The aim of this work was to describe the population of common toad (Bufo bufo L.) in the area of Krim Mountain near Ljubljana and to examine their diet. We survey the age and sex structure of the population, the distribution pattern in the Dinaric mountain forests and population densities on six selected transects at different altitudes and during entire season of toad activity in the year. By analyzing toad feces through the examination of isolated toad prey exoskeletons, we obtained new information on their diet, focusing on the composition of prey taxa and the proportion of prey units. The results showed that ants (Formicidae) and beetles (Coleoptera) predominated among the prey taxa found in the studied area, and that the size of the prey taxa correlated with the size of the toads examined. Since we had some previous data on the occurrencence and abundance of selected Coleoptera taxa in the forest collected with pitfall traps, we compared the representation of these taxa in the traps and the diet of the toads. According to this comparison, we did not detect selective predation on individual Coleoptera taxa. The analysis of diet composition in the forest area of Krim Mountain was the first study of the diet of toads in Slovenia.
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