The Cat's Whiskers: Stable Isotopes Reveal Individual Specialisation of Adaptable Caracals (<i>Caracal caracal</i>) Foraging in an Urbanising Landscape

Urbanisation critically alters the availability of resources and the nature of risks for wildlife by fragmenting natural habitats and disrupting ecosystems. Despite these challenges, carnivores frequently persist in and around urban environments, where novel opportunities, such as anthropogenic food, may outweigh associated ecological risks. Here, we investigate the responses of an urban adapter to novel resources, using stable isotope analysis of vibrissae (whiskers) to understand the spatiotemporal foraging patterns of caracals (<i>Caracal caracal</i>) on the fringes of the city of Cape Town, South Africa. Caracals are medium-sized felids and the largest remaining predators on the Cape Peninsula. Using isotopic niche metrics and home range estimates, we assess the effects of demographics, seasonality, and urbanisation on variation in individual foraging behaviour from GPS-collar monitored caracals (<i>n</i> = 28) across an urban gradient. Despite a wide isotopic niche at the population level, we observed high levels of individual specialisation. Adult and male niches were wider, likely due to larger home ranges, which facilitate the exploitation of diverse prey across trophic levels. Patterns in <i>δ</i> ¹³C were seasonal, with increases during the warmer, drier summer months across the Peninsula irrespective of habitat use. Taken together with niche contraction for caracals in urban areas, our findings suggest higher reliance on human-subsidised resources in summer. Caracals using areas dominated by wildland cover had higher <i>δ</i> ¹⁵N values and larger niches than those using urban-dominated areas. Across the study area, <i>δ</i> ¹⁵N values varied spatially, with increased enrichment in caracals using more coastal and wetland areas and prey, particularly in winter. Individual foraging flexibility in caracal is clearly a key strategy for their success in this rapidly transforming landscape. Understanding spatiotemporal shifts in dietary niche and trophic ecology in adaptable urban carnivores, like the Cape Peninsula caracals, is fundamental for understanding the ecological needs of wildlife in and around rapidly growing cities.