The leopard has an exceptional ability to adapt to changes in prey availability, and has a very broad diet. It takes small prey where large ungulates are less common. The known prey of leopards ranges from dung beetles to adult elands, which can reach . In sub-Saharan Africa, at least 92 prey species have been documented in leopard scat, including rodents, birds, small and large antelopes, hyraxes, hares, and arthropods. Leopards generally focus their hunting activity on locally abundant medium-sized ungulates in the range, while opportunistically taking other prey. Average intervals between ungulate kills range from seven to 12–13 days.
Diet and hunting
African leopard
African leopard | Diet and hunting
Rodents, birds, small and large antelopes, etc. Dung beetles, adult elands, rodents, birds, small and large antelopes, hyraxes, hares Dung beetles, adult elands, rodents, birds, small and large antelopes, hyraxes, hares. From dung beetles to adult elands
what is massospondylus?
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Genus of sauropodomorph dinosaur
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who discovered this species?
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Joseph Millard Orpen
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where was it found?
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Upper Elliot Formation at Harrismith, South Africa
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what other historic species have been discovered in the country mentioned above?
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Hominid species; Australopithecus africanus, Australopithecus sediba, etc.
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what are the different wars that have happened in this country?
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Boer Wars
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when did the first of these wars happen?
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16 December 1880 - 23 March 1881
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which events caused the outbreak of it?
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Violation of the Sand River Convention of 1852, and the Bloemfontein Convention of 1854, by the British.
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what are some animals found in the country mentioned previously?
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Lions, African leopards, South African cheetahs, etc.
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in which region is the second animal found?
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Most of sub-Saharan Africa
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what does it look like?
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They are pale yellow to deep gold, and is patterned with black rosettes while the head, lower limbs and belly are spotted with solid black.
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what animal does it feed on?
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Occasionally, they successfully hunted warthog, dik-dik, reedbuck, duiker, steenbok, wildebeest and topi calves, jackal, Cape hare, guineafowl and starling. They were less successful in hunting zebras, Coke's hartebeests, giraffes, mongooses, genets, hyraxes 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 primates. Some individual leopards have shown a strong preference for pangolins and porcupines. In North Africa, the leopard preys on Barbary macaques. In Gabon's Lope National Park, the most important prey species was found to be red river hog ("Potamochoerus porcus").
African leopard | Diet and hunting
African buffalo ("Syncerus caffer") and cane rat ("Thryonomys swinderianus"), comprised 13% each of the consumed biomass. In Taï National Park, leopards were found to prey foremost on primates during the day.
African leopard | Diet and hunting
The leopard has an exceptional ability to adapt to changes in prey availability, and has a very broad diet. It takes small prey where large ungulates are less common. The known prey of leopards ranges from dung beetles to adult elands, which can reach . In sub-Saharan Africa, at least 92 prey species have been documented in leopard scat, including rodents, birds, small and large antelopes, hyraxes, hares, and arthropods. Leopards generally focus their hunting activity on locally abundant medium-sized ungulates in the range, while opportunistically taking other prey. Average intervals between ungulate kills range from seven to 12–13 days.
African leopard | Diet and hunting
Leopards often hide large kills in trees, a behavior for which great strength is required. There have been several observations of leopards hauling carcasses of young giraffes, estimated to weigh up to , i.e. 2–3 times the weight of the leopard, up to into trees. In 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.
African leopard | Diet and hunting
It usually eats medium-sized or large mammalian herbivores, such as antelopes. It preys on impala, Grant's gazelle, gerenuk, wildebeest, waterbuck, hare and guineafowl. It even feeds on other large mammals, such as plains zebras and ostriches on few occasions. However, its favorite prey is the Thomson's gazelle. The gazelle is found mostly in savannas, grasslands and open fields of the Serengeti ecosystem of Tanzania and the Masai Mara ecosystem of Kenya, where the cheetah can chase and catch its prey at full speed.
East African cheetah | Hunting and diet
The leopard depends mainly on its acute senses of hearing and vision for hunting. It primarily hunts at night in most areas. In western African forests and Tsavo National Park, leopards have been also observed hunting by day. Leopards usually hunt on the ground. In the Serengeti, leopards have been observed to ambush prey by jumping down on it from trees. The leopard is a carnivore that prefers medium-sized prey with a body mass ranging from . Prey species in this weight range tend to occur in dense habitat and to form small herds. Species that prefer open areas and developed significant anti-predator strategies are less preferred.
Leopard | Hunting and diet
The black bands surrounding its eyes closely resemble those of the raccoon. Other distinguishing features are its disproportionately large hindquarters and its erectile dorsal crest. It is an omnivorous generalist, preying on small vertebrates, invertebrates, eggs, carrion, and vegetable matter. It is one of the few carnivores capable of eating toxic invertebrates such as termites and millipedes. It detects prey primarily by smell and sound rather than by sight. It is the sole member of its genus.
African civet | Introduction
Its diet mostly consists of insects and other small invertebrates.
