Leopard Predation Thread

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~~Luipaard~~ Offline

Leopard enthusiast

1,161 Replies

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Joined: Mar 2017

#337

05-01-2019, 04:27 PM

Leopards taking out (future) competition:

Lion:

*This image is copyright of its original author

"Leopards always take great care hiding their cubs, especially from lions, as they would be killed on sight if discovered. This time the tables are turned! This unfortunate lion cub was unlucky enough to cross paths with a leopard! Only 1 outcome..."

*This image is copyright of its original author

"Today Rangers Kichine and Kitilla found the below dead Lion cub stashed in a tree. Lion tracks were all over the base of the tree but it was obvious that no lion would have been able to stow the dead cub way up in the thin branches."

*This image is copyright of its original author

About the Tjellahanga male leopard (got famous after his fight with 4 lionesses, the fight even got its own name called 'Battle of Kirkman's Camp'):

"Sept 5—In the final day's blog I mentioned that the drivers and trackers witness a continuous soap opera from the stories the animals provide. Today I got an email from Anton, one of the drivers: one of the male leopards that we photographed at the South Africa workshop (during our night drive, amongst other times) has died. We all had noticed that it had a badly damaged ear and other small wounds, and I speculated that I thought I could see infection, though the guides were unsure. As it turns out, this leopard, the Tjellahanga Male, was the one that apparently took the lion cub. This was the second time that had happened and the lions weren't happy. When they found the leopard with their second dead cub, a fight ensued, and the lions won (see below). This leopard died from his wounds about week after we photographed it, and was soon consumed by hyena"

Tiger:

Tiger cub killed by leopard in Bandhavgarh (source):

"A male tiger cub was mauled to death by a leopard in Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve, a mahout on a routine patrolling saw the leopard dragging away the cub."

*This image is copyright of its original author

Hyena:

"We are a subdued group driving back to camp. On the way, we see the carcass of a dead hyena wedged high in a tree. This is a suprise. Hyena are not often a meal for leopard. On the afternoon drive, we go first to the large water hole, then back to the hyena tree. At a distance, Edward spots the leopard at the base of the tree. As we roll to a stop, the leopard walks into the bush and disappears. Nineteen days in Africa, and I complete the big five." (Photos of poor quality, becouse it's old and I managed to retrieve it via archive.org)

*This image is copyright of its original author

"In another incident, a leopard with two cubs killed a striped hyena in Sariska Tiger Re- serve on 24 December 2014. The killed hyena was from a breeding clan. The clan con- sisted of a breeding female, two sub-adult helpers and three pups. Sub-adult striped hyenas babysit for their mother at dens and ensure the survival of young pups (Jhala 2013). They can be fatal for young leopards. Their den site was inside the leopard’s home range. The leopard detected the den and later killed the helper striped hyena possibly to protect her cubs from any potential danger (Fig. 2a, b & SOM F2). We found the carcass of the striped hyena next to the den. Initial ex- amination of bite marks and indirect evidence such as pugmarks revealed that the hyena was killed by a leopard. However, the carcass was left untouched. Consequently, the clan left the den site after the loss of the female sub-adult helper hyena."