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Most large carnivores feed on prey infrequently and may expend large amounts of energy to locate, capture and kill their prey. This makes them probabilistically vulnerable to fluctuating rates of energy acquisition over time, especially within the increasingly human-altered landscapes that dominate their remaining range. Consequently, quantifying their hunting behaviors and success rates is critical, yet direct observation of these events is rarely feasible. We theorized that we could determine prey pursuit and capture in African wild dogs(Lycaon pictus)using a mechanistic approach by constructing Boolean algorithms applied to accelerometer data derived from collar-mounted tags. Here, we used this method and then iteratively improved algorithms by testing them on observed hunts and kills of collared packs. Using this approach on 47 days of acceleration from three wild dogs in three packs, we identified 29 hunts with 10 kills, all of which were confirmed by direct observation except for a single kill. Our results demonstrate that hunting effort and success can largely be determined from acceleration data using a mechanistic approach. This is particularly valuable when such behaviors are rarely quantified and offers a template for research on foraging in canid species, while also contributing to the expanding body of literature that employs similar methods to quantify hunting in large carnivores. 

Large herbivores are in decline in much of the world, including sub-Saharan Africa, and true apex carnivores like the lion (Panthera leo) decline in parallel with their prey. As a consequence, competitively subordinate carnivores like the African wild dog (Lycaon pictus) are simultaneously experiencing a costly reduction in resources and a beneficial reduction in dominant competitors. The net effect is not intuitively obvious, but wild dogs’ density, survival, and reproduction are all low in areas that are strongly affected by prey depletion. To assess whether these correlations are causal, we tested the hypothesized mechanism, using data from 13 wild dog packs in two ecosystems to relate the energetic costs and benefits of hunting to variation in prey density, while controlling for the effects of local lion density, pack size, the number of dependent pups, and the level of protection. All of these variables affected the energetic costs and benefits of hunting. In areas with low prey density, the magnitude of movements and vectorial dynamic body acceleration (a measure of energy expenditure) both increased, the mass of killed prey decreased, and the number of kills per day did not change detectably. Programs to reduce or reverse the decline of large herbivore populations should be an effective means of improving the status of endangered subordinate competitors like the wild dog, and should be a high priority. Our results demonstrate the utility of research that integrates data from biomonitoring with direct, long-term observation of endangered species, their competitors, and their resources.