Smart carnivores think twice: Red fox delays scavenging on conspecific carcasses to reduce parasite risk
Metadata
Show full item recordEditorial
Elsevier
Materia
Cannibalism Carnivore Carrion Landscape of disgust Parasite avoidance behaviour Parasite transmission risk
Date
2021-09-25Referencia bibliográfica
Moisés Gonzálvez... [et al.]. Smart carnivores think twice: Red fox delays scavenging on conspecific carcasses to reduce parasite risk, Applied Animal Behaviour Science, Volume 243, 2021, 105462, ISSN 0168-1591, [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2021.105462]
Sponsorship
MINECO RYC-2015-19231; Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness; European Commission CGL2017-89905-RAbstract
The recent SARS-CoV-2 epidemic has highlighted the need to prevent emerging and re-emerging diseases, which
means that we must approach the study of diseases from a One Health perspective. The study of pathogen
transmission in wildlife is challenging, but it is unquestionably key to understand how epidemiological interactions
occur at the wildlife-domestic-human interface. In this context, studying parasite avoidance behaviours
may provide essential insights on parasite transmission, host-parasite coevolution, and energy flow through
food-webs. However, the strategies of avoiding trophically transmitted parasites in mammalian carnivores have
received little scientific attention. Here, we explore the behaviour of red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) and other
mammalian carnivores at conspecific and heterospecific carnivore carcasses using videos recorded by camera
traps. We aim to determine 1) the factors influencing the probability of foxes to practice cannibalism, and 2)
whether the scavenging behaviour of foxes differ when facing conspecific vs. heterospecific carcasses. We found
that red foxes were generally reluctant to consume mesocarnivore carrion, especially of conspecifics. When
recorded, consumption by foxes was delayed several days (heterospecific carcasses) or weeks (conspecific carcasses)
after carcass detection. Other mammalian scavengers showed a similar pattern. Also, meat-borne parasite
transmission from wild carnivore carcasses to domestic dogs and cats was highly unlikely. Our findings challenge
the widespread assumption that cannibalistic or intra-specific scavenging is a major transmission route for
Trichinella spp. and other meat-borne parasites, especially for the red fox. Overall, our results suggest that the
feeding decisions of scavengers are probably shaped by two main contrasting forces, namely the nutritional
reward provided by carrion of phylogenetically similar species and the risk of acquiring meat-borne parasites
shared with these species. This study illustrates how the detailed monitoring of carnivore behaviour is essential
to assess the epidemiological role of these hosts in the maintenance and dispersion of parasites of public and
animal health relevance.