Journal of Threatened Taxa |
www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 January 2023 | 15(1): 22364–22370
ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) | ISSN 0974-7893
(Print)
https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.7714.15.1.22364-22370
#7714 | Received 24 October 2021 | Final
received 05 December 2022 | Finally accepted 14 December 2022
Food
habits of the Red Fox Vulpes vulpes (Mammalia:
Carnivora: Canidae) in Dachigam National Park of the
Kashmir Himalaya, India
Kulsum Ahmad Bhat 1,
Bilal A. Bhat 2, Bashir A. Ganai 3,
Aamir Majeed 4, Naziya
Khurshid 5 & Muniza Manzoor 6
1,2,4,5,6 Department of
Zoology, University of Kashmir, Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir 190006, India.
3 Centre of Research
for Development (CORD), University of Kashmir, Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir
190006, India.
1 kulsumbhat11@gmail.com
(corresponding author), 2 bilalwildlife@gmail.com, 3 bbcganai@gmail.com,
4 majeed.amir24@gmail.com, 5 naziya.scholar@kashmiruniversity.net,
6 munizamanzoor78@gmail.com
Editor: Honnavalli
N. Kumara, Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and
Natural History, Coimbatore, India. Date
of publication: 26 January 2023 (online & print)
Citation: Bhat, K.A., B.A.
Bhat, B.A. Ganai, A. Majeed, N. Khurshid & M.
Manzoor (2023). Food habits of the Red Fox Vulpes vulpes (Mammalia: Carnivora: Canidae) in Dachigam National Park of the Kashmir Himalaya, India. Journal of Threatened
Taxa 15(1): 22364–22370. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.7714.15.1.22364-22370
Copyright: © Bhat et al. 2023. Creative Commons
Attribution 4.0 International License. JoTT allows unrestricted use, reproduction, and
distribution of this article in any medium by providing adequate credit to the
author(s) and the source of publication.
Funding: The present study is a part of the PhD work of the first author and was carried out without any funding.
Competing interests: The authors
declare no competing interests.
Author details: Kulsum Ahmad
Bhat, Aamir Majeed, Naziya Khurshid and Muniza Manzoor are pursuing
PhD in Zoology at the
University of Kashmir. Dr. Bilal Ahmad Bhat
is currently working as
Assistant Professor in the Department
of Zoology, University of Kashmir Srinagar,
UT of Jammu & Kashmir, India and
is actively involved in guiding PhD research scholars and teaching conservation biology, wildlife ecology and management. He is presently running two major
research projects on Himalayan
Goral and Markhor Capra falconeri as Principal
Investigator with funding from DST-SERB and Ministry of Education under RUSA. Bashir A. Ganai is a Professor in the
Centre of Research for Development (CORD) at the University of Kashmir and is actively engaged in guiding research scholars working in the fields of molecular biology, phytochemistry and biochemistry.
Author contributions: Kulsum Ahmad
Bhat, Aamir Majeed, Naziya Khurshid and Muniza
Manzoor conducted field surveys and collected
scat samples from hilly terrain of Dachigam National
Park. Bilal A. Bhat and Bashir A. Ganai
are mentors and helped the first author in analysis and writing of the manuscript.
Acknowledgements: Authors are grateful
to the Department of Wildlife Protection, Govt. of Jammu & Kashmir for
providing necessary permission to work in Dachigam
National Park. Sincere thanks are due to the Department of Zoology and CORD,
University of Kashmir for providing laboratory facilities.
Abstract: Food habits of the
Red Fox Vulpes vulpes were studied in Dachigam National Park of the Kashmir Himalaya from
December 2017 to November 2018 by scat analysis. A total of 246 scats were
collected across seasons from different habitat types of the park. The diet of
the Red Fox was characterized by a wider prey spectrum with small rodents,
plants, and Himalayan Grey Langur Semnopithecus
ajax as the major food items. The dietary behaviour
showed slight seasonal variation with more invertebrates and plant material
(fruits, berries, & grasses) during spring and summer. The food niche of
the canid was wider in the warm season than in the cold season. Diet analysis
revealed substantial use of anthropogenic food sources (human refuse and
livestock carrion) by the Red Fox. The frequency of occurrence of human refuse
and livestock carrion in the scats of the canid species varied seasonally. The
results show that the Red Fox is an opportunistic feeder, and capable of
adapting to a variety of dietary items.
