Smart carnivores think twice: red fox delays scavenging on conspecific carcasses to reduce parasite risk

Martínez-Carrasco Pleite, Carlos; Sánchez Zapata, José Antonio; Moleón Paiz, Marcos; Gonzálvez Juan, Moisés

Publication:
Smart carnivores think twice: red fox delays scavenging on conspecific carcasses to reduce parasite risk

dc.contributor.author	Martínez-Carrasco Pleite, Carlos
dc.contributor.author	Sánchez Zapata, José Antonio
dc.contributor.author	Moleón Paiz, Marcos
dc.contributor.author	Gonzálvez Juan, Moisés
dc.contributor.department	Sanidad Animal
dc.contributor.other	Facultad de Veterinaria
dc.date.accessioned	2025-12-29T08:27:22Z
dc.date.available	2025-12-29T08:27:22Z
dc.date.copyright	© 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.
dc.date.issued	2021-09-25
dc.description.abstract	The recent SARS-CoV-2 epidemic has highlighted the need to prevent emerging and re-emerging diseases, which means that we must approach the study of diseases from a One Health perspective. The study of pathogen transmission in wildlife is challenging, but it is unquestionably key to understand how epidemiological interactions occur at the wildlife-domestic-human interface. In this context, studying parasite avoidance behaviours may provide essential insights on parasite transmission, host-parasite coevolution, and energy flow through food-webs. However, the strategies of avoiding trophically transmitted parasites in mammalian carnivores have received little scientific attention. Here, we explore the behaviour of red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) and other mammalian carnivores at conspecific and heterospecific carnivore carcasses using videos recorded by camera traps. We aim to determine 1) the factors influencing the probability of foxes to practice cannibalism, and 2) whether the scavenging behaviour of foxes differ when facing conspecific vs. heterospecific carcasses. We found that red foxes were generally reluctant to consume mesocarnivore carrion, especially of conspecifics. When recorded, consumption by foxes was delayed several days (heterospecific carcasses) or weeks (conspecific carcasses) after carcass detection. Other mammalian scavengers showed a similar pattern. Also, meat-borne parasite transmission from wild carnivore carcasses to domestic dogs and cats was highly unlikely. Our findings challenge the widespread assumption that cannibalistic or intra-specific scavenging is a major transmission route for Trichinella spp. and other meat-borne parasites, especially for the red fox. Overall, our results suggest that the feeding decisions of scavengers are probably shaped by two main contrasting forces, namely the nutritional reward provided by carrion of phylogenetically similar species and the risk of acquiring meat-borne parasites shared with these species. This study illustrates how the detailed monitoring of carnivore behaviour is essential to assess the epidemiological role of these hosts in the maintenance and dispersion of parasites of public and animal health relevance.
dc.format	application/pdf
dc.format.extent	10
dc.identifier.citation	Applied Animal Behaviour Science 243 (2021) 105462
dc.identifier.doi	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2021.105462
dc.identifier.eissn	1872-9045
dc.identifier.issn	0168-1591
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10201/182969
dc.language	eng
dc.publisher	Elsevier
dc.relation	Marcos Moleón was supported by a research contract Ramón y Cajal from the MINECO (RYC-2015-19231). This study was partly funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness and EU ERDF funds through the project CGL2017-89905-R.
dc.relation.publisherversion	https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168159121002495?via%3Dihub
dc.rights	Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International	*
dc.rights.accessRights	info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
dc.rights.uri	http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/	*
dc.subject	Landscape of disgust
dc.subject	Parasite avoidance behaviour
dc.subject	Parasite transmission risk
dc.subject	Red fox
dc.subject	Carrion
dc.subject	Cannibalism
dc.subject	Carnivore
dc.subject.ods	Objetivo 15: Bosques, desertificación y diversidad biológica
dc.title	Smart carnivores think twice: red fox delays scavenging on conspecific carcasses to reduce parasite risk
dc.type	info:eu-repo/semantics/article
dc.type.version	info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersión
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