Seasonal features of the diet of predatory mammals in the western regions of Ukraine

Abstract

The article analyses feeding specifics depending on the season of five species of predatory mammals belonging to two families: Mustelidae and Canidae. It was established that the largest number of food objects in the red fox’s diet is characteristic for the winter period (44 objects). In winter, this species enriches its diet with invertebrates, fish, domestic mammals, and ungulates in small quantities. The main objects of food during this period are rodents (19%) and birds (16.6%). Rodents are also the basis of the weasel’s winter diet (50%). Both species of marten also consume rodents and birds in the winter, however, the pine marten hunts birds more often (17.4%) compared to rodents (13%), whereas the stone marten rarely hunts birds in the winter and the basis of its diet is made up by rodents (23.1%). The spring period is characterised by a sharp decrease in objects of plant origin in the diet of all carnivorous mammals considered. In spring, the stone marten consumes the largest share of animal feed (80%). The share of animals in the pine marten’s diet also increases, but this species actively hunts invertebrates (37.1%). Birds were not detected in the diet of the pine marten in spring, but they are present in the diet of the weasel in this period (5.9%). Almost half of the summer diet of all species considered consists of plant objects. All predators are characterised by the consumption of a large number of invertebrates during this period, with the lowest share of them in the diet of the stone marten (5.6%), whose main food in the summer is plants (55.6%), rodents (22.2%) and birds (16.7%). In autumn, the share of plant components in the diet of predators is more than 50%, and this period is characterised by having the highest share of juicy fruits in the diet throughout the year, except for the weasel, in the diet of which plants are rarely found during this period (21.4%). The basis of the diet of this species during this period is mammals (64.3%). The share of rodents (15.5%) and birds (8.3%) in the red fox’s diet increases in the autumn period. Inedible objects were recorded in food samples of two species: red fox and pine marten. For the marten, the largest number of these objects was registered in the summer period, and for the fox, non-food objects were absent only in the summer diet.