Differences in microbial diversity between cheetahs and black-backed jackals

So far, microbiome studies were mainly carried out in humans or domestic animals, but the bacterial diversity present in wildlife species is hardly known. In this study, we apply an OTU-approach in conjunction with the oligotyping approach to investigate differences in the gut-microbial communities of two sympatric carnivores of central Namibia, the cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) and the black-backed jackal (Canis mesomelas). Thereby, we increase our understanding of the association between gut-bacteria and their wildlife host and further how shared bacterial taxa differ between the two host species on a bacterial species-like level.