![]() Self-regulation depends on social stability Licensed under CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons. "Cryptoprocta ferox" by Chad Teer - originally posted to Flickr as. For example, the ≤12 kg fossa ( Cryptoprocta ferox) is the largest member of the Eupleridae and Madagascar’s largest carnivore, and they shares common traits with apex carnivores. Defining a threshold mass at the Order level was necessary in order to obtain a sufficient sample size, but it may have obscured differences between families. In our study, the threshold mass was strongly influenced by three families that contributed the highest number of species: the canids, felids and mustelids. ![]() The precise location of the threshold weight however remains somewhat ambiguous, and can vary depending on the variable and taxonomic family. latrans) in the mesopredator group when in the presence of wolves, our analysis clarifies that the coyote is a self-regulating apex predator.Ĭoyote by Yathin S Krishnappa (Own work), via Wikimedia Commons Similarly, although previous studies have placed the coyote ( C. lupus) remain apex predators in the presence of larger predators such as tigers ( Panthera tigris). Our analysis suggests that predator status is generally fixed, and that several apex predators can coexist within a single ecosystem. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons. "Asian Golden cat" by Karen Stout - originally posted to Flickr as Asian Golden cat. The Karen, a local tribe, believe that carrying a single hair of the golden cat on your person will keep tigers away… they are thought to be a kind of leopard.” From Wild Cats of the World by Mel and Fiona Sunquist In Thailand “fire tiger”, and the forest people believe the masters of all cats. “People in Southeast Asia associate the golden cat with tigers and leopards. This is roughly the size of an Asiatic golden cat, considered by those who live amongst them as deserving of apex predator status: We found that carnivores larger than 13-16kg (average weight), or 34kg (upper limit weight), have life-history traits that slow population growth. We focused on traits that are likely to contribute to self-regulation, such as slow maturation, female reproductive suppression and infanticide. We sifted through encyclopedias and databases to compile a dataset of life-history traits of 121 species of terrestrial and semi-terrestrial members of the Carnivora. If this is so, we could expect to find a threshold weight at which some key life-history parameters shift. We set out to test the hypothesis that what distinguishes mesopredators from apex predators is the source of population control: smaller predators are extrinsically regulated (by large predators), while large predators manage their own densities. As a result, large predators may have adapted traits that limit their own densities. Small predators, like foxes, live among larger predators that kill and sometimes eat them, while large predators, like dingoes, are unlikely to be regulated by an even larger predator. One possibility we considered is that size may be the key. ![]() (1) Dingo image by author (Arian Wallach) & (2) Fox image courtesy of Les Peters What is the difference between a dingo and a fox, or for that matter between any two predators? Their ecological influence however has been distinctly different: the fox is considered an ecological ‘villain’ and the dingo is rapidly gaining a reputation as a ‘savior’. As we were examining the tracks of foxes and dingoes it suddenly seemed odd that these two canids, with such similar paw-prints and histories, could have such contrasting ecological effects.īoth canids arrived in Australia as ‘migrants’, and they are the largest mammalian terrestrial predators of Australia (the dingo is larger and arrived earlier). We were finding that here, like elsewhere around the world persecution of an apex predator (the dingo) was leading to mesopredator release (of the fox) and the loss of biodiversity. We had been counting animal tracks on the sand dunes of an Australian desert, paying particular attention to the tracks of dingoes ( Canis dingo) and red foxes ( Vulpes vulpes). What is the difference between a dingo and fox? Below is the author's summary of the study: What is an apex predator? Submitted by editor on 10 March 2015.Īlways wondered about the apex predator? Read the Early View paper in Oikos "What is an apex predator?" by Arian D.
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