Do spotted hyaenas outcompete the big cats in a small, enclosed system in South Africa? is a research paper published in Journal of Zoology (2020). On theSindex it has a DataRank of 0.604. It has been cited 14 times, with 11 citing works in its 1-hop citation network.
AbstractCarnivores are adapted to kill, meaning sympatric carnivores can have particularly aggressive and harmful competitive interactions. The co‐existence of multiple carnivores in an ecosystem could be restricted by their similarity in ecological niches (e.g. dietary overlap); however, high prey abundances could facilitate their co‐existence. Although the development of small, enclosed reserves (<400 km2) in South Africa has reduced human–carnivore conflict, these systems may increase the likelihood of carnivore intra‐guild competition due to the clumping of competing carnivores into these restricted spaces. Using carnivore scat and kill site analyses, we determined the dietary preferences and overlap of sympatric large carnivores in a small, enclosed reserve, Selati Game Reserve (Selati). Large carnivores in Selati (lions (Panthera leo), spotted hyaenas (Crocuta crocuta) and leopards (Panthera pardus)) preferentially selected for varying combinations of prey size classes. Lions selected for large prey, leopards selected for small prey and spotted hyaenas did not prefer any particular prey size. Additionally, lions had the largest dietary breadth and the diet of leopards and spotted hyaenas overlapped considerably. Coupled with high prey densities in Selati, the predation strategies of the large carnivores could be facilitating their co‐existence. On the other hand, the high degree of dietary overlap among large carnivores suggests that there is strong potential for exploitation competition, particularly between spotted hyaenas and leopards as their diet overlapped extensively (91% and 93% for prey species and size class, respectively). Although spotted hyaenas are potentially outcompeting leopards in Selati, lions were the most dominant large carnivore. Our study reiterates the complexity of carnivore guild interactions and emphasizes how these interactions are subject to variation due to site‐specific circumstances (e.g. composition of prey and carnivore populations). We therefore encourage site‐specific, multi‐carnivore research throughout protected areas in southern Africa.
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Base Score Contribution
0.406
From this paper's citation signal
Citation Network Contribution
0.198
From 6 citing papers with measurable signal
Ranked by citation count — the same ordering the engine uses when summing log1p(Cq) over citers.
DataRank blends this paper's own citation count with the influence of the papers that cite it. Here, roughly 67% comes from its base citations and 33% from the citation network (6 citing papers contributed measurable signal).
Citers are pulled from OpenAlex sorted by cited_by_count:descand capped per paper, so when the cap binds we keep the highest-signal references and the score is reproducible across reruns.
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