Leopard/Cougar predation on Cattle and Hogs

[Deleted]

CoolJohnson could I move this thread to the Cat Corner unless there's a reason it's better of here?

[CoolJohnson]

Feb 27, 2023 1:21:34 GMT @ajay said:

CoolJohnson could I move this thread to the Cat Corner unless there's a reason it's better of here?

I am not sure.

I am not against moving this thread, but I think it needs more views for any future comment or discussion. I have seen the Leopard-Cougar debates for a long time on various forums, with this forum alongside carnivora.net being the first to discuss leopard predation on cattle/hogs vs. cougar avoiding cattle/hogs.

[CoolJohnson]

Hardcastle Wyatt Bolushi @ajay

Here is the break down of ages of cattle killed by leopards in different countries.


Iran:


Leopards have a preference for both adult male cattle as well as male juveniles in Iran.



 Figure 4 Cattle selectivity for natural coloration as a whole, separate natural colors, males and juveniles by leopards in the study area, sites, villages, and owners. Error bars indicate the standard error


"(a) Male cattle are preferred by leopards because males have a larger body mass, and leopards in Iran are among the biggest; (b) juvenile cattle (calves and heifers) are preferred by leopards because they are easy to catch and thus are highly vulnerable to depredation; and © differently colored cattle are neither preferred nor avoided by leopards and taken according to the cattle availability. "


Khorozyan et. al. (2018) Cattle selectivity by leopards suggests ways to mitigate human–leopard conflict


Another study shows that leopards preferred cattle while wolves preferred shoats (portmanteau of sheep and goats).

"Leopards were reported to kill mainly cattle (79%, n = 115) compared to shoat (21%, n = 30) and only one individual per attack regardless of livestock species. In contrast, wolves were reported to kill mainly shoat (96%, n = 501) compared to cattle (4%, n = 23)."

source: Soofi, Mahmood, et al. "Assessing the relationship between illegal hunting of ungulates, wild prey occurrence and livestock depredation rate by large carnivores." Journal of Applied Ecology 56.2 (2019): 365-374.


China:


Leopards showed a strong preference for cattle.



"Figure 2 shows the number of livestock preyed on by the north China leopard within the 4 year study period (2015–2018) in and around the Tieqiaoshan Provincial Nature Reserve. A total of 173 livestock were killed, out of which 125 (72%) were adult cattle, 40 (23%) were calves, and 8 (5%) were sheep"

" Among the livestock, north China leopards killed more cattle...Therefore, the free-range system of the farming of cattle practiced in and around the reserve makes it ideal for the north China leopard to prey them. In the free-range system, the cattle roam freely outdoors rather than being confined in an enclosure for 24 h each day"

source: Consolee et. al. 2020. Human-Leopard Conflict: An Emerging Issue of North China Leopard Conservation in Tieqiaoshan Provincial Nature Reserve in Shanxi Province, China


India:


Leopards had a higher preference for bulls in the Binsar area.



"During 1990 to 2003, most leopard depredations (90.3%) were on cattle (Table 3), and primarily adult livestock were killed."

source: Livestock predation by common leopard in Binsar Wildlife Sanctuary, India: human–wildlife conflicts and conservation issues Chandra Prakash Kala and Kishor Kumar Kothari


I guess it would be interesting to see an age comparison of cougar kills.

[Deleted]

That's a way more boss effort on the part of leopards than I assumed. As or more-often-as-not by-pass cow cattle cause bulls have more meat. Geezus.

[Hardcastle]

As I mentioned elsewhere, it's interesting to me Leopards choose their locations to target cattle very carefully. I think we may need to learn more about the cattle of said areas and the conditions of the location, because they distinctly DON'T target cattle through much of their range at all. This could mean it is unfair on puma, and puma might target cattle also if they happened to have access to the hunting grounds and the cattle that leopards are targeting in the middle east and south asia.
Cattle aren't cattle, is my point, and indeed if we ignore cattle variation we can find isolated cases of cougars preying on boutique breeds on hobby farms in north america. They just generally don't impact the serious free ranging beef herds. Leopards largely don't also but yes do seem to have these pockets where they go ham on cattle. To me the obvious question is why? Where there? Why those cattle?

