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Food Leaves Its Mark on the Gut Bacteria of Kruger’s Wildlife

African wild dog in Kruger National Park, South Africa
Research: Disease, parasites & microbiology, Ecology

A lion eats meat, a white rhinoceros grazes on grass, and a black rhinoceros browses leaves from shrubs and trees. Those feeding differences also leave a mark inside the animals. A study of nine mammal species in South Africa’s Kruger National Park found that their gut bacteria clustered primarily according to food and digestive strategy.

Bacteria are part of the gut microbiome, the community of microorganisms in the digestive system, and help break down food. The researchers examined bacterial DNA in faeces, using 89 samples in their main analyses to build a picture of the bacterial groups living in the animals.

Three ways of processing food

The carnivores studied were lions (Panthera leo), spotted hyenas (Crocuta crocuta) and African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus). Their bacterial communities were distinct from those of plant-eaters, with more groups associated with protein breakdown and the bile-rich environment accompanying the digestion of fatty food.

The herbivores fell into two groups. African buffalo (Syncerus caffer) and impala (Aepyceros melampus) are ruminants, relying on microbes to break down plant fibre in the rumen. African bush elephants (Loxodonta africana), common warthogs (Phacochoerus africanus), black rhinoceroses (Diceros bicornis) and white rhinoceroses (Ceratotherium simum) are hindgut fermenters: much of their microbial breakdown of plant fibre takes place in the hindgut.

This second group had the greatest bacterial diversity, followed by ruminants and then carnivores. The researchers link the difference to the variety of resources that plant material provides for bacteria, whereas the rumen creates a more specialised environment.

Both herbivore groups had high proportions of fibre-degrading bacterial families such as Rikenellaceae and Oscillospiraceae. Families including Fusobacteriaceae and Clostridiaceae were more prominent in carnivores.

Two rhinos, different bacterial communities

The broad grouping accounted for the largest differences, but species within each group were not alike. Black and white rhinoceroses process plant food in a similar way, yet eat different plants. Their bacterial communities differed in ways the researchers associate with the black rhinoceros’s diet of leaves and woody plants and the white rhinoceros’s grass diet.

Spotted hyenas also differed from lions and wild dogs. The bacterial group Clostridia UCG-014 was particularly characteristic of hyenas. The researchers link this to their consumption of carrion, bone and fatty parts of prey. Predictions also suggested differences in what the bacteria could metabolise, although this was not measured directly.

The study therefore reveals both a broad division between animals with different feeding habits and finer differences among species with similar digestive systems. The researchers suggest that understanding these bacterial communities can provide a starting point for investigating how changes in food availability and habitat affect wildlife.

Sources and image credit

  1. Green, S., Thongthum, T., Pietrucci, D., et al. (2026). Dietary ecology structures gut microbiome assembly in sympatric wild mammals from Kruger National Park, South Africa. Animal Microbiome.Primary open-access Article in Press published 18 September 2026. Full 21-page article checked. Ninety-four faecal samples from nine wild mammal species were sequenced and 89 retained after quality filtering. Dietary group was the strongest organiser of microbiome composition; non-ruminant herbivores had the highest microbial diversity, and focal comparisons identified distinct black-versus-white rhinoceros and spotted-hyaena profiles.

Image: African wild dog (Lycaon pictus) on the H11 Road west of Skukuza, Kruger National Park, Mpumalanga, South Africa, photographed 25 February 2022. Photo: Bernard DUPONT. Source: Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 2.0. Representative image of one of the nine study species in the study park; not an identified sampled animal. · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Source

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Disease, parasites & microbiology

SPECIES IN THIS STORY

Species in this story

Lion Panthera leo Explore species Spotted Hyena Crocuta crocuta Explore species African Wild Dog Lycaon pictus Explore species Common Warthog Phacochoerus africanus Explore species African Bush Elephant Loxodonta africana Explore species Black Rhinoceros Diceros bicornis Explore species White Rhinoceros Ceratotherium simum Explore species African Buffalo Syncerus caffer Explore species Impala Aepyceros melampus Explore species

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