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Rainforest Leopards

Luipaard Offline
Leopard enthusiast
#31

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."
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United States Pckts Offline
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#32
( This post was last modified: 05-22-2021, 04:33 PM by Pckts )

(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 similar body size  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

But I do find it interesting that their skulls are so large, that has got to be a sign of something extraordinary regardless.
But in regards to comparisons, while I have little doubt that Anderson is larger than most Leopards out there, his true size gets lost since his frame is so large for a leopard.


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But there are others that have more robust builds.


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Kruger

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Mvula

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This male I saw in the Serengeti, you can see his "Jaguar-like" Skull shape, he was massive. 

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I'm not trying to say that Rainforest Leopards aren't impressive, that isn't the case at all. I'm very impressed by them but I also know that Camera trap footage can be deceptive at times, they tend to accentuate angles and lighting that can give the illusion of a more defined muscle than what may truly be there or what may show when in a different position.
 See below:



*This image is copyright of its original author


But like I said earlier, I do think there is something special with these leopards, they have a unique look and robustness to them that attracts attention, that's for sure.
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United States Pckts Offline
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#33

Leopard prey choice in the Congo Basin rainforest suggests exploitative competition with human bushmeat hunters
P. Henschel1 , L. T. B. Hunter1 , L. Coad2 , K. A. Abernethy3,4 & M. Muhlenberg ¨ 5 1 Panthera, New York, NY, USA 2 Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK 3 School of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Stirling, Stirling, Scotland, UK 4 Institut de Recherches en Ecologie Tropicale, Libreville, Gabon 5 Centre for Nature Conservation, Georg-August University Gottingen, Von-Siebold-Straße, G ¨ ottingen, Germany


https://s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu.do...asin_r.pdf

"We found no leopard scats at site L1, and 32–83 scats at the remaining three study sites, with the number of scats collected per site increasing with distance from settlements (Table 2). Across sites, 99.1% of prey items in scats could be identified to the genus level; only the medium-sized duikers could not be identified to the species level and were therefore grouped as ‘red’ duikers (Cephalophus spp.). Eight to 17 prey taxa were identified at sites L2–L4, and leopards used exclusively mammalian prey (Table 2). At all sites, ‘red’ duikers were the most frequently used prey taxon, followed by brush-tailed porcupine Atherurus africanus at site L2 and red river hog Potamochoerus porcus at sites L3 and L4 (Table 2). In terms of the relative biomass consumed, ‘red’ duikers were the single most important prey taxon at sites L2 and L3, whereas red river hogs were more important at site L4, accounting for almost 50% of the biomass cosumed (Table 3.)
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Luipaard Offline
Leopard enthusiast
#34

Enormous skull, what a brute of a leopard (from Gabon)


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Luipaard Offline
Leopard enthusiast
#35

Amazing male from Central African Republic. Has the appearance of a lioness!


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Luipaard Offline
Leopard enthusiast
#36
( This post was last modified: 03-20-2019, 02:17 PM by Luipaard )

Now back to rainforest leopards, here are 2 vintage pictures of hunted leopards in Congo (not my favourite kind of pictures but it's good to compare).


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The second is very, very impressive. Here's a comparison with a Sumatran tiger:


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"The Sumatran tiger is one of the smallest tigers, and about the size of big leopards and jaguars. Males weigh 100 to 140 kg (220 to 310 lb)" (source).

This is once again proof that Central African leopards weighing 80+kg are common.


2 males from Gabon (again, they look like they weigh minimum 80kg)


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Notice the somewhat thinner neck (no need to haul prey up a tree) but MASSIVE skull.
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Luipaard Offline
Leopard enthusiast
#37

Another example of the thinner neck and bigger skull than normally. Also keep in mind that this is a young male (no developed dewlap or prominent scars from territorial fights).


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Am I the only one who finds this similar to jaguars?


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Luipaard Offline
Leopard enthusiast
#38

Some more fine examples of their big skulls


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Luipaard Offline
Leopard enthusiast
#39

From WCS Congo: "A rare photo of an impressive male leopard in Bonye bai, a remote forest clearing in Nouabale-Ndoki National Park."


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Luipaard Offline
Leopard enthusiast
#40

Evidence of a Congolese leopard predating on a red river hog (sow)


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Luipaard Offline
Leopard enthusiast
#41

This must be the biggest leopard I have ever seen. This male is so big, they weren't sure if it was a leopard and had to contact some experts from Panthera and even they weren't 100% sure!




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Luipaard Offline
Leopard enthusiast
#42

Location Congo, impressive skull he has


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United States Pckts Offline
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#43

WCS Congo
A rare photo of an impressive male leopard in Bonye bai, a remote forest clearing in Nouabale-Ndoki National Park. A team of researchers are semi permanently based at Bonye, monitoring the visiting wildlife from a viewing platform tucked away in the trees on the edge of the clearing. The three day walk to the bai takes the team through the heart of the Ndoki forest, along elephant highways to the site near the Central African Republic border. Their presence in this remote zone of the park acts as an important deterrent to poachers and feeds information back to the park's anti-poaching force allowing them to intelligently patrol the northern reaches of the Park. #ProtectedByWCS

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Large Male and Female




Congo Leopard Skin

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https://fm4.orf.at/stories/2879024/



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Boy with dead Leopard Congo Black Africa Mission original old 1920s postcard


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Luipaard Offline
Leopard enthusiast
#44
( This post was last modified: 03-30-2019, 03:53 PM by Luipaard )

Very rare camera trap of a male leopard in Cameroon:


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Luipaard Offline
Leopard enthusiast
#45
( This post was last modified: 04-22-2020, 09:33 PM by Luipaard )

Robin Hurt had some experience hunting in Central Africa (DR Congo, CAR, Sudan). He only hunted one leopard in DR Congo and it turned out to be the biggest he encountered. He said it was almost as big as a lioness, its skull was over 11 inches long and he estimated the weight at 220lbs. According to him, the biggest leopards in Africa are usually found in the rainforest areas (both Central and East Africa). He also adds that very big leopard can sometimes be found in Southern Africa (Zimbabwe and Namibia etc) but these are exceptions. He is currently based in Namibia so he has no incentive to exaggerate the size of Congo leopards where trophy hunting is now banned. Robin Hurt's experience mirrors that of Peter TurnBull-Kemp who had also dealt with leopards from throughout Africa and similarly concluded the biggest are found in the equatorial forests. The biggest leopard Turnbull-Kemp had ever seen was a monster specimen killed in Cameroon. I'm not surprised by the convergent opinion of both these very experienced authorities on African leopards given the fact it is strongly supported by skull data and frankly a logical understanding of natural selection.

The huge forest leopard shot by a client of Robin Hurt in DR Congo in the 1980s. The only one taken by Hurt in the Congo yet an absolutely huge specimen according to him. Here we can get an idea of what a leopard with a 280mm skull looks like, such big leopards appear to be relatively common in this part of Africa.


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