Don't spit in the soup: faecal avoidance in foraging wild Alpine ibex, Capra ibex

摘要: Faeces are a major vehicle for transmission of parasites among ungulate hosts. Avoiding feeding in proximity to faeces has been shown be an antiparasitic strategy experimental settings with domestic and semidomestic ungulates. However, few studies have tested the faecal avoidance hypothesis wild herbivores. We population Alpine ibex by comparing quantity grazed avoided areas. counted pellets within plot around grazing individual spot actively same individual. As predicted, plots had lower densities than plots. Fresh were more often medium-aged old faeces. found consistent differences level individuals, but this was not related gastrointestinal parasite infection or age host. Our results suggest that avoid foraging near value behaviour is evident.