Diplolaemus leopardinus | Diet
In areas such as Sri Lanka, reserves in Central Asia and the Middle East and most of the montane and tropical rainforests of Africa, the leopard is the remaining top terrestrial predator present and often take varied prey of various sizes, including at times large ungulates weighing hundreds of kilograms, although they also takes smaller prey such as monkeys where ungulates are scarce. A study in Wolong National Nature Reserve in southern China demonstrated variation in the leopard's diet over time; over the course of seven years, the vegetative cover receded, and leopards opportunistically shifted from primarily consuming tufted deer to pursuing bamboo rats and other smaller prey.
Leopard | Hunting and diet
The cheetahs are carnivorous and mostly feed on herbivorous animals, such as Grant's gazelles, Cape hares, guineafowls and large animals like hartebeests, plains zebras and Barbary ostriches on few occasions. The Soemmerring's gazelles are the most preferable prey. However, lack of Soemmerring's gazelles in the Northeast African cheetah's region caused near extinction in Sudan.
Northeast African cheetah | Hunting and diet
In West Africa, the African wildcat preys on rats, mice, gerbils, hares, small to medium-sized birds, including francolins, and lizards. In Southern Africa, it also attacks antelope fawns and domestic stock, such as lambs and kids. In Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, it preys foremost on murids, to a lesser extent also on birds, small reptiles and invertebrates.
African wildcat | Hunting and diet
Research in southeastern Nigeria revealed that the African civet has an omnivorous diet. It feeds on rodents like giant pouched rats ("Cricetomys"), Temminck's mouse ("Mus musculoides"), Tullberg's soft-furred mouse ("Praomys tulbergi"), greater cane rat ("Thryonomys swinderianus"), typical striped grass mouse ("Lemniscomys striatus"), amphibians and small reptiles like Hallowell's toad ("Amietophrynus maculatus"), herald snake ("Crotaphopeltis hotamboeia"), black-necked spitting cobra ("Naja nigricollis"), common agama ("Agama agama"), "Mabuya" skinks, insects such as Orthoptera, Coleoptera as well as eggs, fruits, berries and seeds. Stomach content of three African civets in Botswana included foremost husks of fan palm ("Hyphaene petersiana") and jackalberry ("Diospyros mespiliformis"), and some remains of African red toad ("Schismaderma carens"), Acrididae grasshoppers and larvae of Dytiscidae beetles.
African civet | Feeding
The cheetah is a carnivorous mammal. It preys on medium-sized and large antelopes, and fast, small animals such as Cape hares and rodents. It prefers impala, kudu, puku, oribi, springbok, gemsbok, steenbok, wildebeest, warthog, red hartebeest, and other ungulates. The cheetah's preferred prey species is the oryx and the nyala.
Southeast African cheetah | Hunting and diet
Arabian leopards are predominantly nocturnal, but are sometimes also seen in daylight. They seem to concentrate on small to medium prey species, and usually store carcasses of large prey in caves or lairs but not in trees. Scat analyses revealed that the main prey species comprise Arabian gazelle, Nubian ibex, Cape hare, rock hyrax, porcupine, Ethiopian hedgehog, small rodents, birds, and insects. Since local people reduced ungulates to small populations, leopards are forced to alter their diet to smaller prey and livestock such as goats, sheep, donkeys and young camels. Information about ecology and behaviour of Arabian leopards in the wild is very limited.
Arabian leopard | Ecology and behaviour
A species-wide study showed that by preference where available five species were the most regularly selected prey, namely the greater kudu, Thomson's gazelle, impala, bushbuck and blue wildebeest. More specifically, in East Africa, its most common prey is Thomson's gazelle, while in Central and Southern Africa, it targets impala, reedbuck, kob, lechwe and springbok. Its diet is not restricted to these animals, though, as it also hunts warthog, oribi, duiker, waterbuck, Grant's gazelle, ostrich, calves of African buffalo and smaller prey such as dik-dik, hares, spring hares, insects and cane rats. Staple prey sizes are usually between , though some local studies put upper prey sizes as variously .
African wild dog | Diet
In West Africa, the African golden wolf mostly confines itself to small prey, such as hares, rats, ground squirrels and cane rats. Other prey items include lizards, snakes, and ground-nesting birds, such as francolins and bustards. It also consumes a large amount of insects, including dung beetles, larvae, termites and grasshoppers. It will also kill young gazelles, duikers and warthogs. In East Africa, it consumes invertebrates and fruit, though 60% of its diet consists of rodents, lizards, snakes, birds, hares and Thomson's gazelles. During the wildebeest calving season, African golden wolves will feed almost exclusively on their afterbirth. In the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater, less than 20% of its diet comes from scavenging.
African golden wolf | Diet
The cheetah is a carnivore that hunts small to medium-sized prey weighing , but mostly less than . Its primary prey are medium-sized ungulates. They are the major component of the diet in certain areas, such as Dama and Dorcas gazelles in the Sahara, impala in the eastern and southern African woodlands, springbok in the arid savannas to the south and Thomson's gazelle in the Serengeti. Smaller antelopes like the common duiker are a frequent prey in the southern Kalahari. Larger ungulates are typically avoided, though nyala, whose males weigh around , were found to be the major prey in a study in the Phinda Game Reserve.
