Table 2.

Examples of text descriptions and keywords on the relative importance of mammalian diet categories as reported in two literature sources with global, cladewide coverage (Nowak 1999; IUCN 2013). For data entry into MammalDIET, text descriptions were converted into ordinal data (rank 1–3)

Diet rank	Ecological interpretation	Examples of text descriptions
Rank 1	Primary food items representing diet categories with major importance (the main food items consumed)	Consists mainly, feeds mostly, concentrates, includes, major portion, prefers, especially significant, most frequently consumed, almost exclusively
Rank 2	Secondary food items representing diet categories of intermediate importance	But also includes, may include, also important, feeds partly, also feeds
Rank 3	Occasional food items representing diet categories of little importance (i.e., rarely eaten)	Occasionally, sometimes, small amounts, supplemented by, a few, rarely, opportunistically