Scavenging patterns of an inbred wolf population in a landscape with a pulse of human-provided carrion ...

• Main Authors: Wikenros, Camilla, Di Bernardi, Cecilia, Zimmermann, Barbara, Åkesson, Mikael, Demski, Maike, Flagstad, Øystein, Mattisson, Jenny, Tallian, Aimee, Wabakken, Petter, Sand, Håkan
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: Dryad 2022
• Subjects: FOS Biological sciences; Alces alces; Canis lupus; Ursus arctos
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.5061/dryad.80gb5mktr; https://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.80gb5mktr

Scavenging is an important part of food acquisition for many carnivore species that switch between scavenging and predation. In landscapes with anthropogenic impact, humans provide food that scavenging species can utilize. We quantified the magnitude of killing versus scavenging by gray wolves (Canis lupus) in Scandinavia where humans impact the ecosystem through hunter harvest, land use practices, and infrastructure. We investigated the cause of death of different animals utilized by wolves, and examined how the proportion of their consumption time spent scavenging was influenced by season, wolf social affiliation, level of inbreeding, density of moose (Alces alces) as their main prey, density of brown bear (Ursus arctos) as an intra-guild competitor, and human density. We used data from 39 GPS-collared wolves covering 3,198 study days (2001–2019), including 14,205 feeding locations within space-time clusters, and 1362 carcasses utilized by wolves. Most carcasses were wolf-killed (80.5%) while a small part ...