Diet and feeding in the Cape Cobra, Naja nivea. Issue 2 (3rd July 2017)
- Record Type:
- Journal Article
- Title:
- Diet and feeding in the Cape Cobra, Naja nivea. Issue 2 (3rd July 2017)
- Main Title:
- Diet and feeding in the Cape Cobra, Naja nivea
- Authors:
- Layloo, Inshaaf
Smith, Caitlin
Maritz, Bryan - Abstract:
- 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 B A = 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.
- Is Part Of:
- African journal of herpetology. Volume 66:Issue 2(2017)
- Journal:
- African journal of herpetology
- Issue:
- Volume 66:Issue 2(2017)
- Issue Display:
- Volume 66, Issue 2 (2017)
- Year:
- 2017
- Volume:
- 66
- Issue:
- 2
- Issue Sort Value:
- 2017-0066-0002-0000
- Page Start:
- 147
- Page End:
- 153
- Publication Date:
- 2017-07-03
- Subjects:
- Cannibalism -- dietary specialisation -- foraging ecology -- intraguild predation -- ophiophagy
Herpetology -- Periodicals
Herpetology -- Africa -- Periodicals
597.9 - Journal URLs:
- http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~content=t917596259~db=all ↗
http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ther20#.UrNeWE2Iqic ↗
http://www.tandfonline.com/ ↗ - DOI:
- 10.1080/21564574.2017.1388297 ↗
- Languages:
- English
- ISSNs:
- 2156-4574
- Deposit Type:
- Legaldeposit
- View Content:
- Available online (eLD content is only available in our Reading Rooms) ↗
- Physical Locations:
- British Library DSC - BLDSS-3PM
British Library STI - ELD Digital store - Ingest File:
- 5534.xml