Wolves prefer to feed on the wild side
Research team studies feeding behavior of wild predators in Mongolia
2021-02-18
(Press-News.org) When there is a choice, wolves in Mongolia prefer to feed on wild animals rather than grazing livestock. This is the discovery by a research team from the University of Göttingen and the Senckenberg Museum Görlitz. Previous studies had shown that the diet of wolves in inland Central Asia consists mainly of grazing livestock, which could lead to increasing conflict between nomadic livestock herders and wild predatory animals like wolves. The study has been published in the journal Mammalian Biology.
Around three million people live in Mongolia, making it the most sparsely populated country in the world. In addition, there are more than 40 million grazing animals. These animals are not just a source of food but also the only source of income for more than half of the population. Livestock cultivation is leading to a massive change in Mongolia's landscape: areas close to nature are increasingly being converted into pastureland: in fact, one third of the country is now used for this purpose. This inevitably leads to conflict with the indigenous wild animals, especially large predators such as the wolf.
Biologist and forest scientist Nina Tiralla from the University of Göttingen studied the feeding behaviour of wolves for her Master's thesis. Together with colleagues from the Senckenberg Museum, she analysed 137 wolf droppings collected during fieldwork in Mongolia between 2008 and 2012. "We were able to show that 89 percent of the wolves' diet consisted of wild ungulates, predominantly Siberian roe deer," says Tiralla. "The remaining 11 per cent consisted of small mammals such as hares or mice." Even remnants of insects and berries could be detected in the faeces - but there was no trace of farmed animals. "This was surprising for us because previous studies had shown grazing animals to be the main food source for wolves," says Tiralla.
The key difference could lie in the situation of the animals: unlike the earlier studies on Mongolian wolves, the samples examined in this study come from near-natural regions with high species diversity. "Although there is also a supply of grazing animals here, the wolves seem to prefer wild animals such as the Siberian roe deer as prey, possibly because they are easier and less dangerous to hunt," the authors explain. They conclude that if wolves live in a near-natural and species-rich landscape with sufficient prey, they pose only a very low threat to grazing livestock. This could apply not only in Mongolia, but in principle also to other countries.
INFORMATION:
Original publication: Nina Tiralla, Maika Holzapfel, Hermann Ansorge (2021). Feeding ecology of the wolf (Canis lupus) in a near-natural ecosystem in Mongolia. Mammalian Biology 101: 83-89. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42991-020-00093-z
Contact:
Nina Tiralla
University of Göttingen
Faculty of Forest Sciences and Forest Ecology
Bioclimatology Group
Büsgenweg 2, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
Email: ntirall1@gwdg.de
http://www.uni-goettingen.de/en/197704.html
[Attachments] See images for this press release:
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
2021-02-18
By 2030 only EV's will be in production, meaning manufacturers are racing to create a high-energy battery that's affordable and charges efficiently, but conventional battery cathodes cannot reach the targets of 500Wh/Kg
Lithium-excess cathodes offer the ability to reach 500Wh/Kg but unlocking their full capacity means understanding how they can store charge at high voltages.
A new X-ray study lead by WMG, University of Warwick has resolved how the metals and oxygen facilitate the charge storage at high voltages.
High energy storage batteries for EVs need high capacity battery cathodes. New lithium-excess magnesium-rich cathodes are expected to replace existing nickel-rich cathodes but understanding how the magnesium and oxygen accommodate charge storage at high ...
2021-02-18
As investors set their sights on the mineral resources of the deep seabed, the International Seabed Authority (ISA) is developing regulations that will govern their future exploration and possible exploitation. A new IASS Policy Brief, published in cooperation with the Federal Environment Agency (UBA), presents three recommendations to ensure that future deep seabed mining would be to the common benefit all humankind, as required by international law.
The ecosystems of the deep ocean are complex and provide a wide range of benefits to humankind. Oceans soak up carbon dioxide and act as a natural buffer to global warming in addition to regulating the climate and serving as an important ...
