Wolf diet and prey selection in Croatia
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Wolf diet and prey selection in Croatia Daria Octenjak 1 & Lana Pađen 2
&
Valentina Šilić 1 & Slaven Reljić 3 & Tajana Trbojević Vukičević 4 & Josip Kusak 3
Received: 13 December 2019 / Accepted: 12 June 2020 # Mammal Research Institute, Polish Academy of Sciences, Bia?owie?a, Poland 2020
Abstract Tensions between humans and wolves have led to intensive worldwide studies of wolf feeding habits and their relative preference for domestic and wild ungulates. The aim of this study was to provide further insight into the diet composition of wolves in Croatia, based on stomach contents of dead wolves. We examined spatial variation in wolf diet and prey selection relative to availability of wild and domestic animals. Furthermore, we aimed to determine selectivity in feeding habits in relation to wolf gender and age. The study was conducted on the stomach contents of 42 gray wolves (18 females, 24 males). Samples were collected from three regions of Croatia with different ratios of domestic and wild prey availability. The density ratio of domestic to wild ungulates increased gradually from north-west (5.8), through central (11.6) to south-east (134) Croatia. Wolf diet followed this pattern with the ratio of domestic animals increasing from 0.7 to 1.3 and 5.3, respectively. The relative share of wild ungulates in wolf diet was significantly higher in all three regions of wolf range in Croatia, even where livestock availability was high. Female wolves ate birds, rodents, and dogs more than males and in the south, where wild ungulates were scarce. This study showed wolves’ selectivity for wild ungulate, rather than for abundant, but well-guarded livestock. The European idea of coexistence of humans and wolves in human-dominated landscape seems possible with some effort and understanding from humans’ side. Keywords Canis lupus . Food habits . Diet preferences . Croatia
Introduction Wolves (Canis lupus L. 1758) inhabiting Croatia are part of the larger Dinaric-Balkan population spanning from Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, to the southeast of the Dinarids, and Pindos mountains. The entire population size is estimated to be stable at about 3900 wolves (Kaczensky Communicated by: Krzysztof Schmidt * Lana Pađen [email protected] 1
Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Zagreb, Heinzelova 55, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
2
Department of Physiology and Radiobiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Zagreb, Heinzelova 55, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
3
Department of Veterinary Biology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine University of Zagreb, Heinzelova 55, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
4
Department of Anatomy, Histology and Embryology, Faculty of Veterinary, Medicine University of Zagreb, Heinzelova 55, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
et al. 2013). However, during 2013, 2014, and 2015, the Croatian wolf population was in decline (Jeremić et al. 2013, 2014, 2015). The wolf has been strictly protected in Croatia since 1995 according to the Law on Nature Protection (Anonymous 1995) and the Regulations on strictl
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