- Date posted: 1st March 2023
Badgers most successful at competing for food, study finds.
Researchers at Nottingham Trent University and the University of Brighton have analysed hundreds of videos sent to them by members of the public, to investigate interactions within and between different species of wild mammals when food was made available to them.
Badgers were found to be the most successful at competing for food, while hedgehogs surprised researchers with their aggressive behaviour.
The study’s aim was to understand the impact of food provided by people to wild mammals in urban areas. The provision can be a benefit, but can also bring animals together that may compete, injure or predate each other.
Researchers analysed 316 instances of animal interaction, of which 175 ended in confrontation that resulted in aggressive or submissive behaviour.
They identified a non-linear garden hierarchy which saw badgers outcompeting the other species for food, followed by cats, then foxes. Foxes dominated hedgehogs, but hedgehogs dominated cats.
Interactions between different species saw cats and foxes being the most aggressive towards each other, with cats dominating foxes.
When studying interactions between the same species, badgers were found to be the least competitive with one another. Hedgehogs were most likely to show aggressive behaviour towards other hedgehogs.
As a declining species, hedgehogs' behaviour is of significance to the researchers, and could guide conservation and welfare management in the future.
Lead researcher from Nottingham Trent University’s School of Animal, Rural and Environmental Sciences Professor Dawn Scott said: “The consequences of interactions between garden mammals are numerous and can become aggressive between competing species. It could lead to injury or death and increased competition might also reduce access to resources for subordinate species or individuals.
“Our study is the first to quantify interactions between urban mammal communities in this way and to identify hierarchical relationships between wild and domestic mammals in urban gardens.”
Dr Bryony Tolhurst from the University of Brighton said: “We need to understand the balance of costs and benefits of feeding animals in urban gardens, to properly guide people on how best to improve their welfare and conservation.”
Researchers from the University of Sussex and the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) were also involved with the study which has been published in the journal Animals.