[CoolJohnson]

Hardcastle Wyatt Bolushi @ajay

Here are some of the confirmed cases of leopards managing to kill an adult wild boar.


India:



source: Majumder, Aniruddha, 2011, “Prey selection, food habits and population structure of sympatric cornivores: Tiger panthera tigris tigris (L.), Leopard Panthera pardus (L.) and Dhole Cuon alpinus (Pallas) in Pench Tiger Reserve, Madhya Pradesh (India)”, thesis PhD, Saurashtra University

It states here that Male Wild Boars made up 2.8% of Leopard kills, and females made 1.8 % of Leopard kills.


Iran:

Persian Leopards killed Six Wild Boar.

"Four of 6 wild pig remains were young adults (< 2 years)."

Here is confirmation that two of the pigs killed were adults.



Farhadinia, M. S., Johnson, P. J., Hunter, L. T., & Macdonald, D. W. (2018). Persian leopard predation patterns and kill rates in the Iran–Turkmenistan borderland. Journal of Mammalogy, 99(3), 713-723.


Siberia:

As can be seen, Brown Bears killed 31 adult male Boars, Tigers killed 9 adult male Boars and Leopards killed 1 adult male Ussuri(?) Boar. On the other hand Wolves and Lynx avoided adult male Boar.



Not sure about the source since this was posted by brobear on a bear based forum.


Sri Lanka:



^ There was only one adult wild boar killed by a Leopard compared to three Sambar stags.

Source: Kittle, Andrew et. al. The ecology and behaviour of a protected area Sri Lankan leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya) population. Tropical Ecology 58(1):71-86 February 2017


Unline the leopard, there is not a proper confirmation of cougars killing adult boar.

Chile:

"The puma predominantly predated on juveniles and the percentages of consumption varied between 17-37% depending on the method used to analyze the content of prey present in their feces."

"The largest native prey of the puma in the study area is the pudu, an animal that does not exceeds 10 kg of body mass (Muñoz & Yánez 2000), while the average of the body mass of prey (native and exotic) of pumas delivered for forests coastal and Andean regions of southern Chile is 7.7 kg (Rau & Jiménez 2002). For its part, juvenile European wild boars in the area of study present a body mass of 20-50 kg (Skewes 1990), which corresponds to what observed ford in the case of the animal carcass hunted by cougar found on the ground in August 1988. Maehr et al. (1990) report of a body mass of 23 kg for pig feral, eaten by puma in Florida, USA."

"In a single opportunity they met remains of European wild boar hunted by cougars. On July 10, 1988 in the Valle sector Beautiful (40º02'17 ”S, 71º57'34” W, 513 masl) the fresh carcass of a juvenile was found (wild boar) of an estimated age between six and eight months old, which kept part of the mandible and the maxillary-nasal of the skull, along with almost complete skin, not existing major bones or pair muscle tees."

Skewes, O., Moraga, C. A., Arriagada, P., & Rau, J. R. (2012). The European wild boar (Sus scrofa): a biological invader as a recent prey of the American puma (Puma concolor) in southern Chile. Revista Chilena de Historia Natural, 85(2), 227-232.


Brazil:

"During a study of the impacts of wild boars on vegetation, mammals and birds of the Atlantic Forest (Hegel & Marini, 2013; Hegel, 2017), we found three apparent predation events upon both juveniles and piglets by the puma (Puma concolor) in the northeast of State of Rio Grande do Sul, southern Brazil."

