Animal Strength Feats

[Styx38]

Leopards hoisting animals relatively bigger than themselves.


Leopard hoists up relatively large Buffalo Calf up tree.

*This image is copyright of its original author

Quote:The unsuspecting duo approached the tree and a perfectly timed leap had the leopard taking the calf in a flash while the frantic mother tried in vain to break the leopard’s stranglehold. A minute later, the female leopard scrambled up the tree with the calf held in her jaws, displaying amazing hunting skills and the awesome strength of the big cat that is pound for pound the strongest and most cunning of them all.

http://www.sundaytimes.lk/100328/Plus/plus_12.html



Leopard with Giraffe Calf

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Leopard hoists large Zebra Calf

Leopard hoists relatively robust Rhino Calf up tree. Probably same weight or a bit smaller, but still impressive due to build.

@Pckts Remember the Impala vs. Spotted/Chital Deer debate.

According to GuateGojira's sources, Chital Deer have max weights of 93-97.5 kg. 

*This image is copyright of its original author

While Chital and and Impala are similar in size, the Chital has the higher recorded maximum. The mx. weight rivals most adult men in weight.

This may be the reason why Leopards hoisting Impala are no longer so impressive. 

Leopards can hoist up fair sized Buffalo calf and similar sized (slightly larger) Deer up trees in India and Sri Lanka.

If you search up 'Leopard hoist' the two highest viewed videos on youtube are the Leopard hoisting the Zebra foal and the Leopard hoisting the Rhino Calf.

The funny part is that neither of these videos were promoted by a news station or a Game Lodge. Just random people.

What this indicates is that seeing Leopards hoisting relatively small Impalas is somewhat mundane at this point of time, unless if it is hyped by a larger organization.

This is my beef with Marlon du Toit. He'll hype up normal events or Impala to promote tourism.

Since you are his fan, you'll buy into his sensationalism and bolster the Impala as a 'big animal' even though they are the average weight of a Leopard hoist.

"Average prey weight cached in trees was 63.89 kg (SE= 8.15 kg)"(Swanepoel, 2008)


"The scientists found that leopards tend to hoist prey that are between half and one-and-a-half times their own weight."

http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20170420-...0show%20up.


Anyway, Marlon Du Toit is a good tour guide, but he won't know much compared to an expert (and probably has minimal/general knowledge on Leopard diet).


Also, this could be one of the largest Leopard hoists (along with the Leopard that hoisted the female Waterbuck).

"The maximum weight of a cached prey prey species was 135 kg, where an adult female cached a red hartebeest" (Swanepoel, 2008).

The Hartebeest was partially eaten, but it was still impressive for a small female Leopard. Reply