behind the big cat's and bear's, who is the top predator?

[Styx38]

(05-26-2020, 10:15 AM)Ashutosh Wrote: @Styx38, by leopard you mean snow leopard, right? Because leopards don’t share their habitat with Kiangs, but snow leopards do.

https://www.snowleopardnetwork.org/bibliography/Mallon_IPBSL_Ladakh_1984.pdf

It’s an old study, but there is mention of snow leopard preying upon Kiang in Tibet and Mongolia where their populations are bigger than in Ladakh. 

Snow leopards in Ladakh generally prefer Cliff-hugging ungulates - Himalayan Ibex, Blue sheep aka Bharal, the rare Himalayan Tahr and Markhor in Ladakh area. This is not to say they won’t prey upon more plain dwelling animals like Tibetan Gazelle, Kiang, Argali sheep and in winters will even eat pikas, Himalayan marmots and hares. The Mustang region of Nepal is very similar in topography and climate.

Because of these areas falling in the rain shadow region of Himalayas, snow leopards have only so many options. When you move eastward, snow leopards regularly venture below the tree line to get their prey and this opens up so many species for predation for example the musk deer. And, in Eastern Himalayas, their range overlaps with tigers, which means there is an overlap of prey species here like takin and goral.

Interesting. Wild Asses are probably more dangerous than free-ranging or Wild Horses.  Their domestic counterparts are more aggressive towards small carnivores.

Anyway, here are some older accounts of Leopards predating on Horses.

*This image is copyright of its original author

Source: Mammals of the Soviet Union, Volume 2 Part 2 Carnivora (Hyenas and Cats)

One of the areas, the Badhyz Reserve, has various feral or free-ranging Horses.

"There are also some clear management actions needed, including, removal of the feral horse population before it increases any more, the importance of securing access to water sources outside the reserve for the kulan and providing infrastructural  and logistical support for the reserve staff by upgrading their equipment"


Kaczensky and Linnell. 2014. Rapid assessment of the mammalian community  in the Badhyz Ecosystem, Turkmenistan

So it seems a Leopard may have killed a free-ranging Horse, or many of them in Turkmenistan.

Some important Horse breeds there include:

Akhal-Teke Horse; WEIGHT: 900 to 1,000 pounds

https://www.thesprucepets.com/meet-the-akhal-teke-1886116

Also,the Iomud, which is stated to be up to 450 kg, though it is on a defunct source. Reply