Prey preferences and dietary overlap amongst Africa's large predators

This synthesis pulled together the individual prey-preference analyses for lion, leopard, cheetah, spotted hyena and wild dog to quantify dietary overlap across the African large-carnivore guild. By comparing preferred prey-weight ranges and significantly selected species, Hayward and Kerley mapped where competition for shared prey is most intense and where partitioning by body size buffers coexistence. They showed substantial overlap among the larger predators, especially lion and hyena, with cheetah and wild dog separated partly by smaller preferred prey. The framework lets managers anticipate competitive suppression following reintroductions and explains why subordinate predators suffer kleptoparasitism and intraguild predation. It is a cornerstone reference for African predator community ecology.