Animals that spend most of their time searching for food could be more exposed to the effects of climate change, according to a study carried out by researchers from Imperial College London and by the Zoological Society of London (United Kingdom) and which has been published in the journal 'Nature Ecology & Evolution'.
And it is that, medium carnivores, such as the crab fox or the Bengal cat, to find something to put in their mouth they must travel distances that are getting longer and longer by deforestation and climate change.
To reach that conclusion, the scientists used data on carnivores from around the world, from tigers to weasels. Thus, they were able to show that medium-sized species, that is, those weighing between 1 and 10 kilos, spent most of the day searching for food, which causes them a lot of stress and, as a consequence, damages their health.
According to Samraat Pawar of the Department of Life Sciences at Imperial College London, they propose a simple mathematical model that predicts how feeding time depends on the size of the animal's body. »This can help predict potential risks to predators facing environmental changes.». Such a model has been developed by the team, which has used data collected through tracking methods such as radio collars and GPS. In total, data from 73 terrestrial carnivorous species were examined.
Thus, they found that medium-sized carnivores look for food longer because they feed on prey that, compared to their body, is small and therefore much faster and difficult to capture. To this must be added the loss of habitat, which is making it increasingly difficult for predators to hunt.
If you want to know more information, do click here to read the study in English.