Portal de Murcia
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A multidisciplinary team of researchers, including members of the University of Murcia, explains why wild carnivores avoid consumption of the corpse of another carnivorous mammal, especially if it is of the same species, due to an evolutionary strategy that tries to minimize the risk of transmission of infectious agents.
This research, led by the University of Granada and published in the Journal of Animal Ecology, gives scientific basis to the saying dog do not eat dog (canis caninam non est) of ancient Rome, which meant that members of the same guild should avoid conflicts between them.
This Latin expression seems to have originated from empirical observations on the aversion of carnivorous animals to eating corpses of other predators.
The study shows that carrion mammals avoid consumption of other similar species.
According to Carlos Martínez-Carrasco Pleite, a professor at the University of Murcia who participates in the project, this research is new, among other things, by the tools used.
"For the first time phototrap was used to study the epidemiological aspects related to the trophic transmission of infectious agents in wildlife. This instrument is used much more in the field of Ecology than in the field of Veterinary, but our study shows which is a tool that opens up excellent possibilities for future epidemiological studies in the field of ecopatology, "says the researcher.
The results of the study indicate that "these carnivores present a low tendency to consume other carrion mammals to reduce the risk of acquiring specific parasites whose transmission is via trophic route," comments Dr. Martinez-Carrasco.
Researchers have found that, for a carnivorous animal, such as a fox or a marten, the consumption of the corpse of another carnivore, especially if of the same species, increases the likelihood of contracting pathogens that could be life-threatening, such as occurs with the virulent kuru, who ended in the 1950s with many natives of Papua New Guinea, who practiced rituals of cannibalism.
To carry out this work, the research group studied during the winter months, between 2005 and 2016, 89 carcasses of carnivorous and herbivorous animals in the Sierra Espuña Park and Cazorla Park.
The carcasses were monitored by automatic cameras that are triggered when detecting movement, which allowed to register the species of mammals that consumed them.
In addition, a field experiment was conducted in which apparently identical pieces of carnivorous and herbivorous meat were placed in different areas of the Sierra Espuña to see if carnivorous animals could 'smell the risk'.
On the other hand, a mathematical model was developed to simulate the evolutionary strategy of the carrion mammals subjected to the risk of acquisition of parasitic agents.
In this work also collaborate the University Miguel Hernandez (Elche) and the University of Berkeley (California).
This study is the result of the collaboration that began two years ago, and which extends not only to the research area but also to teachers, since several of the coauthors of this article participate in the Masters of Wildlife Management, which imparts in the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of the University of Murcia.
According to Marcos Moleón Paiz, a researcher at the University of Granada, this research originated through a series of doubts such as "if tastes change according to culture and individual, should other animals behave differently? a scavenger animal, the paradigm of opportunism, to be selective in deciding what kind of carrion to eat or not to eat? "
Source: Universidad de Murcia
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