A novel record of aardwolf Proteles cristata feeding behaviour

ABSTRACT

Terrestrial members of the order Carnivora show great variation in their diet; some specialising in vertebrates, invertebrates, or plant matter, whereas others are omnivores or scavengers (Bekoff et al., 1984). The aardwolf Proteles cristata is a highly specialised myrmecovore (Skinner & Chimimba, 2005). We present a first report of a wild aardwolf preying on a vertebrate – captive geese Anser anser domesticus.

Keywords:

• aardwolf
• feeding behaviour
• hyaenidae
• carnivore

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We would like to thank Phil Richardson, Gus Mills and Kay Holekamp from the IUCN/SSC Hyaena specialist group for initial insights and confirmation of the observation. We would also like to thank Alford Mphaka for raising the alarm, allowing this unusual behaviour to be witnessed.