Leopard Predation Thread

[Styx38]

Adult Female Eland killed by Leopard.

*This image is copyright of its original author

Adult Burchell's Zebra killed by Leopard.

*This image is copyright of its original author

source: de Ruiter, Darryl J., and Lee R. Berger. "Leopards as taphonomic agents in dolomitic caves—implications for bone accumulations in the hominid-bearing deposits of South Africa." Journal of Archaeological Science 27.8 (2000): 665-684.


This study is interesting to note since the Leopard killed many of these animals and managed to transport them into caves for storage.



Interesting sentences in the abstract, as well as comparison to how Sabretooth Cats may have cached their kills:

"The resulting bone assemblage indicates that, when available, leopards will preferentially utilise the deep recesses of caves to the exclusion of trees when feeding, and that the size of prey leopards are capable of capturing, killing and transporting has previously been underestimated. The implications this may have for understanding the accumulation of fossils in the hominid-bearing caves of South Africa are that bones derived form leopards consuming prey in trees probably did not contribute significantly to the assemblages, and further that it is not necessary to invoke sabre-tooth cat involvement for the larger animals found in these assemblages. This modern cave probably represents a more appropriate model for the accumulation of bones in the fossil caves of the Sterkfontein Valley, and the assemblage is being continually monitored to view any and all taphonomic alterations that are occurring"


Also, interesting how the author was surprised of Leopards being able to kill Ungulates many times their size, along with being able to drag them to another location. Reply