Large solitary felids often kill large prey items that can provide multiple meals. However, being able to utilize these multiple meals requires that they can cache the meat in a manner that delays its discovery by vertebrate and invertebrate scavengers. Covering the kill with vegetation and snow is a commonly observed strategy among felids. This study investigates the utility of this strategy using observational data from Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx)-killed roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) carcasses, and a set of two experiments focused on vertebrate and invertebrate scavengers, respectively. Lynx-killed roe deer that were covered by snow or vegetation were less likely to have been visited by scavengers. Experimentally-deployed video-monitored roe deer carcasses had significantly longer time prior to discovery by avian scavengers when covered with vegetation. Carcass parts placed in cages that excluded vertebrate scavengers had delayed invertebrate activity when covered with vegetation. All three datasets indicated that covering a kill was a successful caching/anti-scavenger strategy. These results can help explain why lynx functional responses reach plateaus at relatively low kill rates. The success of this anti-scavenging behavior therefore has clear effects on the dynamics of a predator–prey system.

中文翻译：

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欧亚Lyn对大型猎物的缓存行为：量化反清除的好处

大型的孤独的猫科动物常常杀死能提供多餐的大型猎物。但是，能够利用这些多餐食物要求它们可以以延迟脊椎动物和无脊椎动物清除剂发现肉的方式储存肉。用猫科动物掩盖杀戮是一种普遍观察到的策略。这项研究使用欧亚（Lynx lynx）杀死的ro（Capreolus capreolus）的观测数据来研究该策略的效用。）尸体，以及一组分别针对脊椎动物和无脊椎动物清除剂的两个实验。被雪貂或植被覆盖的杀死的不太可能被拾荒者拜访。经过实验监控的视频监控ro体在被植物覆盖时，在被禽类清道夫发现之前的时间明显更长。当放置在笼罩中而没有脊椎动物清除剂的体部位，被植被覆盖时，其无脊椎动物活动会延迟。所有这三个数据集都表明，覆盖杀死是一种成功的缓存/抗清除剂策略。这些结果可以帮助解释为什么天猫的功能性反应以相对较低的杀灭率达到稳定水平。因此，这种抗清除行为的成功对捕食者－猎物系统的动力学有明显的影响。