Seasonal Diet of Wolves in the Dalaihu Natural Reserve,Inner Mongolia

Seasonal diet of Wolves(Canis lupus)in the Dalaihu Natural Reserve were checked by analyzing scats collected in two years from July 2004 to June 2005.Livestock became the major food source of Wolves due to the less abundant of wild ungulate.Frequency of undigested livestock's parts appeared in wolf scats was 74.7% during the period of plant growing and the relative biomass of livestock preyed by Wolves reached as high as 94.4%.When plant is withering,67.6% of items in the scats were consisted of livestock and the relative biomass of livestock was estimated 91.8%.Sheep,goat,cattle and horse were the mostly food items of Wolves in the local area.Our study suggested that most seasonal difference in the Wolf's diets were influenced by the change of herding patterns.Hare and small rodents were the secondary preys of Wolf.Birds were also found in the Wolf scats(frequency was 6.2% and 7.8% during plant growing period,and withering period).Other food items appeared in Wolf's diets were insects,plant and kitchen garbage.To reduce the killings of Wolves and livestock losses,we recommend to monitor and control the population size of Wolves,and introducing dogs to provide guarding for domestic cattle and horse.