An international joint research team consisting of researchers from the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, the University of Illinois in the United States, and the Tokyo University of Agriculture attached a collar equipped with a video camera (hereinafter referred to as a camera collar) to a wild Asian black bear (hereinafter referred to as a bear). , the world's first successful recording of foraging behavior from the eyes of a bear.
Conventionally, fecal analysis, which analyzes the contents of feces, is a common method for investigating the dietary habits of animals. , has the disadvantage that it is difficult to specify the type.
Since the dietary habits of wild bears have also not been clarified in detail, the research team aimed to clarify the unknown feeding behavior of bears by using camera collars.Subjects were four adult bears captured in May-June 2018, wearing camera collars that took 5-second videos at 6-minute intervals during the day.The camera collar was designed to fall off the bear's neck after a certain period of time.
As a result, we were able to identify more than 4 types of food from images of four horses.Many of the leaves, flowers, and fruits of the plant were able to be identified to the species and genus, and it was confirmed that mammals such as sika deer calves and Japanese serow adults were feeding on them.
On the other hand, the feces analysis method conducted at the same time identified about 102 types of food from 15 feces, but could not identify the leaves and flowers of plants that are easily destroyed physically, and only the body hair of mammals was confirmed. Since it was not possible, it was not possible to identify the type.
From the above, it was shown that the type of food that is difficult to identify by the fecal analysis method can also be clarified from the video of the camera collar.Analysis of the footage also revealed that there are individual differences in the eating habits of bears.By applying these technologies to various wild animals, it is expected that unknown ecology will be revealed.
Paper information:[Journal of Mammalogy] Comparing information derived on food habits of a terrestrial carnivore between animalborne video systems and fecal analysis methods
