Influence of Diet on Detection of Fecal Bile Acids by Thin-Layer Chromatography

Use of scat analysis to determine food habits of carnivores is dependent on accurate species identification of scat. Thin-layer chromatography (TLC) of fecal bile acids has been used to identify carnivore scat but relies on an untested assumption that diet does not affect the profile (incidence and concentration) of fecal bile acids in ways that obscure species-specific patterns. We conducted a feeding experiment to evaluate the effect of diet on the reliability of TLC as a means of uniquely identifying coyote (Canis latrans) scats. We detected deoxycholic and chenodeoxycholic acids in all scats from coyotes fed a control diet composed of commercial feed