Ara- curi-Esmeralda, Muitos Cap~oes municipality) (28°13040.7″S; 51°09049.1″W), and another in September 2015 on a post- harvest corn plantation also at Muitos Cap~oes (28°16021.0″S; 51°14048.4″W) (Fig. 1a). Both set of faeces had typical hair of wild boar piglets and small hoof fragments, and puma footprints were found nearby. The second set of evidence was a fresh, partially eaten carcass of a juvenile wild boar, found in March 2013 inside a forest fragment at the municipality of Dois Lajeados (29°00004.6″S; 51°46026.8″W) (Fig. 1b). The carcass was partially covered with leaves and twigs (typical caching behaviour of pumas), had an almost intact skull, small bite marks in the neck, wild boar hairs around the carcass, crushed and broken bones, and puma footprints near the carcass.

Hegel, C. G. Z., & Marini, M. Â. (2018). Large felids as predators of wild boars in the Atlantic Forest: reconciling Verdade et al. and Rosa et al. Animal Conservation, 21(5), 363-364.


Florida, USA:

The best study of Panthers predating is from Maehr et. al. 1990. However, he does not specify the age/gender of the Pigs killed. Maehr does include the weights of two Wild Pigs killed in a slightly older study, which are both juveniles.

"All scats collected on Fisheating Creek contained hog hair. On 20 April 1984 a freshly killed pig approximately 3.6 kg was found. The carcass was extensively utilized leaving only the snout forward of the eyes and a neat pile of intestines nearby. On 10 August 1984 an approximately 23 kg male hog was found with only the internal organs and ribs consumed. Neither hog was covered as is the typical fashion of the species (Shaw 1979)."

source:

SIGN SURVEYS FOR FLORIDA PANTHERS ON PERIPHERAL AREAS OF THEIR KNOWN RANGE
JAYDEC. ROOF AND DAVIDS. MAEHR Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission, 566 Commercial Blvd., Naples, Florida 33


Now I am not disputing a cougar can kill a boar, but a leopard does have more confirmed kills so the edge goes to the pantherine.

[Hardcastle]

Feb 27, 2023 20:18:16 GMT CoolJohnson said:

Hardcastle Wyatt Bolushi @ajay

Here are some of the confirmed cases of leopards managing to kill an adult wild boar.


India:



source: Majumder, Aniruddha, 2011, “Prey selection, food habits and population structure of sympatric cornivores: Tiger panthera tigris tigris (L.), Leopard Panthera pardus (L.) and Dhole Cuon alpinus (Pallas) in Pench Tiger Reserve, Madhya Pradesh (India)”, thesis PhD, Saurashtra University

It states here that Male Wild Boars made up 2.8% of Leopard kills, and females made 1.8 % of Leopard kills.


Iran:

Persian Leopards killed Six Wild Boar.

"Four of 6 wild pig remains were young adults (< 2 years)."

Here is confirmation that two of the pigs killed were adults.



Farhadinia, M. S., Johnson, P. J., Hunter, L. T., & Macdonald, D. W. (2018). Persian leopard predation patterns and kill rates in the Iran–Turkmenistan borderland. Journal of Mammalogy, 99(3), 713-723.


Siberia:

As can be seen, Brown Bears killed 31 adult male Boars, Tigers killed 9 adult male Boars and Leopards killed 1 adult male Ussuri(?) Boar. On the other hand Wolves and Lynx avoided adult male Boar.



Not sure about the source since this was posted by brobear on a bear based forum.


Sri Lanka:



^ There was only one adult wild boar killed by a Leopard compared to three Sambar stags.

Source: Kittle, Andrew et. al. The ecology and behaviour of a protected area Sri Lankan leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya) population. Tropical Ecology 58(1):71-86 February 2017


Unline the leopard, there is not a proper confirmation of cougars killing adult boar.

Chile:

"The puma predominantly predated on juveniles and the percentages of consumption varied between 17-37% depending on the method used to analyze the content of prey present in their feces."

