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

[Jubatus]

The known prey of the leopard ranges from dung beetles (Fey 1964) to adult male eland (Kingdon 1977), which can reach 900 kg (Stuart and Stuart 1992a). Bailey (1993) found that at least 92 prey species have been documented in the leopard’s diet in sub-Saharan Africa. The flexibility of the diet is illustrated by Hamilton’s (1976) analysis of leopard scats from Kenya’s Tsavo West National Park, of which 35% contained rodents, 27% birds, 27% small antelopes, 12% large antelopes, 10% hyraxes and hares, and 18% arthropods. Seidensticker (1991a) and Bailey (1993) reviewed the literature, and concluded that leopards generally focus their hunting activity on locally abundant medium-sized ungulate species in the 20-80 kg range, while opportunistically taking other prey. For example, analysis of leopard scats from a Kruger NP study area found that 67% contained ungulate remains, of which 60% were impala, the most abundant antelope, with adult weights of 40-60 kg. Small mammal remains were found most often in scats of sub-adult leopards, especially females (Bailey 1993). Studies have found average intervals between ungulate kills to range from seven (Bailey 1993) to 12-13 days (Hamilton 1976, Le Roux and Skinner 1989). Bailey (1993) estimated average daily consumption rates at 3.5 kg for adult males and 2.8 kg for females.

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note: actually says 1600 kg elephant.

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Crocodile

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serval

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side striped jackal

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Golden jackal

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Wildcat

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wild dog

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Civette

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Caracal

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black backed jackal  Reply