Cheetah | Diet and hunting
In Senegal, where both "C. l. anthus" and "C. l. lupaster" coexist, some degree of niche segregation is apparent in their choice of prey; the former is reputed to feed primarily on lambs, whereas the latter attacks larger prey, such as sheep, goats and cattle.
African golden wolf | Diet
It eats a diet primarily of eggs, small birds, small mammals, and lizards. Much of its prey is tracked down by scent and dug out of burrows, and although it is normally a slow, deliberate mover it can move quite rapidly and pounce quickly when pursuing prey.
Saharan striped polecat | Diet
"Cephalopholis leopardus" is carnivorous and its diet consists mainly in small fishes and crustaceans, it's an ambush predator.
Cephalopholis leopardus | Feeding
When hunting, they stalk their prey or wait for the prey to come to them. After making and feeding on a kill, they usually retreat into trees to digest and rest. Their prey includes both arboreal and terrestrial vertebrates. Pocock presumed they are adapted for preying upon herbivorous mammals of considerable bulk because of their powerful build, long canines and the deep penetration of their bites. In Thailand, clouded leopards have been observed preying on southern pig-tailed macaque ("Macaca nemestrina"), Indian hog deer ("Hyelaphus porcinus"), Bengal slow loris ("Nycticebus bengalensis"), Asiatic brush-tailed porcupine ("Atherurus macrourus"), Malayan pangolin ("Manis javanica") and Berdmore's ground squirrel ("Menetes berdmorei").
Clouded leopard | Hunting and diet
It is an omnivore that feeds off of larvae and pupae usually found under rocks, aquatic animals, plant material, seeds, small fish, snails, and crabs.
African black duck | Diet
The few carnivores preying on hartebeests in southern Africa include lions, spotted hyenas, leopards, and cheetahs. However, hartebeests are not the primary food source of any of these species, particularly spotted hyenas. Lions only consume hartebeests for about 7% of their diets, hyenas consume hartebeests in 3.5%, cheetahs consume hartebeests in 1.75%, and leopards consume hartebeests in 6.25% of their diets. Lions typically prey on adult males, while both spotted hyenas and leopards tend to prey on young calves. These predatory habits are likely attributed to the difficulty of catching nomadic hartebeests, as well as the better success hyenas and leopards have with catching calves.
Red hartebeest | Predators
A carnivore, the caracal typically preys upon small mammals, birds, and rodents. Studies in South Africa have reported that it preys on the Cape grysbok, the common duiker, sheep, goats, bush vlei rats, rock hyraxes, hares, and birds. A study in western India showed that rodents comprise a significant portion of the diet. They will feed from a variety of sources, but tend to focus on the most abundant one. Grasses and grapes are taken occasionally to clear their immune system and stomach of any parasites. Larger antelopes such as young kudu, bushbuck, impala, mountain reedbuck, and springbok may also be targeted.
Caracal | Diet and hunting
Phalanta eurytis, the forest leopard, forest leopard fritillary, or African leopard fritillary, is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. It is found in tropical Africa, Ethiopia, and Sudan. The wingspan is 40–45 mm for males and 43–48 mm for females. Adults are on wing year round with a peak from January to June. The larvae feed on "Dovyalis rhamnoides", "Dovyalis caffra", "Populus", "Trimeria", "Maytenus", and "Salix" species.
Phalanta eurytis | Introduction
These samples contained remains of European rabbit ("Oryctolagus cuniculus"), sand lizards ("Psammodromus"), Iberian spadefoot toad ("Pelobates cultripes"), greater white-toothed shrew ("Crocidura russula"), three-toed skink ("Chalcides chalcides"), dabbling ducks ("Anas"), western cattle egret ("Bubulcus ibis"), wild boar ("Sus scrofa") meat, Algerian mouse ("Mus spretus") and rat species ("Rattus"). Research in southeastern Nigeria revealed that it also feeds on giant pouched rats ("Cricetomys"), Temminck's mouse ("Mus musculoides"), Tullberg's soft-furred mouse ("Praomys tulbergi"), Nigerian shrew ("Crocidura nigeriae"), Hallowell's toad ("Amietophrynus maculatus"), African brown water snake ("Afronatrix anoscopus"), and "Mabuya" skinks. It attacks and feeds on venomous snakes, and is resistant to the venom of Palestine viper ("Daboia palaestinae"), black desert cobra ("Walterinnesia aegyptia") and black-necked spitting cobra ("Naja nigricollis").
Egyptian mongoose | Behaviour and ecology
They eat insects, small rodents and lizards. Using their chelicerae, they can chop and saw their victim’s flesh. Their jaws are equipped to shear hair and quills from their prey as well as cut through skin and the thin bones of small birds. They then utilise digestive juices to liquefy the flesh of their prey so they can suck it into their bodies.
Galeodes arabs | Diet
Archaeobotanical evidence offers insight into the diet of the occupants at Leopard's Kopje. In 1969, Huffman and his team found seeds from finger millet, ground beans, sorghum, cowpeas, and wild plants at the Mambo phase level. The Leopard's Kopje diet would also have consisted of the livestock they kept, including cattle, goat, and sheep.
