Abstract It is widely reported that African cobras (genus Naja) are generalist predators, but examination of formal literature yields relatively little evidence of this for most species. Here, we review the diet of cape cobras (Naja nivea) based on examination of museum specimens, an extensive literature review, and social media reported natural history observations. We quantify dietary niche breadth and test the hypothesis that cape cobras are generalist predators. Additionally, we test the hypotheses that diet varies significantly (1) across biomes, and (2) across winter, summer and year-round rainfall regions. We gathered 101 feeding records for cape cobras and based on family-level prey frequencies calculated Levins’ measure of niche breadth as B = 6.57, which we standardised to BA = 0.29. We found no association between prey classes and biomes or rainfall region. Our data indicate that cape cobras consume a wide range of vertebrate prey from all four tetrapod classes, including a large number and diversity of snakes. Our findings suggest that cape cobras may be involved in several important ecological processes. Moreover, our study demonstrates the utility and value of collating natural history observations reported on social media platforms.

中文翻译：

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在眼镜蛇角的饮食和喂养，Naja nivea

摘要 据广泛报道，非洲眼镜蛇（眼镜蛇属）是多面手捕食者，但对大多数物种而言，对正式文献的审查发现这一点的证据相对较少。在这里，我们根据对博物馆标本的检查、广泛的文献回顾和社交媒体报道的自然历史观察来回顾眼镜蛇（Naja nivea）的饮食。我们量化了饮食生态位的宽度，并检验了眼镜蛇是多面手捕食者的假设。此外，我们测试了饮食差异显着 (1) 跨生物群落，以及 (2) 跨冬季、夏季和全年降雨区域的假设。我们收集了 101 条眼镜蛇的摄食记录，并根据家庭级别的猎物频率计算出 Levin 对生态位宽度的测量为 B = 6.57，我们将其标准化为 BA = 0.29。我们发现猎物类别与生物群落或降雨区域之间没有关联。我们的数据表明，斗篷眼镜蛇从所有四种四足类动物中捕食范围广泛的脊椎动物猎物，包括数量众多且种类繁多的蛇。我们的研究结果表明，眼镜蛇可能参与了几个重要的生态过程。此外，我们的研究证明了整理社交媒体平台上报道的自然历史观察的效用和价值。