Data from: Dingoes dining with death

Dingoes (Canis dingo) are known for hunting and killing animals to meet
their energetic requirements, but like almost all predators they also
scavenge animal remains. To improve our understanding of dingo scavenging
ecology, we investigated the role of abiotic and biotic factors in shaping
carcass utilisation by dingoes and further determined whether dingo
scavenging influenced carcass persistence in the landscape. To do so, we
monitored visitation and scavenging by dingoes using remote cameras
positioned on 119 kangaroo carcasses in open and closed canopy habitats
and in warm and cool seasons. The carcasses were monitored across multiple
study sites, which incorporated forest, alpine and desert ecoregions in
Australia. We found that season played an important role in shaping
carcass utilisation by dingoes, as well as carcass persistence. Warmer
seasons increased the rate of carcass discovery 6.3-fold in the Forest
study site and 4.8-fold in the Alpine study site, and also increased the
time dingoes spent feeding on carcasses in the Alpine study site. Further,
across all study sites, carcasses persisted at least 4.7 times longer in
cool compared with warm seasons. On the other hand, carcass utilisation by
dingoes was not influenced by habitat, although carcasses were more likely
to persist in open compared with closed canopy habitats in the Alpine
study site. Finally, our study showed that dingo scavenging may contribute
to substantial carcass removal in certain contexts. Indeed, decreased
carcass persistence in the Forest study site was evident in the cool
season, when dingo scavenging occurred during the first two weeks of
monitoring. The variability in results highlights the complexity of
patterns in dingo scavenging and, more broadly, of vertebrate scavenging.
It emphasises the need to consider multiple abiotic and biotic factors to
properly understand the functional roles of different scavenger species.
Longer-term studies with additional seasonal replicates may also yield a
more detailed picture of the role of dingoes as apex scavengers.