Dietary overlap between sympatric dingoes and feral cats at a semiarid rangeland site in Western Australia
Document Type
Journal Article
Publisher
CSIRO
School
School of Natural Sciences
RAS ID
21666
Abstract
The diet of sympatric dingoes and feral cats was studied in the semiarid southern rangelands of Western Australia. A total of 163 scats were collected over a period of 19 months. Rabbit remains were the most common food item in cat scats, followed by reptiles, small mammals and birds. Macropod remains were the most common food item in dingo scats, followed by rabbits and birds. Dingo scats did not contain small mammal remains, and infrequently contained arthropod and reptile remains. Cat and dingo scats contained remains from 11 and six mammal species, respectively. Of the small mammals, cat scats contained rodent remains more frequently than those of dasyurids. Dietary diversity of cats was higher than for dingoes and dietary overlap between the two species was relatively low.
DOI
10.1071/AM14038
Access Rights
subscription content
Comments
Doherty, T.S. (2015). Dietary overlap between sympatric dingoes and feral cats at a semiarid rangeland site in Western Australia. Australian Mammalogy, 37(2), 219-224. Available here.