Research overview: dietary niche partitioning among sympatric small cats

An overview of how co-occurring small felids divide prey to coexist, a less-studied counterpart to big-cat guild ecology. Where species such as ocelots, margays, oncillas, jungle cats, leopard cats and African wildcats overlap, they partition prey by body size, microhabitat and activity time, with larger small-cats taking bigger vertebrates and smaller species concentrating on rodents, birds and invertebrates. This survey synthesizes scat-based diet studies, the role of vertical stratification and nocturnal versus crepuscular activity, and how the larger small-cats can suppress the smaller through intraguild competition. Understanding this fine-scale partitioning matters for conserving diverse small-felid assemblages and clarifies how the prey-size and competition principles established for big cats extend down the felid size spectrum.