# A change of diet from rodents to rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus). Is the wildcat (Felis silvestris) a specialist predator?

> Are wildcats rodent specialists? By collecting 239 wildcat scats across central Spain, researchers found that where rabbits live, wildcats switch to them, especially in summer, and rodents drop from 82% to 41% of scats. Wildcats turn out to be flexible hunters that eat what the land offers.

Summary by Kersey Lawrence, Original Wisdom. Updated 9 November 2026. Page: https://www.originalwisdom.com/tracking-literature/2004-malo-lozano-change-diet-rodents-rabbits/

## Citation and access

- **Authors:** Aurelio F. Malo, Jorge Lozano, Daniel L. Huertas and Emilio Virgós
- **Year published:** 2004
- **Journal or source:** Journal of Zoology
- **Full citation:** Malo, A. F., Lozano, J., Huertas, D. L. and Virgós, E. 2004. A change of diet from rodents to rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus). Is the wildcat (Felis silvestris) a specialist predator? Journal of Zoology 263(4): 401-407.
- **DOI:** 10.1017/S0952836904005448
- **Access status:** Publisher link only
- **Where to find it:** https://doi.org/10.1017/S0952836904005448

## Tags

- **Species:** Mammals > European rabbit; Mammals > European wildcat
- **Region:** Europe > Spain
- **Tracking:** Burrows; Scat; Sign surveys; Tracking; Tracks and signs identification
- **Behaviour and ecology:** Behaviour; Feeding; Predation
- **Methods and technology:** Chi-square test
- **Data type:** New field data
- **Observer qualification:** Not reported
- **Discipline:** Behaviour and ecology; Wildlife tracking
- **Year published:** 2004

## Detailed keywords

- **Species:** Studied: wildcat (Felis silvestris). Prey found in scats: European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus); Iberian hare (Lepus granatensis); rodents including wood mouse (Apodemus sylvaticus), mice (Mus sp.), common vole (Microtus arvalis) and pine voles (Pitymys sp.); insectivores including white-toothed shrew (Crocidura russula), Sorex shrews (Sorex sp.) and Iberian blind mole (Talpa occidentalis); birds; reptiles, including Psammodromus lizards (Psammodromus sp.); arthropods, including mole crickets (Gryllotalpa sp.), beetles, grasshoppers and crickets (Orthoptera), myriapods and freshwater crayfish. Also found: remains of an unidentified ungulate (one scat) and a cat’s claw (domestic cat or wildcat, not determined). Other carnivores mentioned from the literature: Iberian lynx (Lynx pardinus), badger (Meles meles), red fox (Vulpes vulpes), genet and stone marten.
- **Location and habitat:** A 2916 km² region in the centre of the Iberian Peninsula, Madrid province, central Spain. Two habitat types: Mediterranean vegetation areas (700 to 1250 m above sea level) of holm oak (Quercus ilex) forest, scrubland of Cistus ladanifer and Retama sphaerocarpa, and mosaics with pastureland; and Pyrenean oak (Quercus pyrenaica) forests (1250 to 1700 m) with Cistus laurifolius and broom (Citysus scoparius, as spelled in the paper) in the understorey. 29 areas: 15 Mediterranean areas with rabbits, 6 Mediterranean areas without rabbits and 8 Pyrenean oak forest areas without rabbits.
- **Topics:** wildcat diet; scat analysis; trophic specialist versus generalist; facultative specialist; optimal foraging; prey switching; prey availability; rabbit presence and absence; seasonal diet; diet diversity; habitat effects; consumed biomass; rabbit diseases (myxomatosis, rabbit haemorrhagic disease); superpredation or cannibalism.
- **Statistics or models:** Frequency of occurrence (FO) and consumed biomass (CB) of prey, using mean prey weights; a formula for rabbit consumed biomass by season (370 g in autumn and winter, 325 g in spring and summer); Shannon-Weaver diversity index; G-tests (with Yates’ correction where expected frequencies were under 10); chi-square tests; Kruskal-Wallis tests; STATISTICA 6.0. Inconsistencies in the paper: (1) in Table 1, the arthropod total (132 items) does not match the sum of its subgroups (insects 128, myriapods 2, crayfish 4 = 134); (2) myriapods in areas without rabbits are given an FO of 0.03%, although one item in 107 scats would be about 0.93%; (3) mole crickets (12 items) and other beetles (7 items) are both given an FO of 5.30% in areas with rabbits; (4) the Methods say G-tests were used for frequency of occurrence, but several results are reported as chi-square tests.
- **Data type:** New field data: scats collected on trails visited every season, 1997 to 1999 (239 scats, 558 prey items: 132 scats from areas with rabbits and 107 from areas without). Rabbit populations in the areas were monitored routinely from 1989.

