Del Frate Marco, Bongi Paolo, Tanzillo Luigi, Russo Claudia, Benini Omar, Sieni Sara, Scandura Massimo, Apollonio Marco
Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Sassari, 07100 Sassari, Italy.
Department of Veterinary Science, University of Pisa, 56100 Pisa, Italy.
Animals (Basel). 2023 Jan 30;13(3):480. doi: 10.3390/ani13030480.
The aim of the study was to assess which kill site characteristics were selected by a lone wolf living in a protected Mediterranean coastal area near the city of Pisa, Italy, where both wild and domestic ungulates were available as potential prey. Between 2017 and 2019, we monitored the wolf's predatory behaviour through a combination of camera trapping and active search for kill sites and prey carcasses. The main prey found was the fallow deer (n = 82); only two wild boars and no domestic ungulates were found preyed upon. The features and habitat of kill sites were modelled to test for selection by the wolf. The habitat type of kill site was composed of meadows and pastures (89.3%), woods (7.3%), degraded coastal areas (1.9%), roads and rivers (1.1%), and marshes (0.5%). We calculated their distance from landscape features and ran a binomial generalised linear model to test the influence of such landscape variables. The distance of kill sites from landscape elements was significantly different from random control sites, and a positive selection for fences was found. In fact, the wolf pushed fallow deer towards a fence to constrain them and prevent them from escaping. We also analysed the body condition of predated fallow deer as a percentage of fat content in the bone marrow of the hind legs. Our results revealed the selection of the lone wolf for deer in good body condition. This is a possible outcome of the habitat selection shown by fallow deer in the study area, where fenced open pastures are the richest in trophic resources; therefore, our findings suggest a high efficacy for the lone wolf hunting strategy, but also the adoption of a high risk feeding strategy by deer. This study suggests that a lone predator can take advantage of human infrastructures to maximise its predatory effectiveness.
本研究的目的是评估生活在意大利比萨市附近受保护的地中海沿岸地区的一只独狼选择了哪些猎杀地点特征，该地区有野生和家养有蹄类动物作为潜在猎物。2017年至2019年期间，我们通过相机陷阱以及主动搜寻猎杀地点和猎物尸体相结合的方式监测了这只狼的捕食行为。发现的主要猎物是黇鹿（n = 82）；仅发现两只野猪被猎杀，未发现家养有蹄类动物成为猎物。对猎杀地点的特征和栖息地进行建模，以测试狼的选择情况。猎杀地点的栖息地类型包括草地和牧场（89.3%）、树林（7.3%）、退化的沿海地区（1.9%）、道路和河流（1.1%）以及沼泽（0.5%）。我们计算了它们与景观特征的距离，并运行二项式广义线性模型来测试此类景观变量的影响。猎杀地点与景观要素的距离与随机对照地点有显著差异，并且发现对围栏有正向选择。事实上，这只狼把黇鹿赶到围栏处将其困住，防止它们逃脱。我们还分析了被捕食的黇鹿的身体状况，以其后腿骨髓中脂肪含量的百分比来表示。我们的结果显示这只独狼选择了身体状况良好的鹿。这可能是研究区域内黇鹿栖息地选择的结果，在该区域有围栏的开阔牧场营养资源最为丰富；因此，我们的研究结果表明独狼的狩猎策略效率很高，但鹿也采用了高风险的觅食策略。本研究表明，一只独居捕食者可以利用人类基础设施来最大化其捕食效率。
