Dietary spectrum in Himalayan wolves: comparative analysis of prey choice in conspecifics across high‐elevation rangelands of Asia

Abstract

AbstractThe Himalayan wolf is one of the most basal among wolf lineages in the world today. It inhabits mostly the high elevations, northwards from the Himalayas (1500–5000 m) in the Asian region. We conducted a meta‐analysis to understand the dietary habits of Himalayan wolves and wolves of the high rangelands of Asia from seven countries (n = 22). We found 39 different prey items reported across the distribution of the Himalayan wolf from a total of 2331 scats (average of 105.95 ± 20.10 scats per study). Comparison of the relative frequency of occurrence of different prey species shows that domestic prey consumption (48.21 ± 5.61%) across the zones or continent was similar to wild prey consumption (42.94 ± 5.25%). Small wild prey species constituted approximately (24.53 ± 3.77%) of the total wolf diet. Wolves of the Asian Highlands consumed relatively more large prey (40.01 ± 5.42%) than small prey (25.19 ± 3.85%) or medium‐sized prey (23.17 ± 3.78%). Wolves consumed a larger proportion of domestic (54.92 ± 5.94%) than wild prey (36.13 ± 6.12%) in areas that had regular livestock grazing and vice versa. East, west and central Himalayan and Central Asian wolves consumed mostly large wild and domestic prey. On the contrary, wolves in the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau, Inner Mongolia and the Karakoram consumed a relatively higher proportion of smaller‐sized prey and livestock. Overall, wolves utilized mostly domestic livestock and marmots (Ivlev’s index, 0.22–0.77). High localized utilization of Przewalski’s horse (Equus ferus przewalkskii, 0.94) was recorded, whereas Goral (N. goral) and Pika (Ochotona spp) were particularly underutilized (−0.99 and −0.92) in wolf diet. A landscape or trans‐boundary approach is advocated to restore natural large wild prey, for such a relic lineage species and reduce human‐wolf conflicts.