African Savanna Leopard: Underrated Big Cat?

[GuateGojira]

Is not that the leopard is underrated, is just about ecology.

Normally, the leopard is not the dominant predator in most of them habitats, that place belongs to tigers and lions. In this case, leopards are fully capable of kill larger prey than them and they do it, just like any Panthera member, but as they live under social domination of the bigger cats, they then to avoid confrontation and competition killing smaller prey and exploting a differnt ecological niche. This is well studied in India and Thailand.

Now, that doesn't mean that in some cases they do kill big prey, even in the shows of they bigger cousins. They do it, just like other posters had show it, but normally that is not the case, based in the ecological level that they normally choose.

Pumas, on the other size, do not have bigger cats competing with them and they are the largest felid in north America (at least after the extinction of the jaguar). I will like to know if those pumas that hunt big prey live with wolves near to them, specially because they are the only true competitor in the wild. I don't think that bears are direct competitors, although a big one can steal a kill from time to time, I guess. Reply