Leopard's Kopje | Diet
More than 100 prey species were recorded. The most significantly preferred species are ungulates; impala, bushbuck, common duiker and chital. Primate species preyed upon include those of the genera "Cercocebus", "Cercopithecus" and "Semnopithecus". Analysis of leopard scat in Taï National Park revealed that primates, except for chimpanzee and potto, are primary leopard prey during the day. Leopards also kill smaller carnivores like black-backed jackal, bat-eared fox, genet and cheetah. Prey as heavy as a giraffe is hunted, especially in areas that lack larger carnivores such as lions or tigers since they do not need to drag prey up trees to retain it.
Leopard | Hunting and diet
africanus", "H. habilis", and "H. erectus". They were preyed upon by the large carnivores of the time, specifically crocodiles, leopards, sabertoothed cats, and hyaenas.
Paranthropus | Introduction
In the case of larger species such as kudu and wildebeest, calves are largely but not exclusively targeted. However, certain packs in the Serengeti specialized in hunting adult plains zebras weighing up to quite frequently. Another study claimed that some prey taken by wild dogs could weigh up to . One pack was recorded to occasionally prey on bat-eared foxes, rolling on the carcasses before eating them. African wild dogs rarely scavenge, but have on occasion been observed to appropriate carcasses from spotted hyenas, leopards, cheetahs and lions, as well as animals caught in snares. In East Africa, African wild dogs in packs of 17 to 43 eat of meat on average each day.
African wild dog | Diet
Primarily a browser, the gerenuk feed on foliage of bushes as well as trees, shoots, herbs, flowers and fruits. It can reach higher branches and twigs better than other gazelles and antelopes by standing erect on its hindlegs and elongating its neck; this helps it reach over above the ground. "Acacia" species are eaten whenever available, while evergreen vegetation forms the diet during droughts. The pointed mouth assists in extracting leaves from thorny vegetation. The gerenuk does not drink water regularly. Major predators of the antelope include Cape hunting dogs, cheetahs, hyenas, lions and leopards.
Gerenuk | Diet
The African leopard ("Panthera pardus pardus") is a large, carnivorous feline having either tawny fur with dark rosette-like markings or black fur. The leopard is considered the most difficult of the big five to hunt because of their nocturnal and secretive nature. They are wary of humans and will take flight in the face of danger. The leopard is solitary by nature, and is most active between sunset and sunrise, although it may hunt during the day in some areas. Leopards can be found in the savanna grasslands, brush land and forested areas in Africa. Of the big five, it is most difficult to acquire hunting as well as the licenses for.
Big five game | African leopard
The African leopard exhibits great variation in coat color, depending on location and habitat. Coat colour varies from pale yellow to deep gold or tawny, and sometimes black, and is patterned with black rosettes while the head, lower limbs and belly are spotted with solid black. Male leopards are larger, averaging with being the maximum weight attained by a male. Females weigh about on average. The African leopard is sexually dimorphic; males are larger and heavier than females. Between 1996 and 2000, 11 adult leopards were radio-collared on Namibian farmlands. Males weighed only, and females . The heaviest known leopard weighed about , and was recorded in South West Africa.
African leopard | Characteristics
A single jackal is capable of killing a healthy adult impala. Adult dik-diks and Thomson's gazelles seem to be the upper limit of their killing capacity, though they target larger species if those are sick, with one pair having been observed to harass a crippled bull rhinoceros. They typically kill tall prey by biting at the legs and loins, and frequently go for the throat. In Serengeti woodlands, they feed heavily on African grass rats. In East Africa, during the dry season, they hunt the young of gazelles, impalas, topi, tsessebe, and warthogs. In South Africa, black-backed jackals frequently prey on antelopes (primarily impala and springbok and occasionally duiker, reedbuck, and steenbok), carrion, hares, hoofed livestock, insects, and rodents.
Black-backed jackal | Diet
In the wild leopard bush fish will eat any fish or insect that they come across small enough to fit into their mouths. In the aquarium however they will readily learn to accept dead alternatives such as bloodworms (chironomid midge larvae) and some sinking pellets, however that said few learn to accept flake foods and many people prefer to feed them with live food so that they are able to watch the leopard bush fish's unusual stalking method.
Leopard bush fish | Diet
These animals are usually browsers, feeding on grasses, shrubs, leaves, and fruits of most trees. They are highly dependent on water and need to drink every two to three days during summer. They descend from their point of elevation to drink from river courses known as wadis, and travel to new areas when water dries up. The goat was likely preyed upon by the Arabian leopard.
Arabian tahr | Diet and predation
The diet of the Persian leopard varies depending on habitat. In Iran and southern Armenia, it preys foremost on ungulates such as wild goat ("Capra aegagrus"), mouflon ("Ovis orientalis"), wild boar ("Sus scrofa"), roe deer ("Capreolus capreolus") and goitered gazelle ("Gazella subgutturosa"). It also preys on smaller mammals such as Indian crested porcupine ("Hystrix indica") and European hare ("Lepus europaeus"). It occasionally attacks livestock and herding dogs. In Iran, the presence of leopards is highly correlated with the presence of wild goat and wild sheep. An attack by a leopard on an onager ("Equus hemionus") was also recorded.
