We developed a simple and environmentally‐friendly protocol for identifying herbivore diets by isolating and identifying microscopic vegetation fragments from fecal materials that can be easily applied in remote areas where laboratories are absent. We used feces from human‐habituated Virunga mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei), whose diet is well‐known, to develop and validate the protocol. First, fresh materials from parts of the 5 most frequently consumed plants by the Virunga gorillas were collected from June to July, 2016, processed, and their distinctive features photographed using a digital microscope to establish a plant reference collection. Second, we collected fresh fecal samples from 16 known gorillas and successfully identified distinctive vegetation fragments of the 5 key food plants. The method is inexpensive, environmentally friendly, and does not require sophisticated laboratory equipment. It has the potential to be applied to species that cannot be easily studied by direct observation and those ranging in remote regions. The method can also be used in other studies involving plant‐animal interactions, the ontogeny of feeding behavior, and animal ecology. © 2020 The Wildlife Society.

中文翻译：

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一种简便，环保的食草动物饮食粪便分析方法

我们开发了一种简单且环保的方案，可通过从粪便中分离和鉴定出微观植被碎片来鉴定草食动物的饮食，这些碎片很容易在缺少实验室的偏远地区使用。我们使用了人类居住的维龙加山地大猩猩（大猩猩beringei beringei）的粪便。）（饮食习惯众所周知）来制定和验证协议。首先，从2016年6月至2016年7月收集来自维伦加大猩猩5种最常食用的植物的部分的新鲜材料，进行处理，并使用数字显微镜拍摄其独特特征以建立植物参考收藏。其次，我们从16种已知的大猩猩中采集了新鲜的粪便样品，并成功地鉴定出5种主要食用植物的独特植被碎片。该方法便宜，环境友好，并且不需要复杂的实验室设备。它有潜力应用于无法通过直接观察轻易研究的物种以及偏远地区的物种。该方法还可用于涉及植物-动物相互作用，摄食行为的个体发育，和动物生态学。©2020野生动物协会。