Keywords: Anthropogenic items,
dietary behaviour, livestock carrion, scats, seasonal
diet, wild prey.
Introduction
The Red Fox is
cosmopolitan in distribution (Hegglin et al. 2001; Mcdonald & Reynolds 2008) with opportunistic feeding behaviour (Vlachos et al. 2010; Lanszki
et al. 2018; Alexandre et al. 2020; Jahren et al. 2020). The species is the
most widespread wild canid in India and is distributed across the Himalayan and
Trans-Himalayan ranges in the north and the desert region in the north-west
(Ghoshal et al. 2015; Reshamwala et al. 2018). The
species has managed to survive over almost all of its former range irrespective
of habitat destruction and anthropogenic pressure (Jahren et al. 2020). The
enormous range of the Red Fox is evidence of its adaptability and opportunistic
behavior (Delibes-Mateos et al. 2008). The diet of
Red Fox is highly diverse, both in space and time, which allows the species to
survive in diverse habitats (Cavallini & Volpi
1995; Cagnacci et al. 2003).
The elusive and
nocturnal habits of the animal make direct observations difficult in the field.
Therefore, the use of scats is common and extensive method to investigate its
food habits (Descalzo et al. 2020). This
investigation is based upon examining a collection of scat samples for a
thorough dietary analysis of the canid species in the Dachigam
National Park (DNP) of Kashmir Himalaya. Being a key meso-carnivore
in most parts of the world with its known ecological role (Sánchez 2018), it
may be of crucial importance to the ecology of Kashmir Himalaya as well. Meso-carnivores like Red Fox occupy a central position in
the food web and any change in their ecology may affect higher and lower
trophic levels (Sánchez 2018). A thorough investigation of its seasonal food
habits is, therefore, necessary for understanding the pattern of distribution
of this canid species in and around DNP. The available information on the diet
and prey preferences of Red Foxes in the northwestern Himalayan region is
scanty (Reshamwala et al. 2018). With this
background, the present study was undertaken in the DNP to augment the existing
literature in this region. The study will help further in understanding the
role of human subsidies in driving this canid species outside the National
Park.
Materials and Methods
Study area
The intensive study
area, Dachigam National Park (DNP), a key protected
area of Kashmir Himalaya lies in the northwestern Himalayan landscape (Image
1). The mountain ranges surrounding Dachigam are a
part of the great Zanskar Range, which forms the north-west branch of the
central Himalayan axis. The geographical location is roughly between 34.083–34.183
0N and 74.883–75.150 0E (Rodgers et al. 2000). The
landscape is dominated by high mountains, rugged cliffs, and high-altitude
pastures with an elevation of 1,676–4,267 m. The climate of the area is
sub-Mediterranean to temperate with varying degrees of precipitation and
dryness. The maximum average temperature recorded in summer is 27ºC and in
winter a minimum of 2ºC. The annual average rainfall recorded is about 660 mm
with snow as the main source of precipitation. The vegetation structure of Dachigam is typically Himalayan moist temperate with
sub-alpine and alpine forest types (Champion & Seth 1968). The faunal
elements of the national park include Hangul Deer Cervus
hanglu hanglu,
Himalayan Grey Langur Semnopithecus ajax,
Golden Jackal Canis aureus, Common
Leopard Panthera pardus,
& Asiatic Black Bear Ursus thibetanus are major mammals whereas Black Bulbul Hypsipetes leucocephalus,
Yellow-billed Magpie Urocissa flavirostris, & Blue Whistling Thrush Myophonus caeruleus
are the birds usually found in DNP.
Collection of samples
A total of 246 scats
of Red Fox were collected along systematic transects and opportunistically
whenever found in and around the fringe areas of the study site and analysed. The scat samples were collected monthly from
December 2017 to November 2018 along 12 transects, covering different habitat
types and altitudinal zones. The total transect effort was 319 km for all
seasons (Figure 1). The scats of Red Fox were identified on the basis of
certain features such as shape, size, odour, and
quantity typical to that of the relative species, following a standard protocol
(Vanak & Mukherjee 2008). The sites were also
searched for fox dens, rock crevices, and burrows in order to increase scat
samples. The location, date, associated marking signs, and GPS location were
recorded for each scat using a handheld global positioning system. The scats
were collected in paper bags with a unique identification number, transported
to the laboratory for further analysis and stored at -20ºC until processing (Ciucci et al. 1996).
