Food base of the spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta) in Ethiopia
Gidey Yirga A G , Hans H. De Iongh B C , Herwig Leirs C , Kindeya Gebrehiwot D , Jozef Deckers E and Hans Bauer F
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A Department of Biology, Mekelle University, PO Box 231, Mekelle, Ethiopia.
B Institute of Environmental Sciences, Leiden University, PO Box 9518, Leiden, the Netherlands.
C Department of Evolutionary Ecology, University of Antwerp, Groenenborgerlaan 171, Antwerpen 2020, Belgium.
D Department of Land Resource Management and Environmental Protection, Mekelle University, PO Box 231, Mekelle, Ethiopia.
E Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Catholic University of Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200E, B-3001 Heverlee, Belgium.
F Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, Zoology, University of Oxford, Recanati-Kaplan Centre, Tubney House, Tubney OX13 5QL, UK.
G Corresponding author. Email: gidey.yirga@yahoo.com
Wildlife Research 42(1) 19-24 https://doi.org/10.1071/WR14126
Submitted: 27 June 2014 Accepted: 27 February 2015 Published: 21 April 2015
Abstract
Context: Livestock depredation and scavenging of waste by the spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta) occurs widely across Ethiopia.
Aims: The aim of this study was to investigate the food base of the spotted hyena and livestock depredation across Ethiopia.
Methods: The diet of spotted hyenas was assessed in 17 randomly selected study sites across the country, including two national parks, by scat analysis. We conducted an extensive survey of livestock depredation and economic impact in 10 randomly selected subdistricts using semistructured interviews with 3080 randomly selected households.
Key results: We found that even spotted hyenas from national parks feed predominantly on anthropogenic waste. Households reported losses of 2230 domestic animals, 3.9% of their stock or an average annual financial loss of US$10.3 per household over the past five years. The diet of spotted hyenas showed only prey items of domestic origin except in Chebera Churchura National Park, where a few items of prey of wild species were found. Frequencies of prey remains of cattle, sheep, donkey and goat were highest in decreasing order.
Key conclusions: Survival of hyenas in Ethiopia is thus largely and widely dependent on management of livestock conflict and waste. Some hairs in scats originated from depredation, but most food intake is from waste dumps and slaughterhouses.
Implications: Waste management, spotted hyena persistence and environmental sanitation area are linked.
Additional keywords: depredation, Ethiopia, livestock, spotted hyena.
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