Fear or feast: small mammal activity increases in the presence of carcasses despite increased threat of predation by black‐backed jackals

Food acquisition is arguably the most important, and among the riskiest behaviours for most mammals. Carcasses are an ephemeral resource for many scavengers, particularly black‐backed jackals Lupulella mesomelas that prey on small mammals. Landscape of fear theory suggests that prey species should reduce their activity in areas of high predator activity to reduce the threat of predation. To test whether increased black‐backed jackal activity around carcasses results in reduced small mammal activity we conducted a Before, After, Control, Impact (BACI) experiment on Telperion Nature Reserve. We monitored the activity of small mammals, black‐backed jackals and Coleoptera at experimental and control sites. At experimental sites, a blue wildebeest Connochaetes taurinus carcass was either ‘exposed' to vertebrate scavengers, or ‘enclosed' (i.e. placed in an exclosure cage). We monitored the sites before, during, and after deployment of carcasses (in the austral summer of 2019), and seasonally (austral autumn, winter, spring and the following summer of 2020), for a year after the cessation of carcass decomposition. We used AICc model selection based on outcomes from GLMM procedures to determine the model that was best supported by the data. Then we analysed the influence of the presence of carcasses on small mammals, black‐backed jackals and coleopteran activity independently of one another. We found that the models that best explained increase in small mammal activity were univariate models, the highest ranked of which included the presence of carcasses which was only ΔAICc = 0.54 better supported than the model that associated increased small mammal activity with coleopterans. We found a significant increase in small mammal (p = 0.02), black‐backed jackal (p < 0.001), and coleopteran activity (p = 0.001) at experimental sites after carcass deployment. The small mammal assemblage, consisting primarily of omnivorous and insectivorous rodents (which feed on coleopterans) became more active in response to an ephemeral food source (carcass) despite a concomitant increase in threat of predation from black‐backed jackals.