I defend the honor of the monkey, as a fellow monkey 😎
@ajay
What ''stylistic problem'' is present besides an ambush on a female in the middle of the night?
It seems like this entire perception is based off of primates being more susceptible to claws than carnivorans, and sure it's by no means pretty, but that really just means getting disemboweled is more likely. And indeed leopards have targeted the groin area to rake with their claws. That strategy has always occurred during ambush while the primate couldn't face the leopard to stop it from doing that.
I'll take the angle that primates are a ''stylistic problem'' for leopards, just like how majors in a Camponotus colony are a stylistic problem for Pogonomyrmex, Odontomachus, jumping spiders, mealworms, apples etc. etc., how are they a stylistic problem? This:
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And you @hammerhead need to get the carnivora mindset out of your head. As this: ''I think the leopard would win due to its agility and deadlier weaponry. It is much faster than the chimp and a paw swipe could do real damage to it. Then it can go in for the kill by securing a throat hold on the wounded chimpanzee. The leopard’s jaws are far more impressive than those of the chimp. Also, the leopard is more durable.'' Is painting out the leopard to be a professional, tactical fighter which it is not. The best its agility can do is allow it get away, maybe after it killed a pregnant mother infected with AIDS and stage 3 bone cancer in an ambush. Because that's what predators prefer, something weak that can defend itself as little as possible. Because the prey usually wins, either by fighting or running or breeding. Chimpanzees choose fighting, because it works.
The leopard has ''deadlier'' weaponry, but this is a negative as its deadlier weaponry is specialized for a quick decisive kill which is highly unlikely on a dominant male chimp (but not impossible). Also, the chimp's weaponry is at least as deadly, they're not good killers and they're truly a mauler but grotesque wounds especially near the facial area can result in death, if you weren't aware. Leopards know this which is why adult male chimps (or awake female chimps, but they are still somewhat susceptible if ambushed) always ''win the fight'' in the wild but may eventually die if all their clawing injuries don't heal up.
And finally here are some accounts of chimpanzees with scars from leopard attacks (it seems all this anti-primate slander is purely due to primates being a bit susceptible to clawing, but cat claws are still ineffective mostly) and active persecution events because chimps hate leopards.
''Tai chimpanzees seem to search systematically for leopards whenever they are aware of
their presence, either because they hear one, or when
LEOPARD PREDATION AND CH1MPANZEE GROUPI NG PATTERNS 223
leopard prey, such as a duiker, call in distress. Keeping together, with
hair on ends, they silently move in the direction of the supposed leopard,
looking around as they progress and waiting to listen for indications of
the leopard's position. If they find the leopard or happen to encounter
one by chance, they very aggressively and noisily chase it away. During
the study period, Tai chimpanzees were seen to chase leopards away 9
times and to rush the rescue alarm-calling chimpanzees 11 times (twice
we saw leopard footprints at the site and twice we heard the growl of the
fleeing leopard). In the following examples, two types of reaction by the
leopard, depending upon the number of chimpanzees chasing it, were
recorded.''
''Example 1. A leopard discovered by two male chimpanzees.
"On 18th September 1989, Ulysse and Rousseau (two young low-ranking adult males),
on their own, were silently approaching a mixed group of noisy monkeys when suddenly .
following an alarm shriek of a diana monkey (Ccrcopithecus dinna), the soft growl of a
leopard was heard. Immediately, Ulysse stood upright and, facing Rousseau, sought
reassurance by touching the other's mouth before moving towards the growl, followed
by Rousseau. The leopard growled twice more while moving westwards, Ulysse accordingly changing his direction of approach. Very deliberately and silently, Ulysse led the
approach, 10 meters ahead of Rousseau. Suddenly he stood upright and, with wild
aggressive barks, rushed ahead followed by Rousseau. The surprised leopard ran further
west pursued by the two males and, like a hare in flight, suddenly made an abrupt turn
and dashed away from the closing chimpanzees passing right beside rne with its ears flat
down. Delayed by this swerve, Ulysse and Rousseau stopped, looked around and
drummed aggressively on buttress roots several tunes."
''During the last 5 years, 7 chimpanzees—2 adult males (Falstaff and
Ulysse) and 5 females (4 adults: Ella. Gitane, Hera, Malibu and 1
adolescents: Fossey)—have born numerous fresh wounds (between 5 to
19) that could only be attributable to leopard attacks. Four were attacked
while member of a party within a large and noisy group (Falstaff, Ella,
Malibu and Fossey), when we were following a nearby party, while the
others were attacked when we were absent. However, Hera, was known
to have been absent from the group for two days, probably with another
adult female, at the time she received the wounds.
