Patterns of scat deposition by brown hyaenas Hyaena brunnea in a mountain savannah region of South Africa
Alma Hulsman, Fredrik Dalerum, Lourens Swanepoel, Andre Ganswindt, Chris Sutherland & Monique Paris
The brown hyaena Hyaena brunnea is a near threatened large carnivore inhabiting sub-Saharan Africa. Like many other species of terrestrial carnivores, brown hyaenas often and repeatedly deposit scats at specific latrine sites as a means of olfactory communication. However, previous studies on brown hyaena latrine use have been constrained to the arid Kalahari region in southern Africa, an area of low resource abundance. To improve our understanding of geographic variation in the biology of this species, we monitored patterns of brown hyaena scat deposition in the Waterberg of northern South Africa, an area of higher net productivity than previous areas for published brown hyaena studies. Defecation rates at latrine sites were low in our study area (median: , 1 defecation in 30 days), but brown hyaenas visited sites significantly more often than they defecated at them (median: 2.6 visits/30 days). The temporal patterns of activity at defecation sites were significantly related to the overall temporal activity patterns of brown hyaenas on the roads within the reserve, and generally confirmed a nocturnal activity pattern in the species. Our result on brown hyaena scat deposition in the Waterberg region indicates a geographic variation in latrine use, and we suggest that such a variation could be linked to resource-driven variation in social and spatial organisation.
Key words: carnivore, defecation, Hyaenidae, latrine, olfactory communication, scent marking
Alma Hulsman & Monique Paris, Institute for Breeding Rare and Endangered African Mammals, Edinburgh, United Kingdom, and Department of Equine Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Science, Utrecht University, NL-3508 TC Utrecht, The Netherlands - e-mail addresses: a.h.hulsman@students.uu.nl (Alma Hulsman); m.paris@students.uu.nl (Monique Paris)
Fredrik Dalerum, Centre for Wildlife Management, and Mammal Research Institute, Department of Zoology and Entomology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0002, Republic of South Africa - e-mail: fredrik.dalerum@zoology.up.ac.za
Lourens Swanepoel, Centre for Wildlife Management, Department of Animal and Wildlife Sciences, University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0002, Republic of South Africa - e-mail: s96162831@tuks.co.za
Andre Ganswindt, Mammal Research Institute, Department of Zoology and Entomology, and Department of Production Animal Studies, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0002, Republic of South Africa - e-mail: aganswindt@zoology.up.ac.za
Chris Sutherland, Institute of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen AB24 3FX, United Kingdom - e-mail: csutherland@abdn.ac.uk
Corresponding author: Fredrik Dalerum
Received 11 December 2009, accepted 5 November 2010
Associate Editor: John D.C. Linnell
Wildl. Biol. 16: 445-451 (2010)
DOI: 10.2981/09-110
© Wildlife Biology, NKV
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