"The largest native prey of the puma in the study area is the pudu, an animal that does not exceeds 10 kg of body mass (Muñoz & Yánez 2000), while the average of the body mass of prey (native and exotic) of pumas delivered for forests coastal and Andean regions of southern Chile is 7.7 kg (Rau & Jiménez 2002). For its part, juvenile European wild boars in the area of study present a body mass of 20-50 kg (Skewes 1990), which corresponds to what observed ford in the case of the animal carcass hunted by cougar found on the ground in August 1988. Maehr et al. (1990) report of a body mass of 23 kg for pig feral, eaten by puma in Florida, USA."

"In a single opportunity they met remains of European wild boar hunted by cougars. On July 10, 1988 in the Valle sector Beautiful (40º02'17 ”S, 71º57'34” W, 513 masl) the fresh carcass of a juvenile was found (wild boar) of an estimated age between six and eight months old, which kept part of the mandible and the maxillary-nasal of the skull, along with almost complete skin, not existing major bones or pair muscle tees."

Skewes, O., Moraga, C. A., Arriagada, P., & Rau, J. R. (2012). The European wild boar (Sus scrofa): a biological invader as a recent prey of the American puma (Puma concolor) in southern Chile. Revista Chilena de Historia Natural, 85(2), 227-232.


Brazil:

"During a study of the impacts of wild boars on vegetation, mammals and birds of the Atlantic Forest (Hegel & Marini, 2013; Hegel, 2017), we found three apparent predation events upon both juveniles and piglets by the puma (Puma concolor) in the northeast of State of Rio Grande do Sul, southern Brazil."

Ara- curi-Esmeralda, Muitos Cap~oes municipality) (28°13040.7″S; 51°09049.1″W), and another in September 2015 on a post- harvest corn plantation also at Muitos Cap~oes (28°16021.0″S; 51°14048.4″W) (Fig. 1a). Both set of faeces had typical hair of wild boar piglets and small hoof fragments, and puma footprints were found nearby. The second set of evidence was a fresh, partially eaten carcass of a juvenile wild boar, found in March 2013 inside a forest fragment at the municipality of Dois Lajeados (29°00004.6″S; 51°46026.8″W) (Fig. 1b). The carcass was partially covered with leaves and twigs (typical caching behaviour of pumas), had an almost intact skull, small bite marks in the neck, wild boar hairs around the carcass, crushed and broken bones, and puma footprints near the carcass.

Hegel, C. G. Z., & Marini, M. Â. (2018). Large felids as predators of wild boars in the Atlantic Forest: reconciling Verdade et al. and Rosa et al. Animal Conservation, 21(5), 363-364.


Florida, USA:

The best study of Panthers predating is from Maehr et. al. 1990. However, he does not specify the age/gender of the Pigs killed. Maehr does include the weights of two Wild Pigs killed in a slightly older study, which are both juveniles.

"All scats collected on Fisheating Creek contained hog hair. On 20 April 1984 a freshly killed pig approximately 3.6 kg was found. The carcass was extensively utilized leaving only the snout forward of the eyes and a neat pile of intestines nearby. On 10 August 1984 an approximately 23 kg male hog was found with only the internal organs and ribs consumed. Neither hog was covered as is the typical fashion of the species (Shaw 1979)."

source:

SIGN SURVEYS FOR FLORIDA PANTHERS ON PERIPHERAL AREAS OF THEIR KNOWN RANGE
JAYDEC. ROOF AND DAVIDS. MAEHR Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission, 566 Commercial Blvd., Naples, Florida 33


Now I am not disputing a cougar can kill a boar, but a leopard does have more confirmed kills so the edge goes to the pantherine.

There's a very very similar study I'm reading here-

Prey selection by Tiger, Leopard and Dhole in Tropical Forests

I had to look closely to work out they aren't the same one, but actually they are from very far apart tiger reserves (this one in Nagarahole, South East India, yours in Pench Tiger Reserve in central-northwest India).

