Rainforest Leopards

[Styx38]

(03-04-2019, 10:00 PM)Pckts Wrote:

(03-04-2019, 02:45 PM)Luipaard Wrote: A quote about their size and suggested prey:

"Generally speaking predators tend to be smaller in dense forests because prey densities tend to be lower compared to more open habitats. But this doesn’t seem to apply to African leopards because the density of leopards (which is pretty much proportional to prey density) in pristine rainforest areas is equally high to those recorded in well protected savanna regions. Furthermore in the case of leopards which are sympatric with other large carnivores other factors which influence size must also be considered. Firstly, the leopard is the dominant predator of the African equatorial forests unlike in the savanna where it is of course sympatric with the much larger lion. In the absence of a more dominant competitor the subordinate species will tend to exhibit an increase in size (this is known as character release). In the savanna the leopard’s size is constrained by its need to be much smaller than the lion in order to reduce competition over prey and also to be able to evade the larger cat by climbing further up into trees etc. In the forest the leopard is free to hunt larger animals and also does not need to stay lightweight to climb high into trees. The diet of leopards in Gabon (western Congo Basin) has been extensively studied by Dr. Philip Henschel who has found that in pristine areas the preferred prey is duikers and red river hogs. With females probably taking duikers and adult males tackling the much larger hogs. On the other hand, in Kruger by far the most preferred prey of both male and female leopards is the nimble impala which is larger than duikers but much less impressive than red river hogs. And though warthogs are an important prey source for male leopards in Kruger they are taken far less frequently than red river hogs in Gabon"

""The most important single prey species was found to be red river hog Potamochoerus porcus (Linnaeus), making up 20% of the biomass consumed, followed by forest buffalo Syncerus caffer nanus (Boddaert) and cane rat Thryonomys swinderianus (Temminck), each comprising 13% of biomass consumed. Bushbuck % 8.6, putty nosed guenon % 8.1 and forest buffalo with % 7.1 frequency of occurence."

Regardless of location, mean prey BW is between 20-30kg 
But the difference is that South and East Africa represent the majority of leopards in all of Africa so they will no doubt have many more opportunities to have larger individuals.

But I echo @dr panthera on page 1 post #12
 "Indeed the largest leopard skull is for a male from north east Iran, his skull was almost the size of the skull of a female Caspian tiger (M.Farhidinia)
Recent data greatly reduced the estimated number of rain forest African leopards ( Congo-Gabon-Cote D'Ivoire)..DE MEULENAAR estimated 40 leopards per 100 km2 but recent studies by Henschell and others show one tenth such concentrations, tropical forests harbor a small number of large ungulates and therefore will accommodate less predators.
I am sure there are many males in the tropical African forests that exceed 40 kg but the largest leopards are likely to come from ( in that order ) Iran, East Africa, Kruger, India and Sri Lanka due to large prey availability."

Also, red river hog is smaller and less impressive than warthogs which are preyed upon often by Leopards, but its not just that or impala, leopard prey on Wildebeest, Hartebeest, Water Buck, Kudu, Eland, etc.
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/47b2/28...cbe9a4.pdf

Doesn't prey size correlate with Leopard size?

Quote:As the leopard's body mass range crosses the body mass threshold for obligate large vertebrate carnivory (>45% of predator body mass; Carbone et al., 1999), smaller body mass populations of leopards might be expected to prey on smaller vertebrates. Leopards in the Baviaanskloof Wilderness Area in South Africa's Eastern Cape Province support this, with rodents comprising 9% of the total prey species killed (Ott, 2004). Other populations of leopards that prey largely on suboptimally sized prey (Grobler & Wilson, 1972) may also be smaller in body mass than those preying on large ungulates. Limited data from Israel and Oman suggest that small leopards there largely prey on smaller body sized species (Ilani, 1981; Spalton & Willis, 1999).

Prey preferences of the leopard (Panthera pardus) ( Hayward et. al 2006)




In one study, Leopards actually consumed adult Gorillas in Gabon:

Quote:Remains of gorillas and chimpanzees were found in scats nine and six times respectively. For each species age classification of the consumed individual was possible for three scats. For gorilla, the individuals consumed were adult in all three cases, and for chimpanzee two were adult and one was juvenile.

Leopard food habits in the Lopé National Park, Gabon, Central Africa (Henschel et. al 2005)



^ Wouldn't this mean that Central African Leopards would be similar if not larger than their savanna counterparts since they eat large prey frequently? Reply