THE GREY WOLF AND ITS PREY – INSIGHTS FROM CAMERA TRAPPING IN OSOGOVO MTN. BETWEEN BULGARIA AND MACEDONIA
ELITSA POPOVA1*, DIANA ZLATANOVA1, NIKOLAY DOLAPCHIEV1, ALEKSANDAR STOJANOV2,
NIKOLA DOYKIN3, PETAR PETROV1
1 – Department of Zoology and Anthropology, Faculty of Biology, Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, 8 “Dragan Tsankov” blvd., Sofia 1164 Bulgaria
2 – Macedonian Ecological Society, 5 “Arhimedova” str., Skopje 1000 Macedonia
3 – Nature Park “Vitosha”, 17 "Antim I" str., 1303 Sofia, Bulgaria
*Corresponding author: elitsa.popova@uni-sofia.bg
Keywords: habitat selection, activity patterns, ecological niche
Abstract: Detailed understanding of the predator-prey relationships between the grey wolf (Canis lupus L.) and the ungulates - roe deer Capreolus capreolus L. and wild boar Sus scrofa L., which are game species in Bulgaria, is an important part of their management and conservation. This work represents the first attempt to investigate this topic in a systematic manner for the country. The data were collected through camera traps, set in 61 locations in the period September 2016 - September 2018 in Osogovo Mt., which is shared between Bulgaria and Macedonia. The habitat selection, activity patterns and detection rates of the three species were analyzed and compared. The results show a negative relationship in both the habitat selection and the presence (i.e. number of independent registrations) between the wolf and the roe deer. The wild boar does not exhibit a similar relationship with the wolf, as the presence of these two species is positively related and they were registered in similar habitats. The wolf is predominantly active during the night, with a pronounced peak around 3 a.m., whereas the roe deer is mostly crepuscular. Despite the high degree of temporal overlap, the roe deer’s activity peaks right around the time when the wolf’s activity decreases, indicating temporal avoidance. The wild boar also shows considerable temporal overlap with the wolf. However, there is a noticeable decline in its activity during the activity peak of the wolf. Based on the analyses we can conclude that the roe deer avoids the wolf spatially and in part temporally (being a very vulnerable prey), while the wild boar is more unaffected by the wolf’s presence (being larger in size and better protected in the groups it forms) and only avoids wolf’s most active periods of the day, but not its most preferred habitats.