Yoshimura Hiroto, Hayakawa Takashi, Kikuchi Dale M, Zhumabai Uulu Kubanychbek, Qi Huiyuan, Sugimoto Taro, Sharma Koustubh, Kinoshita Kodzue
Wildlife Research Center, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan.
Faculty of Environmental Earth Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan.
R Soc Open Sci. 2024 May 29;11(5):240132. doi: 10.1098/rsos.240132. eCollection 2024 May.
Species of the family Felidae are thought to be obligate carnivores. However, detection of plants in their faeces raises questions about the role of plants in their diet. This is particularly true for the snow leopard (). Our study aimed to comprehensively identify the prey and plants consumed by snow leopards. We applied DNA metabarcoding methods on 90 faecal samples of snow leopards collected in Kyrgyzstan, employing one vertebrate and four plant markers. We found that argali () was detected only from male snow leopards. sp. was the most consumed among 77 plant operational taxonomic units found in snow leopard samples. It frequently appeared in samples lacking any prey animal DNA, indicating that snow leopards might have consumed this plant especially when their digestive tracts were empty. We also observed differences in the patterns of plant consumption between male and female snow leopards. Our comprehensive overview of prey and plants detected in the faeces of snow leopards and other sympatric mammals will help in formulating hypotheses and guiding future research to understand the adaptive significance of plant-eating behaviour in felids. This knowledge supports the enhancement of their captive environments and the conservation planning of their natural habitats.
猫科动物被认为是专性食肉动物。然而，在它们的粪便中检测到植物引发了关于植物在其饮食中作用的问题。对于雪豹来说尤其如此。我们的研究旨在全面识别雪豹所捕食的猎物和食用的植物。我们对在吉尔吉斯斯坦收集的90份雪豹粪便样本应用了DNA宏条形码方法，使用了一种脊椎动物标记和四种植物标记。我们发现，只有在雄性雪豹的粪便中检测到了盘羊。在雪豹样本中发现的77个植物操作分类单元中，某植物是被食用最多的。它经常出现在没有任何猎物动物DNA的样本中，这表明雪豹可能尤其在它们的消化道为空时食用这种植物。我们还观察到雄性和雌性雪豹在植物食用模式上存在差异。我们对雪豹和其他同域哺乳动物粪便中检测到的猎物和植物的全面概述将有助于提出假设并指导未来的研究，以了解猫科动物食草行为的适应性意义。这些知识有助于改善它们的圈养环境以及其自然栖息地的保护规划。
