SANParks.org Forums • View topic - "Most Successful Predator."?

Greetings...

I had time before the footies last night- eish is all I can say Africa- to watch a documentary again by the brilliant Jouberts. This was the exchange between buff and Lion in the delta... Wow, how many times do that lot of Lion need to try before snatching a buff- great footage..... But this brought me to ask, what is in your opinion, the most successfull hunter? Me, I would have to say a Leopard.... Stealth and power do the trick, but I may be wrong?

And totally off the subject, if anyone who have watched "relentless enemies", what was the reason of the "Grandmother Lioness", killing the 32 cubs in the two years?

Enjoy, and please share your views...

Also watched that docu

Watched the doccie -was very good.

Morning all!
Of the main predators I'd say
1 - Hyena
2 - Wild Dog
3 - Leopard
4 - Cheetah
5 - Lion

Most people believe Hyena's are scavengers but they actually hunt 80% of their prey and are very successful in doing it.
Lion's seem to miss 6 out of 10!

Inyathi, Nice thread.

Just a little modification. Can you change the name to "Most Successful Predator."? The current title is a little misleading.

Saw a series a while back called "Built for the Kill." They had a "shootout" between predators and worked out which was most successfull. Can't recall what it was, but I was :shock:

at how few lion hunts end in a kill. I think our dappled cats were only marginally better at catching their prey. And Cheetahs almost the least successful since once they managed to bag a kill, they often got chased off by those spooted dogs (Hyena)

Snakes were more successful than cats with better sense of smell to track their prey.

I imagine wild dogs are way up there since they just wear their prey down with sheer stamina. But to be fair, maybe we need to have this split into mammals in one thread and maybe another given to reptiles.

Loving the idea though and maybe we can get some scientific data from those that know.

Think I've heard in the past that wild dogs have the highest success rate, over 80% I think. Will try remember to look in some books tonight to see if there's any mention.

Wild dogs are by far the most successful if you simple take the kill ratio as your norm.

But then, it may be a bit unfair, since different hunting strategies have different pro's and con's.

Just to illustrate: A failed hunt by a wild dog pack may have meant that the pack had been running at virtually top speed for two or more kilometers. Whilst a failed lion hunt may have meant that one or two individuals had an unsuccessful 50 meter dash.

Another complication is that the same species may have a different strategy in different areas. Take hyena as an example. In the Serengeti they are very active hunters, whilst in Kruger they more often scavenge.

Just a thought, I know a predator that is more than 100% successful.

Spiders!

They weave a web, and catch several prey with it. And that goes on for days/weeks!
Then again, there are kinds that eat their web in the evening, and remake it the next day.

Imberbe wrote

If we take that into account, then clearly the wild dogs have a more sucessful hunting strategy if the kill rate is higher.

Analysed differently, maybe lions use less energy by only chasing for short distances so we could argue that their stragedy is more successful from and energy expenditure perspective.

It's all kinda relative. :wall:

Lion ants "dig" those conical holes and almost always get whatever happens to wander into their little cones, so we could say that they are 100% successful as well.

I think we have to take into account that once a hunt begins (from the stalk) to the concusion (either capture or escape of the prey) there are varying degrees of success for all mammals. Cats (African wild cat, and domestic cats) tend to stalk as close as possible and rely on the element of surprise which is quite often successful in relation to the energy used.

So, perhaps we need to break this down into another few threads to discuss the relative success of Cats, Wild Dogs and hyenas, Crocs, snakes, and insects.

Although certain plants (venus fly trap) are carnivorous, I doubt there are any stats available to dertermine how well they "close the deal".

DQ, are you sure of your stats there? Spider are more than 100% successful? :huh:

The ones that build a web yes... (There are also spiders that swing a single strand around, or the jumping spiders, etc.)

They build the web, and catch more than 1 prey with it. To me that's more than 100%, especially as they catch so much that they actually create larders for bad days.

Except of they "catch" a wondering zebra or blundering guide. :roll:

BunnyHugger wrote

Inyathi, Nice thread.

Just a little modification. Can you change the name to "Most Successful Predator."? The current title is a little misleading.

Please do Inyati :wink:

eish, I just fixed it for ya....

any news yet on why a lioness would go "beyond the call of duty" to kill 32 cubs? I understand a male doing it but a female???

Thank you Inyati, Now I know what it is about

Might as well throw ebola in for good measure, or any of teh hanta viruses. :funny:

Of the mammalian predators in Africa, yes, the wild dog has more kills per attempt than any other carnivore in Africa.

Teh reason lions and most big cats do not run for hours like a canid, is because they would overheat. hence the employment of ambush tactics as opposed to just walking into a herd and chasing.

Cats are more efficient at dispatching thier quarry - Hyenas and Dogs simply tear it into fatigue and death.