IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group - Digital Cat Library |
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| Livingston, T.R.; Gipson, P.S.; Ballard, W.B.; Sanchez, D.M.; Krausman, P.R. | |
| Scat removal: a source of bias in feces-related studies | |
| 2005 Wildlife Society Bulletin (33): 172-178 | |
Consumption of feces (coprophagy) may alter findings of dietary studies and population estimates based on fecal analyses, but its magnitude is poorly understood. We investigated seasonal incidence of scat removal on Fort Riley, Kansas, from January through December _2000. _We placed feces from captive bobcats (_Lynx rufus_), captive coyotes (_Canis latrans_), and free-ranging coyotes randomly on tracking stations in forest and prairie landscapes to determine rates of scat removal by local wildlife. Rates of removal of feces from captive bobcats, captive coyotes, and free-ranging coyotes varied from _7% _during spring to _50% _during summer. We identified opossums (_Didelphis virginiana_) as the most common species present at stations where scat removal occurred. Feces may be an important seasonal source of food for opossums and may provide seasonal dietary supplements for other species. Other factors responsible for disturbance of feces included a woodrat (_Neotoma floridana_) caching coyote feces, removal of captive coyote feces by free-ranging coyotes accompanied by deposition of fresh feces, a bobcat burying a captive bobcat sample and depositing fresh feces, and rain storms. Dietary studies based on fecal analyses could be biased by scat removal, assuming that contents in feces are representative of the proportion of foods consumed. |
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