Laboratory analysis
The scats were
decontaminated in an oven at 80ºC to eradicate any parasitic infection
frequently found in canid scats (Eddine et al. 2017)
and then rinsed with tap water through a sieve of BSS 120 having a pore size of
125 μm so that the digested material could pass
through the sieve. The remains were separated macroscopically for
identification of prey items such as the claws, teeth, bones, seeds, insects,
hairs, feathers, grasses & other plant materials, and human subsidies like
pieces of cloth, paper, and plastic. The hairs were then dried in an oven at
47ºC for 48 hours and then soaked overnight in absolute alcohol to remove any
wax depositions and moisture. Sampled hairs were mounted on slides and observed
under a microscope. Hairs were microscopically examined to the lowest taxonomic
level possible by comparison with reference hair collections. The medullary
pattern of the hair was compared with the reference slides as well as the
reference guide (Mukherjee et al. 1994; Bahuguna et
al. 2010). Flight feathers of some birds recovered from the scats were
identified on the basis of their color, shape and structure (Fraigneau 2017). Moreover, feathers from some scats in the
fringe areas of DNP were compared with the remains of domestic fowl left over
by Red Fox near scats.
Statistical analysis
Diet was expressed in
terms of frequency of occurrence (scats with food item (i)
/ number of scats) multiplied by 100 (Mahmood & Nadeem 2011) and relative
frequency of each food item (number of times a specific item was found) as a
percentage of all items identified (Ackerman et al. 1984; Amroun
et al. 2006). Seasonal differences in the prey species in the diet were
verified using chi-square (χ2) test where differences at p <0.05 reflected
significance.
Results
The overall diet
composition of the Red Fox included 18 items across all seasons. The food items
were broadly classified into rodents, wild carrion, livestock carrion, birds,
plants, invertebrates (insects), and human subsidies. Rodents were the major
food item with a relative percent occurrence of 26.81 followed by vegetation
(25.64), wild carrion (17.01), insects (13.84), birds (7.43), livestock carrion
(5.72), and human subsidies (3.45). Hair analysis revealed that among Wild
Carrion, Himalayan Grey Langur contributed most to the diet (15.57%), followed
by Hangul Deer with 1.44%. Among the livestock species, sheep Ovis aries
contributed most to the diet (2.88%), followed by Domestic Fowl Gallus gallus domesticus & Goat Capra
aegagrus hircus with a
relative percent occurrence of 1.14 & 0.85, respectively. Cow Bos taurus & Horse (Equus ferus)
were represented least with a relative percent occurrence of 0.57 & 0.28,
respectively. Of the total hair samples, 2.9% remained unidentified.
Invertebrates (insects) contributed significantly (13.84%) to the diet. Vegetation
was represented by grasses (12.39%) and wild seeds (10.67%). The birds
constituted 7.43% of the diet. Human subsidies constituted the lowest
proportion in the diet with a relative occurrence of 3.45% (Table 1, Figure 2).
The fox occurrence showed a positive association with the availability of human
subsidies along the adjoining areas, with increased sightings around human
settlements and orchards. Thus, human subsidies attracted Red Foxes and
constituted an important part of their diet, especially during harsh winter.
Chi square analysis has revealed that there is a significant difference (p
<0.05) in the consumption of livestock carrion, invertebrates and human
subsidies. The rest of the prey types (rodents, wild carrion, birds, and
plants) did not differ significantly across seasons (p >0.05).
Discussion
The diet of the Red
Fox in the Dachigam National Park was dominated by
rodents, wild carrion, plants and invertebrates (Figure 3). The rodents were a
major source in the diet without following any habitat or temporal pattern.
This is in conformity with Reshamwala et al. (2018).
