Visitation rate and behavior of urban mesocarnivores differs in the presence of two common anthropogenic food sources

摘要: Cat food left out for feral and domestic cats bird seed spilled from backyard feeders are two common anthropogenic sources that may attract non-target animals like urban mesocarnivores but no studies have quantified mesocarnivore visitation at these sources. We used motion-activated video cameras to monitor use of below 25 maintained by residents in four neighborhoods Flagstaff, Arizona, June-September 2012 2014. During the first five nights monitoring only naturally was available. On each subsequent nights, we placed a bowl commercially available dry cat so both were present. In years, after added, number visits striped skunks (Mephitis mephitis), raccoons (Procyon lotor) (Felis cattus) doubled times present simultaneously also increased. Aggressive interactions, form displays or contacts, increased all species combinations significantly between presence food. These results demonstrate be exploited frequently type can elicit different behavioral responses could important implications human-wildlife conflict disease transmission.