## Synopsis

### 1. What they did

Most studies of the wildcat’s diet have found that rodents are their staple food, which suggests they are rodent specialists. But some studies have found rabbits to be the main prey where rabbits live. The authors asked whether wildcats are true rodent specialists, or “facultative specialists” that switch to another rewarding prey, such as rabbits, when it is available.

They worked in central Spain, where wildcats are found throughout but rabbits occur only in patches:

- Choosing the areas. They searched trails for wildcat scats to find 29 areas with wildcats: 21 in Mediterranean vegetation (holm oak forest, scrub and pasture) and 8 in higher Pyrenean oak forest.

- Checking for rabbits. They searched each area for rabbit burrows and latrines. Rabbits were present in 15 of the Mediterranean areas and in none of the oak forests, giving 15 areas with rabbits and 14 without.

- Collecting scats (1997 to 1999). They walked at least 1 km of trail per area every season and collected 239 wildcat scats, holding 558 prey items. Prey were identified from bones and teeth.

- Comparing diets. They compared how often each prey type appeared (frequency of occurrence), the estimated weight of food eaten (consumed biomass) and diet diversity between areas with and without rabbits, between seasons, and between the two habitats.

### 2. What they found

Rabbits replace rodents

- Where rabbits were present, they were the main prey: found in 61% of scats and about 90% of the biomass eaten.

- Where rabbits were absent, rodents were found in 82% of scats, compared with 41% where rabbits were present.

- The same shift held when only Mediterranean areas were compared, so it was due to rabbits, not habitat. The rodents that rose most where rabbits were absent were the common vole and the wood mouse.

- Insectivores and reptiles were also eaten less where rabbits were present; birds and arthropods did not differ.

Seasons

- Where rabbits were present, rabbit remains peaked in summer (84% of scats) and were lowest in winter (17%). Rodents followed the opposite pattern: 89% in winter and 11% in summer.

- Where rabbits were absent, rodents stayed steady at about 82% all year, while insectivores, reptiles, birds and arthropods rose in spring or summer.

- Diet diversity was highest in summer and lowest in winter (more than twice as high), and slightly lower where rabbits were present.

Habitat

- In the absence of rabbits, wildcats ate more rodents in Mediterranean areas (97% of scats) than in Pyrenean oak forests (77%).

- In the oak forests they ate more reptiles, insectivores (especially white-toothed shrews and Iberian blind moles) and arthropods.

- Oak forest scats also held remains of two Iberian hares, an unidentified ungulate and a cat’s claw.

### 3. What they concluded

- Wildcats are not rodent specialists. They are opportunistic predators of small animals that eat according to what is available, with a strong tendency to specialize in rabbits where rabbits are present in their home range, and in rodents where there are none.

- Where prey is scarce, as in the Pyrenean oak forests, they behave like typical generalists.

- Rabbits are a highly rewarding prey: two to three adult rabbits or four young ones could meet a wildcat’s daily needs, compared with about 30 small rodents. Rabbits weakened by myxomatosis or rabbit haemorrhagic disease may also be easier to catch.

- The summer peak in rabbits fits the season when inexperienced young rabbits and sick adults are most available; wildcats turn to rodents in winter, when rabbits are harder to catch.

- The authors did not measure rabbit abundance, only presence or absence.

- The cat’s claw is, to their knowledge, the first reported case of a wildcat eating another cat: superpredation if it was a domestic cat, or cannibalism if it was a wildcat.

### 4. How tracking was or was not used

The study rests on signs. Trails were surveyed for scats both to confirm that wildcats were present in each area and to collect the scats for diet analysis. Wildcat scats were recognized using the methods of an earlier study (Lozano et al. 2003), which are not described in this paper. Rabbit presence or absence was judged by searching for rabbit burrows and latrines. No trailing was reported.

### 5. Tracker or observer certification

Not reported. The paper does not say who searched for and identified the scats, or how accurate scat identification was. This matters because the whole diet analysis depends on the scats being from wildcats rather than other carnivores.

### 6. Other technologies, skills or innovations

- Prey identified from bones and teeth in scats, using published identification keys.

- Prey biomass estimated from mean prey weights, with a seasonal formula for rabbits based on the share of young and adult rabbits taken.

### 8. Implications for tracking (Original Wisdom's observations)

_These are Original Wisdom's observations, not the authors'._

- A wildcat’s scats in one area may tell a very different diet story from scats in another, depending on whether rabbits are present and on the season. Prey remains in scats read best alongside the other signs in the area, such as rabbit burrows and latrines.

- Scat-based diet studies depend on correct identification of the scats. Here the identification method is only cited, and no check of observer accuracy or genetic confirmation is reported.

## Cite this summary

Lawrence, K. 2026. Summary of: A change of diet from rodents to rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus). Is the wildcat (Felis silvestris) a specialist predator? (Malo and Lozano et al., 2004). Original Wisdom, Tracking Literature. https://www.originalwisdom.com/tracking-literature/2004-malo-lozano-change-diet-rodents-rabbits/