A variety of food items in the diet of Red Fox in the DNP showed that its
feeding behavior is of generalist and opportunistic type, which is consistent
with several previous workers (Macdonald 1980; Cavallini
& Lovari 1991; Dell’Arte
et al. 2007; Hartová-Nentvichova et al. 2010). During
the warm season a broader trophic niche was witnessed owing to diverse food
availability compared to a narrower niche during colder months when the food
resources were scarce. This seasonal variation in the diet was obtained and
this may be due to seasonal habitat utilization patterns as confirmed by Jędrzejewski & Jędrzejewska
(1992), Baltrūnaitė (2006), Sidorovich
et al. (2006), and Díaz-Ruiz et al. (2013). It has been noted that among wild
carrion, Himalayan Grey Langur always formed a substantial percentage of the
Red Fox’s diet. The reason being that the langur is preyed upon consistently by
leopards across all habitats and seasons owing to their abundance in the park
(Shah et al. 2009). The Hangul Deer represented a small percentage in the diet
of Red Fox indicating that the deer is infrequent in distribution (Khurshid et
al. 2021). The low occurrence of Hangul
in the diet of Red Fox may be due to scavenging. The Red Fox utilized insects
(mostly beetles) and was often reported in spring and summer owing to their
availability. This is in concurrence with Ricci et al. (1998), Ciampalini & Lovari (1985),
and Calisti et al. (1990).
Significant consumption
of vegetation in different seasons was revealed with grasses, wild seeds, and
fruits (mostly Malus domestica, Prunus avium,
Pyrus spp.) forming an important component of the Red Fox diet. Fruits such
as apple, plum, cherry, berries, and pear are reported worldwide as part of the
Red Fox diet (Basuony et al. 2005; Hartová-Nentvichova et al. 2010; Matías
et al. 2010). Red Foxes play an important role in the dispersal and germination
of seeds (Juan et al. 2006), it might be aiding in the dispersal and
germination of seeds in our study site as well. Birds were preyed uniformly
across seasons and habitats probably due to low hunting energy costs. The
consumption of avian prey decreased during autumn and winter. This may be due
to the reason that during spring and summer juveniles are learning to fly and
thus are more vulnerable to predation risk (Cavallini
& Volpi 1995).
The winter diet of
Red Fox revealed that human subsidies formed an essential part and its
utilization increased along the fringe areas in the form of garbage and
improper disposal of livestock carcasses. Our study revealed that 6.71% of the
diet of Red Fox consisted of livestock carrion which included sheep, goat,
horse, and domestic fowl. This finding is similar to previous studies (Doncaster et al. 1990; Saunders et al. 1993; Contesse et al. 2004; Mateos et
al. 2007; Killengreen et al. 2011). Most of these
studies suggest that the reason behind this might be the easier availability of
human subsidies than natural prey items.
Red Foxes generally
eat and hunt in a wide range of habitats and also show a seasonal shift in
their food preferences. They sustain themselves on available food but become
scavengers when food is limited (Basuony et al.
2005). This was attributed to the seasonal availability of different dietary
items. Our findings suggest that foraging of the Red Fox with reference to
human subsidies needs further investigation in the north western landscape for
strengthening the understanding of the critical facets of this carnivore.
Table 1. Diet composition of the Red
Fox in Dachigam National Park (Fi
= frequency of occurrence, n = number of appearances of food items,
and N = number of scats).
Food items |
Winter N = 74 |
Spring N = 62 |
Summer N = 51 |
Autumn N = 59 |
Total N = 246 |
χ2 Value |
P Value |
|||||
n |
Fi |
n |
Fi |
n |
Fi |
n |
Fi |
n |
Fi |
|||
Rodents |
21 |
28.3 |
32 |
51.61 |
22 |
43.13 |
18 |
30.50 |
93 |
37.80 |
4.763 |
›0.05 |
Wild carrion |
13 |
17.56 |
19 |
30.64 |
16 |
31.37 |
11 |
18.64 |
59 |
23.98 |
2.491 |
›0.05 |
Livestock carrion |
11 |
14.86 |
3 |
4.83 |
3 |
5.88 |
3 |
5.08 |
20 |
8.13 |
9.600 |
‹0.05 |
Birds |
5 |
6.75 |
9 |
14.51 |
6 |
11.76 |
6 |
10.16 |
26 |
10.56 |
3.261 |
›0.05 |
Plants |
27 |
36.48 |
29 |
46.77 |
17 |
33.33 |
16 |
27.11 |
89 |
36.17 |
6.056 |
›0.05 |
Invertebrates
(Insects) |
9 |
12.16 |
20 |
32.25 |
12 |
23. 52 |
7 |
11.86 |
48 |
19.51 |
8.167 |
‹0.05 |
Human subsidies |
8 |
10.81 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
3.92 |
2 |
3.89 |
12 |
4.87 |
6.000 |
‹0.05 |
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