Mammalian Biology 78 (2013) 336–343 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Mammalian Biology jou rn al h om epa g e: www.elsevier.com/locate/mambio Original Investigation Characteristics of African wild dog natal dens selected under different interspecific predation pressures Esther van der Meer a,c,∗ , Jealous Mpofu a , Gregory S.A. Rasmussen a , Hervé Fritz b,c a Painted Dog Conservation, Hwange National Park, P.O. Box 72, Dete, Zimbabwe b CNRS HERD Project, Hwange National Park, P.O. Box 62, Dete, Zimbabwe c Universite’ de Lyon, CNRS Universite’ Claude Bernard Lyon 1 UMR 5558, Laboratoire Biométrie et Biologie Evolutive, Bât Gregor Mendel, 43 Bd du 11 novembre 1918, 69622 Villeurbanne Cedex, France a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 6 March 2012 Accepted 24 April 2013 Available online 29 May 2013 Keywords: Lycaon pictus Natal den site Predator avoidance Vegetation characteristics Panthera leo a b s t r a c t To successfully reproduce, many carnivorous mammals need access to suitable den sites. Den site selec- tion is often based on fitness related criteria like escape from predators, food availability and shelter from extreme weather conditions. African wild dogs are cooperative breeders that use a den to give birth to their offspring. They often co-exist with lions and spotted hyenas, both of which are known to kill African wild dog pups. Little is known about den site selection by African wild dogs. In this study, we compared vegetation characteristics and distribution of roads and waterholes around den sites and random sites, in areas with high and low lion and spotted hyena densities. In both areas, African wild dogs selected den sites in closed woodland with little visibility, which is likely to reduce detection by predators, increase the likelihood of escape when detected, and might provide shelter from extreme weather conditions. In the high predator density area, African wild dogs seemed to spatially avoid predators by selecting den sites in this type of habitat relatively further away from waterholes and roads. African wild dogs have high energetic costs of gestation. Therefore, even when predation risk is relatively low, they are likely to try to maximise their fitness by choosing a den site in habitat that will provide optimal protection for their offspring, leaving little additional options to respond to a higher predation pressure. © 2013 Deutsche Gesellschaft für Säugetierkunde. Published by Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved. Introduction There are several carnivorous mammals that make use of a den to give birth to their offspring. For these animals, access to suit- able den sites is often crucial for successful reproduction, and likely to affect population recruitment (Fernández and Palomares, 2000; Norris et al., 2002; Richardson et al., 2007). Studies on carnivo- rous mammals show that the main selection criteria for natal den sites are the provision of protection from predators (Pruss, 1999; Hwang et al., 2007; Lesmeister et al., 2008; Ross et al., 2010), close proximity of available food resources (Meriggi and Rosa, 1991; Eide et al., 2001; Ye et al., 2007; Szor et al., 2008) and provision of shel- ter from extreme weather conditions (Eide et al., 2001; Richardson et al., 2007; Ye et al., 2007; Szor et al., 2008). Other factors that have been found to affect natal den site selection are close proximity to water sources (Hwang et al., 2007; Ye et al., 2007; Szor et al., 2008), protection against flooding (Pruss, 1999; White et al., 2001; Benson et al., 2008) and low ectoparasite loads (Butler and Roper, 1996). ∗ Corresponding author at: P.O. Box 204, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. Tel.: +263 0772 465 553. E-mail address: esther@cheetahzimbabwe.org (E. van der Meer). An increase in the human population worldwide has resulted in fragmentation of habitat available to wildlife, thus forcing animals to live in close proximity to humans (Woodroffe, 2000; Inskip and Zimmermann, 2009). Some animals have adapted their denning behaviour to humans and use manmade structures to den (Hwang et al., 2007; Herr et al., 2010; Gould and Andelt, 2011), or place their dens in close proximity to roads (Pruss, 1999; Hwang et al., 2007; Gould and Andelt, 2011) and/or human settlements (Meriggi and Rosa, 1991; Hwang et al., 2007; Gould and Andelt, 2011). Other ani- mals deliberately try to avoid humans by selecting den sites away from human activity (Theuerkauf et al., 2003; Ye et al., 2007; Ross et al., 2010). African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) are one of the mammalian car- nivores that make use of a den to give birth to its offspring (Reich, 1981; Malcolm and Marten, 1982). African wild dogs are coopera- tive breeders that live in packs (Reich, 1981; Malcolm and Marten, 1982). During the coldest months of the year (May–June), the alpha female gives birth to the pups in an underground den where they remain the first three months of their life (Woodroffe et al., 2004; Rasmussen, 2009). After weaning, a ‘baby-sitter’ may be left behind at the den to take care of the pups and protect them against predators when the pack goes hunting (Malcolm and Marten, 1982; Rasmussen, 2009). Like other carnivores (Ross et al., 2010; Arjo et al., 2003; Lesmeister et al., 2008; Schmidt et al., 2008), African 1616-5047/$ – see front matter © 2013 Deutsche Gesellschaft für Säugetierkunde. Published by Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.mambio.2013.04.006