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Small Mammal Activity Rose Around Carcasses Even as Black-Backed Jackal Activity Increased

Black-backed jackal feeding on an impala carcass in Kruger National Park
Research · Ecology

A field experiment at Telperion Nature Reserve in Mpumalanga, South Africa, found that small-mammal activity increased around large-animal carcasses even as black-backed jackal (Lupulella mesomelas) activity rose at the same sites. The study, first published on 1 June 2026, tested whether rodents and other small mammals would reduce their activity where carcasses concentrated a predator that also preys on them.

The researchers used 15 grassland sites in a before–after, control–impact design: five sites received an exposed blue wildebeest (Connochaetes taurinus) carcass, five had a carcass inside an exclosure that kept vertebrate scavengers out, and five had no carcass. Small mammals were live-trapped before carcass placement, during active decomposition and seasonally for a year; jackals were monitored with camera traps and beetles with pitfall traps.

Carcasses and beetles both tracked the increase

Small-mammal captures increased significantly at experimental sites after carcass deployment, while black-backed jackal and beetle activity also increased. The best-supported before–after model for small-mammal activity included carcass deployment, but a model based on beetle captures received almost equally strong support. The authors therefore interpret the carcass itself and the associated increase in invertebrate food as closely linked explanations rather than isolating a single mechanism.

Across the study, 201 individual small mammals from ten species were captured. Seven species were omnivorous or insectivorous, and 95.5% of captures came from animals in those feeding groups, so the authors caution that the inference applies mainly to them. They also note that minimum-number-alive estimates — a conservative count of individuals known to be present — did not show the same pattern as total captures, meaning that the increase could reflect altered activity or detectability rather than an increase in abundance.

Activity rose despite the expected avoidance

The result ran counter to the original prediction that small mammals would avoid carcass sites because of higher predator activity. Instead, the temporary food pulse associated with decomposition coincided with greater small-mammal activity even while black-backed jackal activity—and therefore potential predation risk—also increased. Because active decomposition occurred in January and February, when small-mammal populations at Telperion are normally near their seasonal low, the authors caution that the same trade-off may not occur at other times of year when food is more abundant.

Sources and image credit

  1. Melville, H. I. A. S., & Strauss, W. M. (2026). Fear or feast: Small mammal activity increases in the presence of carcasses despite increased threat of predation by black-backed jackals. Wildlife Biology, 2026, e01620. https://doi.org/10.1002/wlb3.01620Primary peer-reviewed open-access article first published 1 June 2026 under CC BY. A BACI field experiment at Telperion Nature Reserve used exposed and enclosed blue wildebeest carcasses and control sites. Small-mammal, black-backed jackal and coleopteran activity all increased after carcass deployment; 201 individual small mammals from ten species were captured, with 95.5% of captures from omnivorous or insectivorous species.

Image: Bernard DUPONT / Wikimedia Commons — black-backed jackal feeding on an impala carcass east of Orpen, Kruger National Park, South Africa, 10 February 2014; representative scavenging image, not a study animal · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Source

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