Rainforest Leopards

[Styx38]

(04-24-2019, 12:37 PM)Luipaard Wrote: Central African leopards main prey for males are red river hogs. There's no doubt it would be a much bigger struggle taking it down than something like an impala which is the main prey for savanna leopards. Though the lack of more dominant competitors would certainly have some influence, the more impressive prey taken by leopards in the forest would be the main factor behind their more robust builds. And don't forget they also predate on forest buffaloes:

From 'Leopard food habits in the Lopé National Park, Gabon, Central Africa' (by P. Henschel, 2005)

Quote: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.

From "Leopard attack on and consumption of gorillas in the Central African Republic" 1995 (by Michael Fay.)

*This image is copyright of its original author

They even predate on 200kg adult okapis (!)

It's only logical that these leopards are bigger and more robust, it's an adaptation to take on larger prey.

Actually, even a 30-40 kg female Leopard might be able to kill a 200 kg ungulate.

The main point your study indicates is that the Leopards can feast as frequently on large animals without interference of other carnivores. 

Since the jungle Leopard has freedom, it can kill large prey as much as it wants, and gain back all the energy wasted on the kill.

Remember guys the point is the frequency of killing big prey, not the capability of the leopard killing big prey.


For example here is a large South African Leopard with a Kudu Cow kill:

at 0:09, Rob mentions:

Quote:Not only is the biggest kill you'll see a Leopard make

^ This is the larger kill  that a Leopard can occasionally make in the savanna.

Afterwards, a Lion steals the kill, and the Leopard may not be able to replenish all the energy. It will now focus on impala, steenbok, duiker and baby nyalas and wildebeest calves.

On the other hand, there were 3 adult Gorillas and 2 adult chimps that were part of the Gabon Leopard's diet. This indicates that not only can forest leopards make big kills more often compared to savanna leopards, but they can also gain enough nutrition without interference from a major competitor. 

This is why there are more robust Leopards in the Central African forests. Reply