Projects · Field experiment
Which parts of a carcass dingoes, foxes and eagles choose, and how that changes with season and decay.
Forty eastern grey kangaroo carcasses were deployed across the Wolgan Valley, on the edge of the Greater Blue Mountains, and monitored with camera traps across contrasting seasons.
For the first time, the study documented selective body-part feeding by scavengers and how it changes with season and decomposition: eagles often prioritised the head and abdomen, dingoes favoured the tail, and both apex scavengers out-competed red foxes for preferred parts.
Royal Society Open Science
Using camera traps on 40 kangaroo carcasses in the Wolgan Valley, this study shows that scavengers pick favourite body parts. Wedge-tailed eagles often start at the head and abdomen, dingoes favour the tail, and those preferences shift with the season and as a carcass decays, while red foxes change their behaviour much less.