Winter Dietary Analysis Reveals the Foraging Differences of Wild Boar (Sus scrofa) in Different Regions of a Karst Mountainous Area

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Studying the dietary habits of animals helps us to understand the food composition requirements and nutrition strategy of these animals, as well as allows us to explore their resource utilization and relationship with their prey. Due to the difficulty in obtaining samples of the stomach contents of wild boars, there are few reports on the feeding habits of wild boars in karst areas. In this study, the stomach contents of 14 south China wild boars were analyzed by DNA metabarcoding. The results showed that there were 153 genera, 93 families, and 48 orders of plant food sources. Cissus, Dioscorea, Quercus, Actinidia, and Houttuynia were the core plants. The remaining foods were animal food sources, including invertebrates and vertebrates. It is noteworthy that wild boars in different regions also showed different foraging preferences in winter. This study revealed the foraging preference of wild boars under the special forest vegetation conditions in the mountainous area of southwest China, as well as the relationship between the food habits of wild boars and their habitats from the perspective of resource utilization, thus providing a key scientific basis for the prevention and control of wild boars, along with resource protection. ABSTRACT: Wild boars (Sus scrofa) are extremely common in southern China, but little study has been conducted regarding reporting the dietary habits of wild boars using high-throughput sequencing technology, especially in karst areas, due to the difficulty in obtaining stomach contents of wild boars. In our study, the stomach contents of 14 wild boars in southern China were analyzed by DNA metabarcoding. The results showed that there were 153 genera, 93 families, and 48 orders of plant food sources for wild boars. The main plant food component were Cissus, Dioscorea, Quercus, Actinidia, and Houttuynia. The most numerous taxa of animal food sources were Elaphodus, Amynthas, Chonaphe, Rattus, and Tanytarsus. It is noteworthy that Elaphodus cephalophus were detected in most of the stomach samples, accounting for a large portion of animal food sources. The results showed that there were significant differences in the diets of wild boars in different regions; however, no significant differences were noted between male and female wild boars. Our study revealed the dietary preference of wild boars under the special forest conditions in the mountainous area of southwest China, as well as the relationship between the dietary habits of wild boars and their habitats from the perspective of resource utilization, thus providing a key scientific basis for the prevention and control of wild boars, along with resource protection.