New York Times: No food fights for large African herbivores
How is it possible that so many large herbivores coexist in Africa?
That incredible diversity is possible because each species has a distinct diet, a new study concludes. Little is known about the specific plants that elephants, impalas, zebras and other large herbivores eat. With a technique called DNA metabarcoding, researchers at Princeton University analyzed the feces of seven species, matching gene sequences they found to a reference library of plant DNA. All of the species consumed different diets, the scientists found, even those similar in size, digestive physiology and location. The findings, which appear in the Proceedings of the National Academy of the Sciences, may help researchers maintain wildlife diversity in the African savannas.
