African Leopard - Ecology and Behavior

Ecology and Behavior

Leopards are generally most active between sunset and sunrise, and kill more prey at this time. In Kruger National Park, male leopards and female leopards with cubs were relatively more active at night than solitary females. The highest rates of daytime activity were recorded for leopards using thorn thickets during the wet season, when impala also used them.

They have an exceptional ability to adapt to changes in prey availability, and have a very broad diet. Small prey are taken where large ungulates are less common. The known prey of leopards ranges from dung beetles to adult elands, which can reach 900 kg (2,000 lb). In sub-Saharan Africa, at least 92 prey species have been documented in their diet including rodents, birds, small and large antelopes, hyraxes and hares, and arthropods. They generally focus their hunting activity on locally abundant medium-sized ungulate species in the 20 to 80 kg (44 to 180 lb) range, while opportunistically taking other prey. Average intervals between ungulate kills range from seven to 12–13 days.

In the Serengeti National Park, leopards were radio-collared for the first time in the early 1970s. Their hunting at night was difficult to watch; the best time for observing them was after dawn. Of their 64 daytime hunts only three were successful. In this woodland area, they preyed mostly on impala, both adult and young, and caught some Thomson's gazelles in the dry season. Occasionally, they successfully hunted warthog, dik-dik, reedbuck, duiker, steenbok, wildebeest and topi calves, jackal, hare, guinea fowl and starling. They were less successful in hunting zebras, kongonis, giraffes, mongooses, genets, hyrax and small birds. Scavenging from the carcasses of large animals made up a small proportion of their food. In tropical rainforest in Central Africa, their diet consists of duikers and small primates. Some individual leopards have shown a strong preference for pangolins and porcupines.

Leopards often cache large kills in trees, a behavior for which great strength is required. There have been several observations of leopards hauling carcasses of young giraffe, estimated to weigh up to 125 kg (280 lb), i.e. 2–3 times the weight of the leopard, up to 5.7 m (19 ft) into trees.

Their diet includes reptiles, and they will occasionally take domestic livestock when other food is scarce. Leopards are very stealthy and like to stalk close and run a relatively short distance after their prey. They kill through suffocation by grabbing their prey by the throat and biting down with their powerful jaws. They rarely fight other predators for their food.