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DNA Metabarcoding Found 15 Vertebrate Prey Species in Tadoba Dhole Scats

Dhole walking in forest habitat
Research · Ecology

A 2026 DNA-metabarcoding study of dhole (Cuon alpinus) diet in Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve, central India, identified 15 vertebrate prey species from 169 genetically confirmed scat samples collected across monsoon and winter. Wild prey dominated the diet, while domestic cattle and buffalo were detected only at low levels.

DNA metabarcoding identifies food by extracting DNA from faeces, amplifying a short genetic marker and comparing the resulting sequences with reference databases. In this study, the researchers also used a blocking oligonucleotide designed to suppress amplification of dhole DNA so that more sequencing capacity was available for prey DNA.

Chital and sambar dominated both diet measures

The researchers summarised the diet in two complementary ways. Frequency of occurrence (FOO) is the percentage of scat samples in which a prey species was detected at all. Chital (Axis axis) occurred in 70.4% of samples and sambar (Rusa unicolor) in 66.9%, followed by northern red muntjac (Muntiacus vaginalis; reported as M. muntjak in the study) at 55.6%, Indian hare (Lepus nigricollis) at 30.8%, wild boar (Sus scrofa) at 26.6% and four-horned antelope (Tetracerus quadricornis) at 11.2%.

FOO shows how regularly a prey species appears across scats, but it does not directly measure how much meat that prey contributed. A small prey animal can appear frequently without supplying as much biomass as a large ungulate.

The second measure, relative read abundance (RRA), is the share of prey-DNA sequence reads assigned to each species. Chital accounted for 33.1% of dietary reads, sambar 25.9%, Indian hare 14.5% and wild boar 10.8%. Northern red muntjac and four-horned antelope each accounted for 5.1%, while all other detected prey species were below 1%.

RRA can sometimes track relative dietary contribution better than occurrence alone, but it is not a direct measurement of biomass either. Different prey tissues can digest differently, DNA can survive unevenly, and PCR can amplify some taxa more efficiently than others. The two measures are therefore most useful when interpreted together.

Diet broadened during the monsoon

Diet composition varied with season and location in the reserve. Monsoon samples showed broader and more variable prey profiles, whereas winter samples were more consistent and more strongly dominated by large-bodied prey. Samples from the protected core zone also showed broader dietary profiles than those from buffer areas with more mixed land use.

The study does not by itself show whether these differences were caused by prey abundance, seasonal accessibility or changes in hunting behaviour. The authors interpret them as consistent with seasonal foraging constraints, habitat quality and the availability of wild prey.

Domestic prey contributed very little

Cattle and domestic buffalo appeared only rarely in both diet measures. The strong dominance of wild ungulates therefore indicates that dholes in Tadoba relied overwhelmingly on a wild-prey base rather than livestock during the sampled seasons.

The study also tested a streamlined collection method in which small pinches of scat were preserved directly in lysis buffer. This approach recovered more useful diet DNA while reducing amplification of dhole DNA compared with preserving larger scat samples in silica.

Ecologically, the result reinforces the importance of maintaining diverse wild prey populations in and around dhole strongholds. It also shows why metabarcoding benefits from multiple diet metrics: presence in many scats and contribution to the sequencing reads describe related but not identical aspects of predator diet.

Sources and image credit

  1. Tyagi, A., M., A., Hushangabadkar, P., Kale, N., Ramgaokar, J., & Ramakrishnan, U. (2026). Minimal Sample, Maximum Insight: DNA Metabarcoding Uncovers the Diet of Endangered Dholes in Central India. Environmental DNA, 8(3), e70306. https://doi.org/10.1002/edn3.70306Primary open-access research article. DNA metabarcoding of 169 genetically confirmed dhole scats from Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve identified 15 vertebrate prey species and strong seasonal and spatial dietary variation.

Image: Rohitvarma / Wikimedia Commons — wild dhole (Cuon alpinus) in Nagarhole National Park, India, 13 November 2020; representative species image, not an animal from the Tadoba study; cropped to 16:9 · CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ · Source

About this content: This story was produced with AI assistance within an editorial workflow developed by Wildlife Vagabond. Editorial responsibility remains with Wildlife Vagabond.How AI is used

Ecology

SPECIES IN THIS STORY

Species in this story

Dhole Cuon alpinus Explore species Chital Axis axis Explore species Sambar Rusa unicolor Explore species Northern Red Muntjac Muntiacus vaginalis Explore species Indian Hare Lepus nigricollis Explore species Wild Boar Sus scrofa Explore species

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