Revealing Seasonal Dietary Niche Overlap Among Sympatric Large Carnivores using DNA Metabarcoding

Fecal samples from African lions (Panthera leo) and spotted hyenas (Crocuta crocuta) were collected across Etosha National Park and surrounding reserves in Namibia to assess seasonal variation in diet. Samples were analyzed using 12S rRNA gene metabarcoding to identify vertebrate prey species. Sequencing and bioinformatics were performed by Jonah Ventures using Illumina high-throughput sequencing. Data were analyzed in R to quantify prey composition, richness, and dietary overlap between species and seasons.