Spatial and temporal niche overlap of aardwolves and aardvarks in Serengeti National Park, Tanzania

Species interactions can influence species distributions, but mechanisms mitigating competition or facilitating positive interactions between ecologically similar species are often poorly understood. Aardwolves (Proteles cristata) and aardvarks (Orycteropus afer) are nocturnal, insectivorous mammals that co-occur in eastern and southern Africa, and knowledge of these species is largely limited to their nutritional biology. We used aardwolf and aardvark detections from 106 remote cameras during 2016–2018 to assess their spatial and temporal niche overlap in the grasslands of Serengeti National Park, Tanzania. Using a multispecies occupancy model, we identified a positive interaction between occupancy probabilities for aardwolves and aardvarks. Slope, proportion of grassland, and termite mound density did not affect occupancy probabilities of either species. Probability of aardwolf, but not aardvark, occupancy increased with distance to permanent water sources, which may relate to predati...