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

[Dr Panthera]

(11-05-2015, 12:13 AM)GuateGojira Wrote:

(11-04-2015, 11:50 PM)Dr Panthera Wrote: Guate do you have a link for the detailed Karanth and Sunquist study? I am interested in comparing scats data and kill data in tiger predation on gaur, as you know scat analysis overestimates small prey and kills analysis overestimates large prey, and most of what is known comes from scat analysis since observing tiger kills is difficult in most of their habitat.

You ask, you have.

Check attached image, there is the full document of Karanth and Sunquist (1995).

By the way, what I would want is the thesis of Dr Karanth of 1993. I have not found it in the web yet.

Thanks again I could not find this detailed study for a while, I read it some years ago in the late 90's and I particularly like it because it highlights the differences in describing the feeding ecology from scats analysis versus kill records, let s consider the results of this study :
1- chital kills were 10.4% of observed kills yet constituted 31.2% in scat analysis ( a fairly small prey)
2-Sambar kills were 28.6% and a comparable 24.9% in scat analysis 
3- Gaur were 44.8% of kills yet only 17.4% in scat analysis
This highlights the importance of sambar as a consistent, predictable, large prey for tigers regardless of the potential bias of the study methods, the study also shows the importance of gaur to nagarahole tigers as a major prey item unlike areas where encounters between tigers and gaur are less likely and more costly in energy,also important is the abundant chital like everywhere else Reply