Persian leopard | Behaviour and ecology
Lachnoptera ayresii, the eastern blotched leopard, is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. It is found in Afromontane and riverine forest from Port St. Johns in the Eastern Cape and then along the escarpment to the midlands of KwaZulu-Natal, Swaziland, Mpumalanga and the Wolkberg in Limpopo, north to Zimbabwe and Mozambique. The wingspan is 45–52 mm for males and 50–56 mm for females. Adults are on wing year round with a peak in late summer and autumn, from January to June. The larvae feed on "Rawsonia lucida" and "Vismia" species.
Lachnoptera ayresii | Introduction
This species normally feeds alone or in pairs, but also feeds in large flocks sometimes. It is a generalist, although amphibians and fish form the larger part of its diet. The diet also includes shrimp, insects, and rodents. The type of food they take seems to vary by location, with clawed frogs and tadpoles being important parts of the diet in East and Southern Africa and small fish being almost the only prey taken in Mali. Because it is willing to take a wide range of food items and also take very small prey, it is not resource-limited and only feeds for part of the day.
Hamerkop | Food and feeding
In the presence of intensive bushmeat hunting surrounding human settlements, leopards appear entirely absent. Transhumant pastoralists from the border area between Sudan and the Central African Republic take their livestock to the Chinko area. They are accompanied by armed merchants who engage in poaching large herbivores, sale of bushmeat and trading leopard skins in Am Dafok. Surveys in the area revealed that the leopard population decreased from 97 individuals in 2012 to 50 individuals in 2017. Rangers confiscated large amounts of poison in the camps of livestock herders, who admitted that they use it for poisoning predators.
African leopard | Threats
"C. africana" feeds on sponges. It is known to eat a species of the sponge genus "Negombata".
Chromodoris africana | Ecology
The African crake feeds on invertebrates including earthworms, gastropods, molluscs and the adults and larvae of insects, especially termites, ants, beetles and grasshoppers. Vertebrate prey such as small frogs or fish may also be taken. Plant material is eaten, especially grass seeds, but also green shoots, leaves and other seeds. The crake searches for food both within vegetation and in the open, picking insects and seeds from the ground, turning over leaf litter, or digging with its bill in soft or very dry ground. It will chase faster moving prey, reach up to take food from plants, and wade to pluck food items from the water.
African crake | Feeding
As its name indicates, this bird feeds mostly on snakes (particularly venomous snakes up to 80 cm. in length), but will also prey on lizards, insects, small mammals and frogs. It mainly hunts from a perch or by hovering or searching the ground, stalking prey on the wing and then parachuting slowly to the ground to capture its prey. The species has also been found to be highly dependent on seasonal fluctuations in small mammal prey availability, with its numbers increasing in accordance with booms in small mammal abundance in the Serengeti National Park. A specimen collected from Morogoro in 1922 was found to have a pellet of rodent fur and a hissing sand snake in its stomach contents.
Black-chested snake eagle | Feeding Ecology
They tend to eat on nights when there is no full moon so it is darker.
Leiurus abdullahbayrami | Diet
Lions usually hunt in groups and prey foremost on ungulates such as gemsbok ("Oryx gazella"), Cape buffalo ("Syncerus caffer"), blue wildebeest ("Connochaetes taurinus"), giraffe ("Giraffa camelopardalis"), common eland ("Tragelaphus oryx"), greater kudu ("T. strepsiceros"), nyala ("T. angasii"), roan antelope ("Hippotragus equinus"), sable antelope ("H. niger"), plains zebra ("Equus quagga"), bushpig ("Potamochoerus larvatus"), common warthog ("Phacochoerus africanus"), hartebeest ("Alcephalus buselaphus"), common tsessebe ("Damaliscus lunatus"), waterbuck ("Kobus ellipsiprymnus"), kob ("K. kob") and Thomson's gazelle ("Eudorcas thomsonii"). Their prey is usually in the range of . In the Serengeti National Park, lions were observed to also scavenge on carrion of animals that were killed by other predators, or died from natural causes.
Panthera leo melanochaita | Hunting and diet
African jacanas feed on insects and other invertebrates picked from the floating vegetation or the surface of the water.
African jacana | Food and feeding
The congolli is a carnivorous ambush predator, and feeds on insects (especially in freshwater), fish, crustaceans (especially in estuaries), worms, molluscs, and other invertebrates.
Pseudaphritis urvillii | Diet
"Diet:" Feeds on small bony fishes, squid and octopuses, and including shrimp. "Reproduction:" Is ovoviviparous and gives birth to at least 7 or 11 pups per litter.
African angelshark | Biology
The African forest elephant is an herbivore. Elephants observed in Lopé National Park fed mostly tree bark and leaves, and at least 72 different fruits. To supplement their diet with minerals, they congregate at mineral-rich waterholes and mineral licks. Elephant dung piles collected in Kahuzi-Biéga National Park contained seeds and fruit remains of "Omphalocarpum mortehanii", junglesop ("Anonidium mannii"), "Antrocaryon nannanii", "Klainedoxa gabonensis", "Treculia africana", "Tetrapleura tetraptera", "Uapaca guineensis", "Autranella congolensis", "Gambeya africana" and "G. lacourtiana", "Mammea africana", "Cissus dinklagei", and "Grewia midlbrandii". Dung piles collected in a lowland rain forest in the northern Republic of Congo contained seeds of at least 96 plant species, with a minimum of 30 intact seeds and up to 1102 large seeds of more than in a single pile.
