LEOPARD HUNTING: PREY, METHODS, HOW THEY KILL

LEOPARD PREY

Leopards eat almost anything and have the most varied diet of wild cats. They generally prey upon mid-sized ungulates, which includes small antelopes (Bovidae), gazelles (Gazella), deer (Cervidae), pigs (Sus), primates (Primates) and domestic livestock. They are opportunistic carnivores and eat birds (Aves), reptiles, (Reptilia), rodents (Rodentia), arthropods (Arthropoda), and carrion when available. [Source: Ashley Hunt, Animal Diversity Web (ADW) /=]

Leopards have been observed eating 40 different animals, including catfish snagged from drying pools of water, porcupines that have had their quills meticulously pulled out, vervet monkeys snatched from the branches of trees, eight-foot-long pythons and aardvarks. They occasionally take dogs, cats, chickens and livestock. When nothing else is available, leopards prey on birds and insects such as dung beetles and scavenge and feed on carrion. They don’t eat everything they come across though. The skins of monitor lizards are too thick for their teeth to penetrate. Leopards are also known to scavenge from cheetahs , solitary hyenas and smaller carnivores as well.

Leopards prefer medium- and small-sized mammals that weigh between 10 and 40 kilograms. They often kill animals many times larger than themselves. In Africa, they hunt duikers, chitals, bushpigs, ground birds, gerenuk, wild hares, impala, other species of antelope, warthogs, small mammals like squirrelsm hyraxes, monkeys, and baboons and occasionally chimpanzees. With large animals such as antelope, baboons and monkeys they sometimes to feed on the young rather than adults.

A large kill can provide a leopard with enough food for two weeks. Even so such kills are usually made every three days or so, more for a female with cubs. Most prey is killed with a suffocating bite to th neck. Larger prey are often killed by twisting the neck until cervical vertebrates break. Puncture marks, perhaps made by leopards, have been found in the skulls of prehistoric baboons and hominids. It has been theorized that leopards hunted hominids at night and hominids sought out tree-stored leopard kills for meat, skins and bone marrow. See Ancient Man, Bushmen.

Leopards on the Hunt

Leopards are ambush predators, attacking prey before it has a chance to react. They approach potential prey by crouching low to the ground, getting as close as three to 10 meters to prey before pouncing. Leopards are not likely to chase prey after the first pounce. Some leopards like to leap onto victims from a tree, going for a quick bite to the spine. Others sneak up on baboons at night while they are asleep in their sleeping tree. They are known to cache food and may continue hunting despite having multiple carcasses already cached. [Source: Ashley Hunt, Animal Diversity Web (ADW) /=]

Leopards hunt primarily at night. They usually stalk their prey — crouched, with their ears back and their belly to the ground — to get within striking distance and attack with a quick leap to grab a hold of their prey. The naturalist Norman Myers wrote, “A leopard on the prowl takes care to conceal itself from the start while at the moment of attack it reveals itself for only a few moments — if that.” Hunting leopards need cover to stalk their prey. Sometimes monkeys alert other animal to their presence. Making a kill is also dangerous. Leopards have been seriously injured by warthogs. One leopard in Masai Mara in Kenya is lost half of its tail in a showdown with a baboon.

Alert leopard

A hunting leopard patiently and carefully observes its prey before making a move, and then moves slowly and freezes, moves slowly and freezes, its cushioned feet allowing it to move almost silently. The only part of leopard’s body in motion when it freezes is its nervously twitching tail. The leopard keeps its eyes fixed on its prey during the entire hunt. The closer it gets to its prey the slower and more carefully it moves. When the leopard makes its final leap it is so close to its prey and so quick that the prey hardly knows what hit it. Sometimes the prey leaps when it realize the leopard is there and the leopard brings it down in mid air.

Leopards generally kill by suffocation. When they attack they secure themselves to their prey’s body with their claws to get a firm grip and then clamp down on their prey’s neck with their powerful jaws, cutting off the air supply to the lungs and holding the position, often while the animal struggles, until the prey stops moving. Fresh leopard kills are often relatively undisturbed except for a couple of vampire-like punctures in the neck. Sometimes after a animal is captured, leopards immediately break its neck, causing paralysis. After breaking the prey's neck, leopards asphyxiate them and carry the carcass to a secluded feeding location, typically in a nearby tree. They may also cover prey carcasses in leaves and soil. Their tremendous strength allows them to tackle prey up to 10 times their own weight.[Source: Ashley Hunt, Animal Diversity Web (ADW) /=]

Description of a Leopard Hunt

"One morning," writes naturalist Edwin Bauer, "we found [a leopard called Half Tail crouched in the crown of acacia tree. Not far away, several impala females with fawns began gazing directly towards the tree. Very slowly, almost imperceptibly, the cat flowed onto the ground and almost disappeared from view. We could see only her white ear spots moving ever so closely toward the unsuspecting antelope. She moved only when they lowered there heads to feed. But a sudden clap of thunder and flash of lightning caused the prey to stand alert." After it started raining the impala headed for higher ground and the leopard retreated.

"One another morning we spotted her flattened on the ground," Bauer wrote, "as several impala browsed nearer and nearer. She was so focused on her target that she took no note of a red-necked turkey fowl that carefully passed less than two meters from her fore paws. the bird would have been an easy meal, but Half Tail ignored it. May she preferred the chance of a large meal over the certainty of a small one. In the end she had neither. Before the antelope came within range, a breeze bought them the cat's scent, and they fled. By then the bird was gone too."