All recovered completely except for one male
, Falstaff, who died two months later, most probably from an infection following the perforation of the pleural membrane caused by one of the claws of the leopard. I found Falstaff very
shortly after the presumed attack, attracted by tremendous alarm calls of
the chimpanzees and all the monkeys in the area.
He was covered inB.
LEOPARD PREDATION AND CHIMPANZEE GROUPING PATTERNS 225
blood and bore 16 wounds that all healed rapidly, except one neat little
hole in his side from which a whitish secretion continually oozed. His
general state of health deteriorated until he looked very ill and could not
follow the group any more. We encountered him a few times and could
tell his presence by an awful smell. We never found his corpse, but the
chance of his having been eaten by the leopard that had attacked him so
much earlier seems remote. The fragmentary nature of these observations does not enable us to explain why leopards should attack chimpanzees when they are in groups and apparently able to defend themselves. However, Falstaff's death proves that leopard attacks can be fatal,
even for a full-grown male chimpanzee.''
''Example 3. An adult female attacked by a leopard.
"On 23rd February 1989, I was following a party of 4 adult females with their infants
moving within a noisy but spread out group of chimpanzees. At 9.38 hrs, a chimpanzee,
about 50 m away, made loud frightened calls. Instantly, 3 of the 4 mothers rushed barking aggressively towards the calls. Just before arriving, I heard them making loud mobbing calls suggesting that the rescuers were chasing a predator away. I arrived some 30
seconds later just in time to sec 5 of the 6 adult males of the community arriving and
without hesitation rushing westwards, the direction the females, now in the trees, were
facing.
Ella, one of the dominant females, had her face, chest and legs covered in blood,
and had 19 wounds visible on her body, but none looked serious. I presume that, when
she was attacked, she was out of sight of others with her 5-year old son, who was now
sitting unharmed nearby. For the next 2 hours, she was constantly surrounded by at least
15 chimpanzees, most of the time tending her, removing dirt and licking all the blood
from her wounds. She left the site some 2 hours later and was escorted for the next 4
hours always by at least 5 adults behaving attentively towards her, regularly licking her
wounds. The leopard footprints found near the site clearly showed that it had been coming from the west towards the noisy chimpanzees.''
''Hera, who was attacked presumably when away from the group,
seemed to have been less lucky: when she reappeared, her 2-year old son
was missing.
She had certainly tried to rescue him at the cost of 18 fresh
wounds, of which 13 were on her head, in the ensuring battle. However,
since the infant was so small, the leopard certainly killed him instantly
and was able to carry him off and her rescue came too late.
The taking care of wounded chimpanzees by other group members is
characteristic and results in the rapid healing of wounds not accessible to
the victim, e.g. on the head (Ella, Hera, Malibu and Ulysse) or on the
226
CHRISTOPHE BOESH
back (Fossey, Gitane and Falstaff). All dirt particles and blood are
removed with the fingers or the mouth, and the wounds are licked clean
by adding plenty of saliva. This care is provided as long as needed and,
in the case of Falstaff, was still being provided two months after the
attack.''
''Thus, during the study period, individual chimpanzees suffered an
estimated predation risk of 0.30 per individual per year with or without
injuries and a mortality rate of 0.055 per individual per year due to
predators. In other words, on average an individual will be attacked by
230 CHRISTOPHE BOESCH
a leopard once in 3 years and 4 months and will be killed within
18 years.''
www.eva.mpg.de/fileadmin/content_files/staff/boesch/pdf/behav_leopard_predation.pdfHere is some info from other comparable primates:
''In a study where a mandrill group was exposed to models of leopards and crown eagles, the leopard models tended to cause the mandrills to flee up trees while the eagles were more likely to drive them to take cover.
The dominant male did not flee from either model types; in the case of the leopards, he paced around while looking in their direction.''
(Mandrill Wikipedia)
Baboon chasing leopard:
www.jstor.org/stable/40980790?read-now=1&seq=4#page_scan_tab_contentsThis is the response during a leopard attack:
I am not saying these accounts are fair, but you will be hard pressed to find wild interactions being fair at all. And it is equally unfair when leopards kill chimps.
What part about dominant male chimps having a 100% success rate against leopards do you all not understand?