African forest elephant | Diet
The African leopards inhabited a wide range of habitats within Africa, from mountainous forests to grasslands and savannahs, excluding only extremely sandy desert. It is most at risk in areas of semi-desert, where scarce resources often result in conflict with nomadic farmers and their livestock. It used to occur in most of sub-Saharan Africa, occupying both rainforest and arid desert habitats. It lived in all habitats with annual rainfall above , and can penetrate areas with less than this amount of rainfall along river courses. It ranges up to , has been sighted on high slopes of the Ruwenzori and Virunga volcanoes, and observed when drinking thermal water in the Virunga National Park.
African leopard | Distribution and habitat
It mainly feeds on fruits, but also on seeds, young foliage, and invertebrates.
Angolan talapoin | Biology
Like other species of "Galerella" in southern Africa, the black mongoose has a broad diet, consuming adult, larval, and pupal Sarcophagid flies and other insects, as well as reptiles, birds, small mammals and fruits. They may sometimes scavenge meat but they prefer to eat the flies and larva found near the carcass. The black mongoose is mostly solitary, although occasional congregations may form, such as in the presence of an abundant food source such as the flies found near the rotting carcass of a large animal. Although highly solitary, they are not usually aggressive towards other members of their species and are not known to be territorial.
Black mongoose | Diet and behavior
Mammals generally comprise at least 80% of the diet. Lizards, snakes, and insects are infrequently eaten. In South Africa, caracals have been documented preying on small livestock in areas where sheep and goat are farmed. Livestock is however only a small and seasonal portion of their diet when wild prey is scarce. Its speed and agility make it an efficient hunter, able to take down prey two to three times its size. The powerful hind legs allow it to leap more than in the air to catch birds on the wing. It can even twist and change its direction mid-air.
Caracal | Diet and hunting
Leopard cats are carnivorous, feeding on a variety of small prey including mammals, lizards, amphibians, birds and insects. In most parts of their range, small rodents such as rats and mice form the major part of their diet, which is often supplemented with grass, eggs, poultry, and aquatic prey. They are active hunters, dispatching their prey with a rapid pounce and bite. Unlike many other small cats, they do not "play" with their food, maintaining a tight grip with their claws until the animal is dead. This may be related to the relatively high proportion of birds in their diet, which are more likely to escape when released than are rodents.
Leopard cat | Diet
Three days later, the leopard attacked the goats of a Gond farmer, but was driven off. Upon shortly returning however, it was fatally shot with a projectile propelled from a gas pipe five yards away from it. The Gond presented the hunter with the leopard's skin and stomach contents, among which was a ball of human hair, thus confirming it as the man-eater. The hunter purchased the hide for 10 rupees, later noting that the fur and claws were in fine condition, not what was to be expected from an old, infirm animal. There were no signs of past injuries which could have prevented it from hunting, thus leaving the hunter to conclude that the leopard had probably been fed human flesh as a cub by its mother, a likely man-eater herself.
Leopard of the Central Provinces | Death and post mortem
This species is omnivorous, as it eats fruits, insects, and small reptiles. It is also known for breaking logs in the hunt of grubs. Though they are omnivorous, their preferred diet is fruits, especially Indian olives and Ber.
Balochistan black bear | Diet
Axis or spotted deer make up the majority of its diet in the dry zone. The animal also preys on sambar, barking deer, wild boar and monkeys. There appears to be no birth season or peak, with births scattered across months. A litter usually consists of two to four cubs.
Sri Lankan leopard | Ecology and behaviour
In general, lions prefer large prey species within a weight range of . They hunt large ungulates in the range of including gemsbok ("Oryx gazella"), Cape buffalo ("Syncerus caffer"), blue wildebeest ("Connochaetes taurinus"), giraffe ("Giraffa camelopardalis"), common eland ("Tragelaphus oryx"), greater kudu ("T. strepsiceros"), nyala ("T. angasii"), roan antelope ("Hippotragus equinus"), sable antelope ("H. niger"), zebra ("Equus burchellii"), bushpig ("Potamochoerus larvatus"), common warthog ("Phacochoerus africanus"), hartebeest ("Alcephalus buselaphus"), common tsessebe ("Damaliscus lunatus"), Thomson's gazelle ("Eudorcas thomsonii"), waterbuck ("Kobus ellipsiprymnus") and kob ("K. kob"). Analysis of 119 faecal samples of lions collected in Cameroon's Faro National Park revealed that lions preyed foremost on kob and harnessed bushbuck ("Tragelaphus scriptus"), and to a lesser extent also on waterbuck, crested porcupine ("Hystrix cristata"), bushpig, roan antelope, olive baboon ("Papio anubis") and oribi ("Ourebia ourebi").
