further, of all the rodents consumed by AWs, most (74%) were carcasses. These results reveal complex interactions between AWs and local farmers, and highlight the scavenging niche occupied by AWs in anthropogenically altered landscapes in contrast to the active hunting exhibited by EWs in more intact habitats. While AWs cause economic damage to local farmers through livestock predation, they appear to play an important role in scavenging pest rodents among farmlands, a pattern of behaviour which likely mitigates direct and indirect competition with EWs. We suggest two routes to promote the coexistence of AWs and EWs in the Ethiopian highlands: local education efforts highlighting the complex role AWs play in highland ecosystems to reduce their persecution, and enforced protection of intact habitats to preserve habitat preferred by EWs.

Keywords: African wolf; Ethiopian highlands; Ethiopian wolf; ecosystem services; feeding ecology; pest rodents.

Associated data

figshare/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.4643762
Dryad/10.5061/dryad.p9g41sd