Scavenging diet of Brown-necked Raven Corvus ruficollis Lesson, 1830 (Aves: Corvidae) in a hyper-arid region of Central Algerian Sahara

Abstract

The diet of the brown-necked raven was studied analysing 175 pellets with 1047 prey items collected in an arid region of Central Algerian Sahara during both breeding and non-breeding seasons. The breeding season diet was composed mainly by invertebrates, vertebrates, plants and inert material and the food waste of people (pasta and chicken), which appeared with a high occurrence: 58.8 and 38.2%, respectively. Other prey species included the sun spider Galeodes spp.(relative abundance, RA%= 7.8%), beetles (Dermestidae RA%= 8.6% and Curculionidae RA%= 7.7%). Dates were also eaten by ravens and appeared in 26.5% of all the analysed pellets. In the non-breeding season, the diet was based also mainly on the rejected carcasses (chicken and some mammals) but a great number of larvae of Diptera were also observed (RA%= 72.9%) as a result of carcasses consumption. The brown-necked raven is an omnivorous scavenger that prefers dump sites for feeding. The food waste of humans and vertebrates carcasses are known to be an easy food resource. It is complemented with other prey items appearing with a less frequency, mainly arthropods. While otherwise ravens are highly influenced by people, they refused eating on their rubbish dumps during the breeding season.