Carbon Isotopic Evidence for Different Feeding Patterns in Two Hyrax Species Occupying the Same Habitat

Abstract

The carbon-13/carbon-12 ratios of the carbonate and collagen fractions of bone of the sympatric hyrax species Procavia johnstoni and Heterohyrax brucei indicate that the former obtains most of its diet by grazing while the latter is primarily a browser. The carbon-13/carbon-12 ratios of these fractions in fossil bone will record information about diet if they have not been altered during diagenesis.