Abstract
In temperate ecosystems wild ungulates are known to switch their diets from growing season in spring and summer to lean season in winter. Such dietary shifts are crucial for wild herbivores living under temperate climatic conditions. The sympatric wild herbivores in temperate habitats may have to compete for limited food resources in winter and more diet overlap is likely to occur among them. The present study was conducted from December 2020 to February 2021 to assess winter dietary overlap between two sympatric wild caprids: markhor (Capra falconeri) and Himalayan goral (Naemorhedus goral) at Kazinag National Park (KNP) and its adjoining areas viz., Limber Wildlife Sanctuary (LiWLS), Lachipora Wildlife Sanctuary (LaWLS) and Naganari Conservation Reserve (NCR) in the Kashmir Himalaya. The two wild goats shared same habitat and limited food plants in winter at lower altitudes of KNP. We used micro-histological analysis for identifying dietary items from 120 fresh faecal samples of two wild goats (markhor, n = 60 and Himalayan goral, n = 60). The faecal samples were collected from the field after the animals left the sites. The analysis revealed 20 identified plant species from Himalayan goral diet and 17 from markhor diet shared with the former. Both wild goats maintained a higher proportion of browse (Himalayan goral = 57.58%; markhor = 70.99%) than graze (Himalayan goral = 40.43%; markhor = 25.14%) in their winter diet. Overall Shannon-diversity index values were high for Himalayan goral (2.23) and relatively low for markhor (1.95). High diversity index values were recorded in January (Himalayan goral = 2.27; markhor = 2.07) and slightly lower values for December (Himalayan goral = 2.24; markhor = 1.87) and February (Himalayan goral = 2.18; markhor = 1.90). Markhor and Himalayan goral had a higher dietary overlap (0.72 ± 0.17) for shrubs and less overlap for grasses (0.32 ± 0.09) and trees (0.22 ± 0.06) in winter. Himalayan goral had high amount of diet overlap with markhor for grasses (0.37 ± 0.14) in December and shrubs in January (0.64 ± 0.21) and February (0.49 ± 0.11). The comprehensive investigation of the winter diet overlap between two sympatric wild goats in KNP and adjoining areas would boost conservation action.
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Acknowledgements
We are highly thankful to the Head of the Zoology Department, University of Kashmir for providing laboratory facilities. We are also thankful to the Department of Wildlife Protection, Jammu and Kashmir for permitting us to carry out this work in KNP. We acknowledge the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), Srinagar, for providing necessary meteorological data.
Funding
Our sincere thanks are due to SERB-DST, Govt. of India for financing the work under the research project No. CRG/2019/002369 and University of Kashmir under component 10 of RUSA 2.0.
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The diet of two wild goats (Himalayan goral and markhor) was analyzed from faecal pellets, which is a non-invasive approach without disturbing or harming the animal. Due permission was granted by the Department of Wildlife Protection, Jammu and Kashmir for conducting the research.
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Dar, J.A., Bhat, B.A. Winter dietary overlap between two sympatric wild caprids, markhor (Capra falconeri) and Himalayan goral (Naemorhedus goral) at Kazinag National Park and its adjoining areas in the Kashmir Himalaya. Biologia 78, 1093–1102 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11756-023-01328-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11756-023-01328-3