The Nagarahole study repeatedly notes a distinct aversion leopards have to Boars, funnily enough.










Wonder why the discrepancy? Different leopards? Different boars??

[Deleted]

I'm having trouble finding leopard kills on bushpig but I'm finding them failing and getting bullied. Makes me think that the leopards below that coexist with bushpig aren't far off from cougars.


"Eisenberg & Lockhart (1972) suggested that wild boar were too aggressive and dangerous to become prey of leopards in Sri Lanka, and similar conclusions come from India (Ramakrishnan et al., 1999). The results here indicate that this may apply to all Suidae, with warthog and bushpig killed less frequently by leopards than expected on the basis of their abundance (Table 3). This is probably due to their exceeding the upper limit of the leopard’s preferred weight range, as well as their ability to inflict significant injury, such that juveniles may make up the majority of predation events."
zslpublications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1469-7998.2006.00139.x

In this thread a leopard can be seen avoiding adult bushpig:
www.africahunting.com/threads/leopard-vs-bushpig.893/ (a lot of valuable insight about bushpig toughness there)
A separate instance:

[CoolJohnson]

Feb 28, 2023 18:17:37 GMT Hardcastle said:

Feb 27, 2023 20:18:16 GMT CoolJohnson said:

Hardcastle Wyatt Bolushi @ajay

Here are some of the confirmed cases of leopards managing to kill an adult wild boar.


India:



source: Majumder, Aniruddha, 2011, “Prey selection, food habits and population structure of sympatric cornivores: Tiger panthera tigris tigris (L.), Leopard Panthera pardus (L.) and Dhole Cuon alpinus (Pallas) in Pench Tiger Reserve, Madhya Pradesh (India)”, thesis PhD, Saurashtra University

It states here that Male Wild Boars made up 2.8% of Leopard kills, and females made 1.8 % of Leopard kills.


Iran:

Persian Leopards killed Six Wild Boar.

"Four of 6 wild pig remains were young adults (< 2 years)."

Here is confirmation that two of the pigs killed were adults.



Farhadinia, M. S., Johnson, P. J., Hunter, L. T., & Macdonald, D. W. (2018). Persian leopard predation patterns and kill rates in the Iran–Turkmenistan borderland. Journal of Mammalogy, 99(3), 713-723.


Siberia:

As can be seen, Brown Bears killed 31 adult male Boars, Tigers killed 9 adult male Boars and Leopards killed 1 adult male Ussuri(?) Boar. On the other hand Wolves and Lynx avoided adult male Boar.



Not sure about the source since this was posted by brobear on a bear based forum.


Sri Lanka:



^ There was only one adult wild boar killed by a Leopard compared to three Sambar stags.

Source: Kittle, Andrew et. al. The ecology and behaviour of a protected area Sri Lankan leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya) population. Tropical Ecology 58(1):71-86 February 2017


Unline the leopard, there is not a proper confirmation of cougars killing adult boar.

Chile:

"The puma predominantly predated on juveniles and the percentages of consumption varied between 17-37% depending on the method used to analyze the content of prey present in their feces."

"The largest native prey of the puma in the study area is the pudu, an animal that does not exceeds 10 kg of body mass (Muñoz & Yánez 2000), while the average of the body mass of prey (native and exotic) of pumas delivered for forests coastal and Andean regions of southern Chile is 7.7 kg (Rau & Jiménez 2002). For its part, juvenile European wild boars in the area of study present a body mass of 20-50 kg (Skewes 1990), which corresponds to what observed ford in the case of the animal carcass hunted by cougar found on the ground in August 1988. Maehr et al. (1990) report of a body mass of 23 kg for pig feral, eaten by puma in Florida, USA."

"In a single opportunity they met remains of European wild boar hunted by cougars. On July 10, 1988 in the Valle sector Beautiful (40º02'17 ”S, 71º57'34” W, 513 masl) the fresh carcass of a juvenile was found (wild boar) of an estimated age between six and eight months old, which kept part of the mandible and the maxillary-nasal of the skull, along with almost complete skin, not existing major bones or pair muscle tees."