Leopards, Kills and Trees

Leopards are the only great cat that spends a lot of times in trees. Lions, tigers and jaguars sometimes climb in trees but not nearly to the extent of leopards, who use tree limbs as a perch to survey the landscape for prey and sometimes launch ambush attacks, Leopards haul their kills up into trees to keep them out of the reach of other predators such as hyenas and jackals. They also mate and sleep in trees.

After making a kill, a leopard usually drags it prey by the neck to a tree or a cave or a secluded spot where it can feed undisturbed. Leopards can drag and carry kills twice their size up trees. They have been observed heaving 300 pound impalas and reedbuck up trees after dragging them more than a mile through the bush. One was even observed munching on a young giraffe at the top of an acacia tree.

A large animal can provide a leopard with food for days and keeping it in a tree ensures that only the leopard can feed on it for that time. Leopards that don’t haul their prey up into a tree often lose to other predators. it. Since leopards usually hunt alone they can easily be driven off their kill by a pride of lions and or a pack of hyenas.

Leopards sometime disembowel their kills to make them lighter and easier to drag into a tree. One of the telltale signs of the presence of a leopard is a carcase with a desiccated head hanging in a tree. Leopards sometimes cross their legs over their prey when they eat.

Large Carnivores Help Ecosystems

In January 2014, AFP reported: “The gradual decline of large carnivores such as lions, wolves or pumas is threatening the Earth's ecosystems, scientists warned as they launched an appeal to protect such predators. More than 75 per cent of 31 large carnivore species are on the decline, and 17 of them now occupy less than half of their former ranges, says a study published in the American journal Science. [Source: AFP, January 10, 2014]

"Globally, we are losing large carnivores," wrote William Ripple, lead author of the study and a professor in the Department of Forest Ecosystems and Society at Oregon State University. "Many of them are endangered," Ripple wrote. "Their ranges are collapsing. Many of these animals are at risk of extinction, either locally or globally. And, ironically, they are vanishing just as we are learning about their important ecological effects."

Ripple and his colleagues reviewed published scientific reports and focused on seven species that have been studied for their widespread ecological effects. They are African lions, leopards, Eurasian lynx, cougars, gray wolves, sea otters and dingoes. The different reports show that a decline in pumas and wolves in Yellowstone National Park led to an increase in animals that feed on tree leaves and bushes, such as deer and elk. This disrupts the growth of vegetation and shifts populations of birds and small mammals, the researchers said.

In Europe, fewer lynx have been tied to overpopulation of roe deer, red foxes and hares, while in Africa the disappearance of lions and leopards has coincided with a dramatic increase in the number of olive baboons, which threaten farm crops and livestock. In Alaska, a decline in sea otters through killer whale depredation has triggered a rise in sea urchins and loss of kelp beds.

"Nature is highly interconnected," said Ripple. "The work at Yellowstone and other places shows how one species affects another and another through different pathways." For instance, avoiding overpopulation of herbivores allows forest flora to develop more and sequester more carbon dioxide, the main green house gas responsible for global warming. But the authors of the study say it will be very hard to convince people to accept a large scale restoration of large carnivore populations. People are afraid of them and have fought them to protect their livestock and their communities, they said.

Leopards and Other Predators

Humans are the primary predator of leopards. Ashley Hunt wrote in Animal Diversity Web: Leopards are hunted as trophy animals for their fur, and retaliatory killings by farmers protecting their livestock are not uncommon. Lions, tigers, spotted hyenas, and African wild dogs prey upon leopard cubs and are capable of killing adult leopards. Typically, when an adult is killed it is due to a territorial confrontation. Many of the characteristics that make leopards great predators also serve as excellent predator defense mechanisms. For example, a leopard's spots allows them to travel inconspicuously and avoid detection.[Source: Ashley Hunt, Animal Diversity Web (ADW) /=]

Leopards compete for food with lions, tigers, spotted hyenas and African wild dogs. Leopards sometimes share the same range with tigers and lions but usually go out of their way to avoid them and occupy different ecological niches. An adult tiger weighs four times more than an adult leopard. If a leopard is seen in territory previously occupied by a tiger, it probably means the tiger has been poached. To avoid attacks from potential predators, leopards tend to hunt at different times of the day and avoid areas where potential predators are most populous. When competition for larger prey items is high, leopards prey on smaller animals, which reduces interspecific competition.

Leopards stay clear of large adult baboons, lions and hyenas. A single lion or a pack of wild dogs can drive a leopard from its prey. Lions sometimes feed on leopard cubs. Leopards sometimes feed on tiger cubs. Lions and tigers have been known to kill adult leopards. Leopards often struggle over prey with hyenas. Sometimes a single hyena and a leopard will consume prey together. Four hyenas are usually able to drive a leopard away from its prey. Sometimes a pair of them can do it. A single hyena has been observed following a leopard wherever it goes in hopes of scavenging food.

Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons

Text Sources: Animal Diversity Web animaldiversity.org ; National Geographic, Live Science, Natural History magazine, David Attenborough books, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Smithsonian magazine, Discover magazine, The New Yorker, Time, Reuters, Associated Press, AFP, Lonely Planet Guides, Wikipedia, The Guardian, Top Secret Animal Attack Files website and various books and other publications.

Last updated January 2025