Dietary composition is a fundamental part of animal ecology and an important component of population dynamics. Therefore, obtaining accurate information on what an animal consumes is important for conservation planning, especially for wild large carnivores that exist in human-dominated landscapes where they are prone to direct conflicts with local people. We used faecal DNA metabarcoding to identify the vertebrate taxa commonly predated on by cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus) with an emphasis on domestic taxa and determine the drivers of livestock predation by cheetahs residing in the Maasai Mara and Amboseli ecosystems which are important population strongholds in southern Kenya. From 84 cheetah faeces that we analysed, a total of 14 prey taxa were identified, including birds, wild and domestic mammals. The livestock taxa identified in cheetah faeces occurred at moderate frequency (12.8%) and the results showed that livestock predation was influenced neither by the sex of the cheetah nor by season. In general, our study shows that cheetahs prey on a diverse range of prey taxa including birds, wild ungulates of various sizes and occasionally on domestic animals, and that the faecal DNA metabarcoding approach represents a valuable complement to traditional dietary analysis methods.

中文翻译：

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使用粪便 DNA 元条形码深入了解肯尼亚猎豹的猎物光谱和牲畜捕食

膳食构成是动物生态学的基本组成部分，也是种群动态的重要组成部分。因此，获取有关动物消耗的准确信息对于保护规划很重要，尤其是对于存在于人类主导的景观中的野生大型食肉动物，它们容易与当地人发生直接冲突。我们使用粪便 DNA 元条形码来识别通常被猎豹 (Acinonyx jubatus) 捕食的脊椎动物分类群，重点是国内分类群，并确定居住在肯尼亚南部重要人口据点马赛马拉和安博塞利生态系统中的猎豹捕食牲畜的驱动因素. 从我们分析的 84 只猎豹粪便中，共确定了 14 个猎物类群，包括鸟类、野生和家养哺乳动物。在猎豹粪便中鉴定出的牲畜类群出现频率适中（12.8%），结果表明牲畜捕食不受猎豹性别和季节的影响。总的来说，我们的研究表明，猎豹捕食的猎物种类繁多，包括鸟类、各种大小的野生有蹄类动物，偶尔也会捕食家畜，粪便 DNA 元条形码方法是对传统饮食分析方法的宝贵补充。