Skewes, O., Moraga, C. A., Arriagada, P., & Rau, J. R. (2012). The European wild boar (Sus scrofa): a biological invader as a recent prey of the American puma (Puma concolor) in southern Chile. Revista Chilena de Historia Natural, 85(2), 227-232.


Brazil:

"During a study of the impacts of wild boars on vegetation, mammals and birds of the Atlantic Forest (Hegel & Marini, 2013; Hegel, 2017), we found three apparent predation events upon both juveniles and piglets by the puma (Puma concolor) in the northeast of State of Rio Grande do Sul, southern Brazil."

Ara- curi-Esmeralda, Muitos Cap~oes municipality) (28°13040.7″S; 51°09049.1″W), and another in September 2015 on a post- harvest corn plantation also at Muitos Cap~oes (28°16021.0″S; 51°14048.4″W) (Fig. 1a). Both set of faeces had typical hair of wild boar piglets and small hoof fragments, and puma footprints were found nearby. The second set of evidence was a fresh, partially eaten carcass of a juvenile wild boar, found in March 2013 inside a forest fragment at the municipality of Dois Lajeados (29°00004.6″S; 51°46026.8″W) (Fig. 1b). The carcass was partially covered with leaves and twigs (typical caching behaviour of pumas), had an almost intact skull, small bite marks in the neck, wild boar hairs around the carcass, crushed and broken bones, and puma footprints near the carcass.

Hegel, C. G. Z., & Marini, M. Â. (2018). Large felids as predators of wild boars in the Atlantic Forest: reconciling Verdade et al. and Rosa et al. Animal Conservation, 21(5), 363-364.


Florida, USA:

The best study of Panthers predating is from Maehr et. al. 1990. However, he does not specify the age/gender of the Pigs killed. Maehr does include the weights of two Wild Pigs killed in a slightly older study, which are both juveniles.

"All scats collected on Fisheating Creek contained hog hair. On 20 April 1984 a freshly killed pig approximately 3.6 kg was found. The carcass was extensively utilized leaving only the snout forward of the eyes and a neat pile of intestines nearby. On 10 August 1984 an approximately 23 kg male hog was found with only the internal organs and ribs consumed. Neither hog was covered as is the typical fashion of the species (Shaw 1979)."

source:

SIGN SURVEYS FOR FLORIDA PANTHERS ON PERIPHERAL AREAS OF THEIR KNOWN RANGE
JAYDEC. ROOF AND DAVIDS. MAEHR Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission, 566 Commercial Blvd., Naples, Florida 33


Now I am not disputing a cougar can kill a boar, but a leopard does have more confirmed kills so the edge goes to the pantherine.

There's a very very similar study I'm reading here-

Prey selection by Tiger, Leopard and Dhole in Tropical Forests

I had to look closely to work out they aren't the same one, but actually they are from very far apart tiger reserves (this one in Nagarahole, South East India, yours in Pench Tiger Reserve in central-northwest India).

The Nagarahole study repeatedly notes a distinct aversion leopards have to Boars, funnily enough.










Wonder why the discrepancy? Different leopards? Different boars??

Different Leopards?

I pointed out that there was a case of a leopard killing an ussuri boar, which is considered the largest subspecies of boar.

Since Bolushi was talking about different pigs like bushpigs, I would point out that leopards do predate on red river hog.

Red river hogs are similar sized relatives of bushpigs.

They made a good portion of leopard diet in one study.




"At all sites, ‘red’duikers were the most frequently used prey taxon, followedby 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 sitesL2 and L3, whereas red river hogs were more important site L4, accounting for almost 50% of the biomass consumed (Table 3)"


source: Henschel, Philipp, Luke TB Hunter, L. Coad, K. A. Abernethy, and M. Mühlenberg. "Leopard prey choice in the Congo Basin rainforest suggests exploitative competition with human bushmeat hunters." Journal of zoology 285, no. 1 (2011): 11-20.


