Comparing Cats: A Discussion of Similarities & Differences

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Leopard vs. Tiger range in Primorsky Krai.


Leopard range in the past.

*This image is copyright of its original author

source: Hebblewhite, Mark, et al. "Predicting potential habitat and population size for reintroduction of the Far Eastern leopards in the Russian Far East." Biological Conservation 144.10 (2011): 2403-2413



Leopard range as of present

*This image is copyright of its original author

source: Feng, Limin, et al. "Collaboration brings hope for the last Amur leopards." Cat News 65 (2017): 20.



Tiger range in the 1990s. The area in red is Sikhote-Alin Zapovednik.

*This image is copyright of its original author

source: Miquelle, Dale G., et al. "Hierarchical spatial analysis of Amur tiger relationships to habitat and prey." Riding the Tiger: tiger conservation in human-dominated landscapes. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK (1999): 71-99.



Tiger range as of present.

*This image is copyright of its original author

source: https://russia.wcs.org/en-us/Wildlife/Am...ology.aspx



As can be seen, Leopards live mainly in Southwest Primorsky Krai, while Tigers are found throughout the region.

"Collect the best data for use in conservation plans for Amur tigers and Far Eastern leopards. This includes conducting scientific field research on Amur tigers, both in the central part of their range in SABZ and at the southern edge of tiger habitat in Southwest Primorsky Krai, and conducting research on Far Eastern leopards in Southwest Primorsky Krai."

source: https://conservewildcats.org/wp-content/...rt2010.pdf


For example, Leopards do not live in Sikhote-Alin Zapovednik.


'The Amur leopard is also not present in Sikhote-Alin Zapovednik, and so the estimate of carrying capacity using data from Miquelle et al. (1999) may more closely approximate the actual carrying capacity in the EWM.'

source: Zhang, Changzhi, Minghai Zhang, and Philip Stott. "Does prey density limit Amur tiger Panthera tigris altaica recovery in northeastern China?." Wildlife Biology 19.4 (2013): 452-461.



Tigers live with other predators.

*This image is copyright of its original author

source: Miquelle, DALE G., et al. "Food habits of Amur tigers in Sikhote-Alin Zapovednik and the Russian Far East, and implications for conservation." Journal of Wildlife Research 1.2 (1996): 138-147.



Here is the distribution of Tiger prey.

*This image is copyright of its original author

^ As can be noted, Sikhote-Alin Zapovednik is considered the southernmost extent range of Manchurian Moose, while the place is considered the northernmost extent of Sika Deer. This is why Sika Deer are main prey for both Tigers and Leopards in Southwest Primorsky Krai., while Moose make up a low amount of Tiger prey in Sikhote-Alin.


source: Miquelle, Dale G., et al. "Hierarchical spatial analysis of Amur tiger relationships to habitat and prey." Riding the Tiger: tiger conservation in human-dominated landscapes. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK (1999): 71-99.




As we can see, Manchurian Moose are in areas where Leopards are not present.

This means that we will never get to see Leopard-Moose interaction since they will never meet.


@Luipaard It is interesting to note that Leopards are isolated and live far from Manchurian Moose, so there is no predation as of recent.

A lot of uninformed people theorized that either the Moose was too big for the Leopard, or the Leopard was going for smaller prey in Tiger habitat.

Here are some examples.

https://www.quora.com/Do-Amur-leopards-prey-on-moose

https://carnivora.net/cougar-v-leopard-t...ml#p121520 Reply