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

[GuateGojira]

(10-24-2015, 04:35 PM)Dr Panthera Wrote: Now if impressive means largest recorded prey to predator size:
African male lion on subadult elephant ( 180 kg to 2000 kg) ( Ross in Predators)
African male leopard on eland bull ( Kingdon 70 kg to 400 to 900 kg not much detail given in this solitary event)
Canadian male puma on elk bull ( 80 kg to 300 kg)
Snow Leopard female on male ibex ( 35 kg to 75 kg)
Male Bengal tiger on female Indian rhino ( 200 kg to 1400 kg)
Male timber wolf on subadult bison ( 75 kg on 300 kg) Frozen Planet
Female spotted hyena on wildebeest bull ( 70 kg to 270 kg)
Male grizzly bear on adult moose (300 kg to 600 kg)
Male Alaskan black bear on female moose ( 200 kg to 400 kg)
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Stoat 100 grams on rabbit 2 kg!!!

The case of the "single" lion and the elephant is rare and should have backup with data, subadult-adult elephants are only killed by group of lions (cubs of 600 kg or less can be killed by single lions if they have the chance), definitely a single lion can't kill a 2,000 kg elephant, but three or more surely can. I don't know of any case of a male or female lion killing a rhino in single combat in Africa, so I think that the extreme case of lion predation would be a male lion vs a large male African buffalo (185 to 450 kg Ave. or 250 to 900 kg Max.)

The case of the leopard is also weird and we will need more evidence. Health state of the eland and true age and size are very relevant here. Normally, about 200 kg seems the normal limit for a large leopard in any territory.
 
I think that the most extreme case of one-to-one predation case are those of the puma and elk bull. There is video evidence of 60-90 kg pumas killing 300-400 kg male elks (if not slightly heavier).

For tigers, Dr Karanth said that the normal extreme case are tigers with bull gaur (260 to 1,000 kg). I don't remember if the rhinos killed in India were hunted by individual or pair of tigers, @Pckts should know this.

Also, what about the jaguars and the tapir, or the domestic cattle? That is also a great feat. Tapir can weight over 300 kg in Central and South America and as far I remember, there are some cases of large jaguars (over 100 kg) killing male zebu of over 700 kg.

Let's add the cases of Javanese tigers killing male banteng, in documented cases (140 to 700 kg). Reply