It is interesting that their preference was for red river hog, but they also had to shift to small prey due to bushmeat hunting reducing the large animals in this park.

There is also not much to find on kills in rainforests.

[Deleted]

Since cougars coexist with red river hogs and warthogs in Texas perhaps they've preyed on them before? Maybe baby ones?

[CoolJohnson]

Hardcastle Wyatt Bolushi ophio lincoln @ling

This an odd comparison I found on another forum, but here goes the comparison.


Leopard predation on camels vs. cougar predation on guanaco.




"Most of the camels killed by the hyena were young, but the lion and the leopard killed both adults and the young."

www.researchgate.net/publication/233414346_Challenges_of_camel_production_in_Samburu_District_Kenya



Cougars predation on guanaco.

"Of the 33 observed mountain lion kills, 26 were successfully classi®ed by sex and age class. Adult males composed 15% of the total mountain lion kill, adult females 27% and juveniles 58% (males = 31%, females = 27%; Table 1). Adult males and females were killed by mountain lions less than expected and juveniles were killed c. three times their available proportion in the population (w2= 25.12, d.f. = 2, P < 0.0001; Table 1, Fig. 2)."

www.researchgate.net/publication/229195728_Predation_of_guanacos_Lama_guanicoe_by_southernmost_mountain_lions_Puma_concolor_during_a_historically_severe_winter_in_Torres_del_Paine_National_Park_Chile


The camels were noted to have been weakened by the drought.




However, the guanaco were also weakened by the winter.

"Overall, adult guanacos experienced surprisingly lower levels of mortality (adult male = 1%, adult female = 2%) than expected, despite the severe winter conditions, while juveniles experienced higher levels of mortality (13%) than expected"

"Previous research on the effects of mountain lion predation on this same population reported that adult male guanacos were preyed upon less by mountain lions than expected, whereas adult females were killed close to or less than their proportion in the population"

"Population dynamics and demography of ungulates are often influenced by age and sex-specific susceptibility to predation (Curio, 1976; Taylor, 1984; Pierce, Bleich & Bowyer, 2000a). Differences in physical condition can increase individual susceptibility to predation because predators may select prey in poor condition in an effort to conserve energy and reduce potential injury (Mech, 1970; Peterson, 1977; Ackerman et al., 1984; Huggard, 1993; Pierce, Bleich & Bowyer, 2000a). During winter, when nutritional quality and abundance of forage decrease, snowfall can limit the amount of range accessible to ungulates (Gilbert, Wallamo & Gill, 1970). Deep snow makes foraging energetically costly and may cause starvation, decrease overall fitness and potentially increase the spread of disease (Jedrzejewski et al., 1992). Following winters with deep snow, population demography can be affected for several years. Surviving animals generally are malnourished, resulting in lower fecundity the next breeding season (Schaller & Junrang, 1988). Furthermore, severe climatic conditions during winter can act either directly or indirectly by making ungulates, such as guanacos Lama guanicoe, more susceptible to predation (Franklin, Johnson et al., 1999; Sarno, Clark et al., 1999)."


If you do the math, then you realize that adult camels make up 45% of leopard kills, while adult guanaco made up 42% of cougar kills.


Also, I posted a leopard kill of a camel in Iran.



www.facebook.com/persianleopardprojectpage/photos/a.125532784265855/125532787599188/?type=3&theater



The kill took place in October, which is the rainy season, so it was far from the drought.

Also, camels in Iran are more free-ranging, or raised that way.

