Sex-specific dietary specialization in a terrestrial apex predator, the leopard, revealed by stable isotope analysisVoigt, Christian (Avtor) Krofel, Miha (Avtor) leopardPanthera parduspredationdietary specializationstable isotope analysisNamibiaAfricaApex predators in terrestrial ecosystems, such as leopards in the African savanna,feed on a wide variety of prey species, yet it is unknown whether individuals spe-cialize on certain prey, and whether specialization changes with body traits. Here,we asked whether individual specialization of adult leopards (Panthera pardus ) var-ies with sex, body mass, body length and age classes. We used the variation ofstable carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios in 643 segments of whiskers as a tempo-ral record of past diets and established isotopic dietary niches for 36 adult leopards(18 males, 18 females). Based on a variance analysis for stable carbon isotoperatios, we found that between-individual variation was larger than within-individualvariation, indicating a high degree of overall specialization within the studied leop-ards. Female adult leopards exhibited larger isotopic dietary niche widths than maleadult leopards. Isotopic niche width did not vary with body mass, body length orage. Our data suggest a difference in the level of specialization between the sexes,which might be explained by more opportunistic feeding of small-sized femaleleopards, most likely connected with a higher use of small prey species of differentisotopic composition. Inter-sexual resource partitioning likely facilitates territorysharing between the sexes.02018-05-08 11:00:51Delo ni kategorizirano101167sl