2021-02-18
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Researchers report that 4-6-year-old children who walk further than their peers during a timed test - a method used to estimate cardiorespiratory health - also do better on cognitive tests and other measures of brain function. Published in the Journal of Clinical Medicine, the study suggests that the link between cardiorespiratory fitness and cognitive health is evident even earlier in life than previously appreciated.
Most studies of the link between fitness and brain health focus on adults or preadolescent or adolescent children, said doctoral student Shelby Keye, who led the new research with Naiman Khan, a professor of kinesiology and ...
2021-02-18
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Workers with science, technology, engineering and math backgrounds are typically in high demand - but the demand isn't so overwhelming that a "skills gap" exists in the labor market for information technology help desk workers, one of the largest computer occupations in the U.S., says new research from a University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign expert who studies labor economics and work issues.
The incidence of prolonged hiring difficulties for STEM workers is modest, with only 11%-15% of IT help desks in the U.S. showing vacancy patterns that might be consistent with persistent hiring frictions, said Andrew Weaver, a professor ...
2021-02-18
The mechanism that keeps arterial blood pressure stable in black and white tegu lizards (Salvator merianae) even as their body temperature varies substantially is more efficient at lower than higher external temperatures, contrary to what has always been believed, and vascular regulation plays a key role in pressure adjustments, according to an article published in PLOS ONE by researchers at the Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar) in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. The research was supported by FAPESP.
The findings pave the way for more investigation of the physiology of ectothermic animals, which rely on external environmental factors to regulate body temperature, and of novel applications for the method used in ...
2021-02-18
A new study concluding out of Lusaka, Zambia last summer has found that as many as 19% (almost 1 in 5) of recently-deceased people tested positive for COVID-19.
A new Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH) study in Lusaka, Zambia's capital, challenges the common belief that Africa somehow "dodged" the COVID-19 pandemic.
The findings indicate that low numbers of reported infections and deaths across Africa may simply be from lack of testing, with the coronavirus taking a terrible but invisible toll on the continent.
Published in The BMJ, the study found that at least ...
2021-02-18
Neutralizing antibodies develop within two weeks of a SARS-CoV-2 infection, but their durability and intensity can vary by individual, prompting concerns about the prospects of long-lasting immunity and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines.
In a PLOS ONE paper, published online February 11, 2021, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine report that individual immune response to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, may be limited by the major histocompatibility complex or MHC, a set of variable genes that code for cell surface proteins essential for the adaptive immune system.
Specifically, ...
2021-02-18
Dreams take us to what feels like a different reality. They also happen while we're fast asleep. So, you might not expect that a person in the midst of a vivid dream would be able to perceive questions and provide answers to them. But a new study reported in the journal Current Biology on February 18 shows that, in fact, they can.
"We found that individuals in REM sleep can interact with an experimenter and engage in real-time communication," said senior author Ken Paller (@kap101) of Northwestern University. "We also showed that dreamers are capable of comprehending questions, engaging in working-memory operations, and producing answers. ...
2021-02-18
Dogs may be able to recognize their own body as an obstacle and also understand the consequences of their own actions, according to a study involving 32 pet dogs published in Scientific Reports.
Previous research has shown that dogs have complex cognitive capabilities, such as empathy and social learning, but whether they also show any form of self-awareness was not clear.
Péter Pongrácz and Rita Lenkei tested dogs in a 'body as an obstacle' task, during which the dogs had to pick up and give a toy to their owner, whilst standing on a small mat to which the toy was attached. In order to lift the toy, the dogs had to leave the mat.
The authors found that dogs left the mat more frequently and sooner when the ...
2021-02-18
The simplest of organic molecules have a much more complex relationship with oxygen than previously thought. Researchers from KAUST and their international collaborators have shown that alkanes participate extensively in autoxidation reactions with oxygen molecules1. The discovery, which overturns current chemical wisdom, has implications for air quality prediction and efficient fuel combustion in engines.
Autoxidation is a chemical process in which oxygen molecules rapidly and sequentially add to organic molecules in a radical chain reaction. The process is critical for ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
[Press-News.org] Wolves prefer to feed on the wild side
Research team studies feeding behavior of wild predators in Mongolia
