New Zealand Journal of Zoology abstracts
Sign left by introduced and native predators feeding on Hutton’s shearwaters
Puffinus huttoni
Richard Cuthbert
Department of Zoology
University of Otago
P.O. Box 56
Dunedin, New Zealand
Present address: Beacon Ecology, 50 Grove Lane, Holt, Norfolk,
NR25 6ED, United Kingdom.
email: richard_cuthbert@yahoo.co.uk
Abstract The identification of introduced and native
predators is important for many conservation studies within New Zealand.
Carcasses of Hutton’s shearwaters were collected over three field seasons,
and where predation was probable, the bodies were autopsied. Paired bites
identified stoats as the principal predator of Hutton’s shearwater, but also
revealed that a feral cat was present within the colony. Stoats killed their
prey with a bite to the back of the neck or head, and commenced feeding on
the neck or head. Despite the limited number of cat-killed birds, cats appeared
to feed on Hutton’s shearwaters differently from stoats, starting on the
breast muscles. Harriers and kea left sign that allowed birds killed or scavenged
by these native birds to be distinguished from those killed by stoats or
cats.
Keywords predator identification; feeding sign; stoats;
Mustela erminea; cats; Felis catus; kea; Nestor notabilis;
Australasian harrier; Circus approximans; Hutton’s shearwater; Puffinus
huttoni
Z02030; Received 24 September 2002; accepted 15 March 2003; Online publication
date 8 September 2003
New Zealand Journal of Zoology, 2003, Vol. 30: 163-170
0301-4223/03/3003-0163 $7.00/0 © The Royal Society of New Zealand
2003
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