Interspecific Dietary Overlap Between Two Sympatric Wild Canids in Hirpora Wildlife Sanctuary, Northwestern Himalayas, India

The red fox (Vulpes vulpes) and golden jackal (Canis aureus) frequently coexist and share resources. We investigated the dietary fluctuations of the red fox and the golden jackal over a two-year period to understand their dietary overlap and trophic relationship in Hirpora Wildlife Sanctuary, in the northwestern Himalayas of India. A total of 287 scat samples (red fox = 159 and golden jackal = 128) were analyzed. The scat analysis revealed 13 and 12 food items in the diet of red fox and golden jackal respectively. Domestic sheep contributed maximum in both the canid species with the relative occurrence of 12% in the diet of red fox and 8% in the diet of golden jackal. Livestock contributes maximum to the biomass of both species (red fox: 69% and golden jackal: 66%), while as the contribution of plant matter was negligible (red fox: 4% and golden jackal: 3%). The trophic niche breadth of the jackal (5.33) and red fox (6.29) suggests that both meso-carnivores are generalist feeders. The high level of dietary overlap suggests the presence of competition between the two species. However, their coexistence is facilitated by their preference for different altitudinal ranges within the study area, as well as by the plentiful availability of rodents and carrions. Findings of the present study are expected to act as baseline information on the trophic interactions and trophic overlap between the two meso-carnivores in the northwestern Himalayas, India.