Panthera leo leo | Hunting and diet
Reported from central Africa to the southern regions of the Sudan. Probably more widely distributed. Found on hippopotamus and elephant dung in the spring or during the rainy seasons.
Panaeolus africanus | Habitat and distribution
It usually hunts from a perch and only occasionally hovers. Large insects such as grasshoppers form the bulk of the diet. It also feeds on lizards and amphibians and sometimes birds, bats, rodents and snakes. It is often attracted to grass fires where it preys on fleeing insects and other prey. The breeding season lasts from July to October in Tanzania and September to December further south. The nest is a simple scrape with no material used. It is sited above the ground in the crown of a dead palm or in a hole in a baobab. Sometimes the old nest of a Hamerkop is used.
Dickinson's kestrel | Behaviour
The larvae of the leopard magpie moth feed on the leaves of this and several other cycads. Monkeys, baboons, bats and trumpeter hornbills feed on the fruits, but discard the seeds, which are poisonous, thereby distributing the seed.
Encephalartos natalensis | Ecology
Leopard geckos eat only insects. Crickets, mealworms, waxworms, etc.
Eublepharis | Diet
There was also an increase in the variation of the diet during the fruit-scarce season. Important fruit include but are not limited to, the fruit of the bush mango ("Irvingia gabonensis"), African Corkwood tree ("Musanga cecropioides"), "Grewia coriacea", "Sacoglottis gabonensis" and "Xylopia aethiopica". Invertebrates consumed include crickets, ants, caterpillars and termites. Rarely, "Mandrillus" monkeys will eat larger animals, such as rats and gazelles when presented with the opportunity.
Mandrillus | Diet
The Javan leopard's prey comprises barking deer, wild boar, Java mouse-deer, and primates such as crab-eating macaque, silvery lutung, and Javan gibbon. Javan leopards also look for food in close by villages and have been known to prey on domestic dogs, chickens, and goats. Two leopards were radio collared in the Gunung Halimun National Park. Their daily activity pattern showed peaks in the early mornings between 6:00 and 9:00, and late afternoons between 15:00 and 18:00.
Javan leopard | Ecology and behavior
It feeds on insects, spiders, and occasionally seeds.
African rock pipit | Ecology
The black and rufous elephant shrew, ("Rhynchocyon petersi") the black and rufous sengi, or the Zanj elephant shrew is one of the 17 species of elephant shrew found only in Africa. Like other members of the genus "Rhynchocyon", it is a relatively large species, with adults averaging about 28 cm (11 in) in length and 450-700 g (1.0-1.5 lb) in weight. It is native to the lowland montane and dense forests of Kenya and Tanzania. It eats insects such as beetles, termites, and centipedes, using its proboscis to dig them from the soil and its tongue to lick them up.
Black and rufous elephant shrew | Introduction
The diet of the Angola colobus consists of about two thirds of leaves and one third of fruit and seeds. The East Tanzanian population lives mainly on ripe fruit, supplemented with full-grown leaves.
Angola colobus | Diet
Based upon the dental morphology, it is conjectured that "Proconsul africanus" was a frugivorous species. A study by Aiello in 1981 concluded it was a "below-branch feeder."
Proconsul africanus | Diet
It also preys on dormice, hares, nutria ("Myocastor coypus") and birds, especially ducks and other waterfowl, galliformes, pigeons and passerines. It can consume large bone fragments. Although it kills insectivores such as moles and shrews, it rarely eats them. When living close to human settlements, it preys on poultry. In the wild, it consumes up to of food daily. The African wildcat preys foremost on murids, to a lesser extent also on birds, small reptiles and invertebrates.
Wildcat | Hunting and prey
The African silverbill feeds mostly on grass seeds, picked from the ground but also taken from the growing plants if available. It will cling to grass stems to take seeds from the inflorescences. It seems that it feeds mainly on vegetable matter and rearing its young on seed as well. However, it has been recorded to take aphids from water mint (Meinertzhagen 1954).
African silverbill | Feeding
In Gir National Park, the home range of a male radio-collared leopard was estimated at . It killed prey once in 3.7 days. The leopard is a versatile, opportunistic hunter, and has a very broad diet. It is able to take large prey due to its massive skull and powerful jaw muscles. In Sariska Tiger Reserve, the dietary spectrum of the Indian leopard includes axis deer, sambar deer, nilgai, wild boar, common langur, Indian hare and peafowl. In Periyar Tiger Reserve, primates make up a large proportion of its diet.
Indian leopard | Ecology and behaviour
The species is known to consume a variety of caterpillars. The diet is not significantly different from "C. caeruleus".
African blue tit | Diet
The leopard's fur is generally soft and thick, notably softer on the belly than on the back. Its skin colour varies between individuals from pale yellowish to dark golden with dark spots grouped in rosettes. Its belly is whitish and its ringed tail is shorter than its body. Its pupils are round. Leopards living in arid regions are pale cream, yellowish to ochraceous and rufous in colour; those living in forests and mountains are much darker and deep golden. Spots fade toward the white underbelly and the insides and lower parts of the legs. Rosettes are circular in East African leopard populations, and tend to be squarish in Southern African and larger in Asian leopard populations.
