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Energetic constraints on the diet of terrestrial carnivores

Nature volume 402, pages 286–288 (1999)Cite this article

An Addendum to this article was published on 25 November 1999

Abstract

Species in the mammalian order Carnivora exhibit a huge diversity of life histories with body sizes spanning more than three orders of magnitude. Despite this diversity, most terrestrial carnivores can be classified as either feeding on invertebrates and small vertebrates or on large vertebrates. Small carnivores feed predominantly on invertebrates probably because they are a superabundant resource (sometimes 90% of animal biomass1,2,3); however, intake rates of invertebrate feeders are low, about one tenth of those of vertebrate feeders4,5. Although small carnivores can subsist on this diet because of low absolute energy requirements, invertebrate feeding appears to be unsustainable for larger carnivores. Here we show, by reviewing the most common live prey in carnivore diets, that there is a striking transition from feeding on small prey (less than half of predator mass) to large prey (near predator mass), occurring at predator masses of 21.5–25 kg. We test the hypothesis that this dichotomy is the consequence of mass-related energetic requirements and we determine the predicted maximum mass that an invertebrate diet can sustain. Using a simple energetic model and known invertebrate intake rates, we predict a maximum sustainable mass of 21.5 kg, which matches the point where predators shift from small to large prey.

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Figure 1: The mass of the most common prey plotted against carnivore mass.
Figure 2: Predicted hunting time required to balance the net energy expenditure against carnivore body mass.
Figure 3: A contour plot of the maximum carnivore body mass predicted from the net-rate model for a range of invertebrate intake rates and hunting times.

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Acknowledgements

We thank R. McNeill Alexander, D. Johnson, M. Rowcliffe, T. Coulson, J. Du Toit and D. De Luca for helpful discussions and comments on earlier drafts of the manuscript. G.M.M. Thanks the NERC.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London, Regent's Park, London, NW1 4RY, UK

    Chris Carbone, Georgina M. Mace & S. Craig Roberts

  2. Department of Zoology, Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3PS, UK

    Chris Carbone & David W. Macdonald

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  1. Chris Carbone
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Correspondence to Chris Carbone.

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Carbone, C., Mace, G., Roberts, S. et al. Energetic constraints on the diet of terrestrial carnivores. Nature 402, 286–288 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/46266

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