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Prey of the leopard (Panthera pardus) and the lion (Panthera leo) in the Comoé and Marahoué National Parks, Côte d'Ivoire, West Africa / Prédation par le léopard (Panthera pardus) et le lion (Panthera leo) dans les Parcs nationaux de la Comoé et de la Marahoué en Côte d'Ivoire (Afrique de l'Ouest)

2006; De Gruyter; Volume: 70; Issue: 3/4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1515/mamm.2006.037

1864-1547

Thomas Bodendorfer, Bernd Hoppe-Dominik, Frauke Fischer, K. Eduard Linsenmair,

Rangeland Management and Livestock Ecology

Scat analysis was used to determine the prey of leopards and lions in the moist savanna habitat of Comoé and Marahoué National Parks, Ivory Coast in 1983, 1990–1993 and 1995–1998. Scat contents were analysed in terms of both the relative frequency of occurrence and the relative prey biomass consumed. Selectivity for prey species was inferred by comparing observed scat counts to expected scat frequencies generated from prey density estimates. Leopards in the Comoé National Park preyed predominately upon small to medium-sized ungulates, preferring species from the forest/savanna ecotone (duikers, bushbuck), whereas species from the savanna (kob, oribi) were hunted below their relative abundance. Several different primate species (colobus monkeys, guenons) from forested habitats and large rodents (cane rats, giant pouched rats) constituted additional prey. After ungulate and primate populations dwindled due to heavy poaching, leopard predation upon large rodents and various types of minor prey items (birds, reptiles) increased significantly, while predation upon the most frequently taken ungulate prey species (kob, bushbuck) became non-selective at the same time. Similar to leopards, the lions in Comoé National Park preyed predominantly upon small to medium-sized ungulates, while large ungulates (hartebeest, buffalo and warthog) made up a surprisingly small proportion of their diet and were not preferentially killed as recorded for eastern and southern Africa. In Marahoué National Park, leopard prey did not show a clear preponderance of ungulates, but large rodents and minor prey items made up a very large proportion of its diet.