Dieta comparada del gato montés (Felis silvestris) y la jineta (Genetta genetta) en un área de simpatría de las Sierras Subbéticas (SE España)

Resum

Compared diet of wild cat (Felis silvestris) and genet (Genetta genetta) in a sympatric area of the Subbetic Mountains (SE Spain)
Scats analysis revealed significant differences between the feeding ecology of the wild cat and the genet in a sympatric area, located in Sierras Subbéticas (SE Spain). The wild cat’s diet was based on rabbits (70% of biomass) and the genet on rodents (44% of biomass). The genet showed a larger trophic diversity (Levins’s index B = 2.86) than the wild cat (B = 2.36), eating more birds and fewer rabbits. This general trophic behaviour followed the same seasonal tendency. The wild cat captured rabbits of al1 ages, while the genet only captured juveniles. Despite al1 these differences, there was a considerable trophic overlap (Pianka’s index for %n = 0.968) and two complementary hypotheses are proposed to explain the coexistence, based on the abundance of resources and on the microhabitat segregation.