[Bolushi]

Camels seem to be good at tackling cursorial predators, particularly slower and clumsier ones like hyenas, but cougars and leopards are an issue due to their ambush and quick kill, bypassing the fight as a camel isn't as durable as a bovid or suid. Or an equid, maybe, but cougars and leopards seem to prey on equids. Equids and camelids can also beat the shit out of them, and are inclined to try, but are physically and temperamentally inferior to most cattle still. And then boars are outright more like carnivorans than they are herbivores in their fighting ability, and they're good at fighting. I think boars are just as good as bears at fighting, and they might be even better at killing things.
Is there anything on camels, donkeys, mules or horses fighting cougars/leopards and winning? Like actual videos/pictures of the fight and not an aftermath.

[Hardcastle]

Worth pointing out that although guanacos are camelids there's a pretty big difference between guanacos and camels. Camels are far larger and far more more formidable. Bactrian camels can weigh over 1000 kgs, dromedaries more like maybe 600-700 kgs. A very large adult guanaco would be 140 kg. So leopards targeting adult camels is a way bigger deal than pumas targetting adult guanaco, never mind the fact that it seems leopards target adult camels more often than pumas target adult guanacos. So yeah this is pretty strong pro leopard evidence really. Predating on adult dromedary camels is at least comparable to targeting adult moose, I would argue a bigger deal because I believe camels are more combative. Bactrian camels is a bigger deal, still. Guanacos ARE somewhat combative and somewhat impressive, I consider them comparable to tackling a larger deer, maybe a 140 kg guanaco is as impressive a prey item as a 200-250 kg red deer. Maybe. But it's ultimately not on par with preying on camels (either variety).

[CoolJohnson]

Mar 15, 2023 12:29:47 GMT Hardcastle said:

Worth pointing out that although guanacos are camelids there's a pretty big difference between guanacos and camels. Camels are far larger and far more more formidable. Bactrian camels can weigh over 1000 kgs, dromedaries more like maybe 600-700 kgs. A very large adult guanaco would be 140 kg. So leopards targeting adult camels is a way bigger deal than pumas targetting adult guanaco, never mind the fact that it seems leopards target adult camels more often than pumas target adult guanacos. So yeah this is pretty strong pro leopard evidence really. Predating on adult dromedary camels is at least comparable to targeting adult moose, I would argue a bigger deal because I believe camels are more combative. Bactrian camels is a bigger deal, still. Guanacos ARE somewhat combative and somewhat impressive, I consider them comparable to tackling a larger deer, maybe a 140 kg guanaco is as impressive a prey item as a 200-250 kg red deer. Maybe. But it's ultimately not on par with preying on camels (either variety).

I guess you are correct.

Leopard consumption of Sri Lankan sambar deer can be comparable to Guanaco.The males average 215 kg, while the females average 163 kg (Santiapillai et al. 1981).


Leopard predation on sambar deer.

"Sambar are abundant in HPNP, congregating in large herds in the open grasslands.

Sambar appear to compose the largest proportion of leopard diet here with >75% of scat containing sambar remains (n > 30; Ranawana et al. 1998, Rajapakse 2003)."

source: Kittle, A. M., & Watson, A. C. (2018). "Density of leopards (Panthera pardus kotiya) in Horton Plains National Park in the Central Highlands of Sri Lanka." Mammalia, 82(2), 183-187.


Cougar predation on guanaco.

"We identified prey remains using reference collections and a hair identification key of mammals (Chehébar and Martín, 1989) Frequency of occurrence was calculated by the number of stomachs/intestines containing a prey item divided by the total number of stomachs/intestines."

"The main prey consumed was the guanaco, both in terms of frequency of occurrence (61.9%)"

" Considering our results, the presence of guanacos -with medium to high occurrence probability in the study area (Pedrana et al., 2019)- may potentially mitigate predation losses as observed for other carnivores and their main wild prey (Meriggi and Lovari, 1996; Stahl et al., 2001). "

Llanos, Romina, and Alejandro Travaini. "Diet of puma (Puma concolor) in sheep ranches of central Patagonia (Argentina)." Journal of Arid Environments 177 (2020): 104145