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

[Shadow]

(06-04-2019, 01:56 AM)Pckts Wrote:

Quote:^Go email this statement to the actual experts.

Which experts exactly?
Most have found or confirmed the killings of the Animals listed.

Quote:Anyway, the leopard made the kill in Hoedspruit Wildlife Estate, which is in low carnivore density areas

The area is fenced off, the Leopards come and go a long with other predators, none of which are permanent residents and all of which are S. African who are very familiar with Lions. 
 

Quote:For the Kudu cow kills, that is considered the biggest animal to kill in competitor dominated areas.

Based off of what exactly?

"A small female whose contribution to the leopard populations of Londolozi and the surrounding areas is as enduring as her will to survive.  Independent from 10 months of age, she has come full circle and mastered the environment which is now her territory.  Her mastery extends from survival to territorial defence to hunting.  So efficient is her hunting ability that she was recently able to bring down two Kudu bulls in rapid succession."

https://blog.londolozi.com/2010/09/20/maxabeni-brothers-chased-off-kudu-kill/

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

Leopard killing a Bull Kudu in the Sabi Sands
All areas shown are Lion or Tiger dominated, yet Wildebeest, Kudu, Zebra, Herdebeest, Sambar, Nilgali are all on the menu.
Sometimes a Wildebeest can be larger than a Kudu, like I've said, all of these animals come in many different sizes.
Not all are the maximum weights listed on Wiki, in fact, 90% of them are much smaller with all kinds of different scars or injuries that can occur in the wild, age isn't determined nor can they determine general health from a scat or kill site.

Now if we were to flip this and I said, find me images of Leopards killing Sambar in Sri Lanka, can you?



@Shadow 

Quote:For me relevant thing is part "leopard regularly killed". That can´t be denied with 1-2 photos, when trying to dispute result of scientific study, which doesn´t say that leopard wouldn´t kill at all big prey in presence of bigger predators. Regularly indicates naturally, that more often when no bigger predators.

There is no "regularly killed" there was only 4 out of 44 kills that were Sambar *3 of which were male and 1 was a sub adult*
Percentage of Kills consisting of large ungulate kills still the same as anywhere else and Sri Lanka like everywhere else showed Leopards preferred prey with in the 15-40kg range most often. And like everywhere else, the highest prey biomass of small/midsize ungulates *chital* contributes the most to Leopard predations in Sri Lanka and India. 

Quote:Actually I have to admit, that I am not quite sure, about what here is now disagreement in the first place :)

I'm right there with you.
It has twisted and turned all over the place, this new one is based off of Leopards not killing large prey in Lion or Tiger dominated areas I think?
But of course, it doesn't matter if Lions or Tigers are there, if the prey biomass supports it, Leopards make the same sized kills and in areas where they have access to more prey biomass their numbers grow and that is regardless of Lion numbers as long as the prey supply is there.

So basically discussion is about it, that do leopards kill more big prey when there isn´t competition with bigger predators, or not. At least that is now issue. Then one was, that do cougars kill as big prey as leopards.

My personal opinion is, that when there are two quite same sized felines, differences are quite minor and if living in quite different environments, maybe no point to argue too much. Especially when both have been able to adapt in many kind of environments and different kind of prey animals. Well, of course if we would compare cheetah and leopard, it would be easy to find many major differences, but leopard and cougar are much closer call. This kind of comparisons go so easily to endless debates, so I want to make it clear, that this is my personal opinion and I have no interest to debate about cougar and leopard.

What comes to leopard prey selection and influence of presence or absence of bigger carnivores, easiest way to see clear answers would be good statistics, imo. But now I am too tired to focus, maybe looking closer tomorrow just for curiosity, in a way interesting topic. Reply