Leopard | Characteristics
The diet of this species consists of seeds and grain.
Sahel paradise whydah | Biology and behavior
The black mamba usually hunts from a permanent lair, to which it will regularly return if there is no disturbance. It mostly preys on small vertebrates such as birds, particularly nestlings and fledglings, and small mammals like rodents, bats, hyraxes and bushbabies. They generally prefer warm-blooded prey but will also consume other snakes. In the Transvaal area of South Africa, almost all recorded prey was rather small, largely consisting of rodents and similarly sized small or juvenile mammals as well as passerine birds, estimated to weigh only 1.9–7.8% of the mamba's body mass. Nonetheless, anecdotes have indicated that large black mambas may at times infrequently attack large prey such as rock hyrax or dassies, and in some tribal languages, its name even means "dassie catcher".
Black mamba | Feeding
The diet of the leopard shark consists of small benthic and littoral animals, most significantly crabs (Cancridae, Grapsidae, and Hippoidea), shrimp, bony fish (including anchovies, herring, topsmelt, croakers, surfperch, gobies, rockfish, sculpins, flatfish, and midshipmen), fish eggs, clams, and the echiurid fat innkeeper worm ("Urechis caupo"). This opportunistic hunter has also been known to eat ghost shrimp, polychaete worms, and the young of smoothhounds, shovelnose guitarfish ("Rhinobatos productus"), and bat rays ("Myliobatis californicus"). Eelgrass ("Zostera") and algae may be swallowed incidentally. The leopard shark captures prey by expanding its buccal cavity to create a suction force, which is facilitated by its labial cartilages swinging forward to form the mouth into a tube.
Leopard shark | Feeding
Black-and-white colobus are leaf-eaters, but despite living in the canopy, they are hunted by Biaka pygmies and crowned eagles. The Biakas also harvest yams, climb to bees nests to collect honey and use natural toxins to stun fish in the forest streams. A fast-growing giant yam exploits the gap created by a fallen tree. The yam has several defences against being eaten, including attracting aggressive ants, but a particular beetle has evolved a strategy to combat both yam and ants. Chimpanzees are filmed using sticks to extract termites and safari ants from hollow logs. At a few special places in the forests, large clearings created by elephants attract many animals to socialise, reinforce bonds and feed on the mineral-rich ground.
Wild Africa | 5. "Jungle"
"T. delaisi" is a carnivore that mainly feeds on small crustaceans, such as Harpacticoids, Tanaidaceans, Caprellidae, and Amphipods. It cannot bite pieces out of its prey and thus cannot eat prey larger than its mouth.⁠ Defecation takes 1 to 2 s.⁠ Prior to the capture, "T. delaisi" looks at the prey item for several seconds; meanwhile the first dorsal fin rhythmically twitches about twice per second. The capture is achieved by a sudden inhaling movement, which sucks the prey into the mouth. If the prey is attached to the substrate, it is torn loose by a sideward movement of the head.
Black-faced blenny | Diet and feeding behaviour
The diet of "Gambelia sila" mainly consists of an assortment of invertebrates and other lizards. The insects that it normally preys on are: grasshoppers, beetles, bees, wasps, and ants. The blunt-nosed leopard lizard is also known to eat other species of lizards, and sometimes eats its own offspring. It is an agile predator, with the ability to leap 60 centimetres (2 feet), making it very easy for it to catch its prey.
Gambelia sila | Diet
The jaguarundi typically feed on small-sized prey weighing less than , including ground-feeding birds, reptiles, rodents and small mammals. Jaguarundis will also take larger prey such as domestic poultry, fish, marmosets, rabbits and opossums; a study recorded small deer (possibly carrion) in the diet. Vegetation such as grasses have also been recorded in their diet. A study showed jaguarundis take vertebrate prey on an average everyday. The broad array of prey recorded for the jaguarundi across its range and varying proportions of different prey in its diet could indicate that the cat tends to feed on the most abundant and easily catchable prey in the area.
Jaguarundi | Diet
A male pounced on a lamb resting in the grass, but abandoned the hunt after the lamb got up on its feet. It later scavenged the carcass of a recently deceased lamb weighing nearly . It consumed around meat in each of several bouts of eating, starting from the thighs, making its way from the lower back through the flanks to the neck; later it opened up the chest and fed on the inner organs. Insects like harvester termites, grasshoppers and moths constituted about 2% of the prey mass consumed. Altogether 54 prey species of the black-footed cat were identified, with the gerbil mouse ("Malacothrix typica") being among its most important prey.
Black-footed cat | Hunting and diet
"C. afra" is insectivorous, feeding on a range of insects, but particularly beetles and lepidopterans. Feeding is strongly dependent on the season, with much greater feeding activity occurring during the rainy season.
African sheath-tailed bat | Feeding
Information about the diet of savannah monitors in the wild has been recorded in Senegal and Ghana. It feeds almost exclusively on arthropods and molluscs. In Senegal, "Iulus" millipedes were the most common prey of adults; in Ghana, small crickets formed the bulk of the diet of animals less than 2 months old; orthopterans (especially "Brachytrupes"), scorpions and amphibians were the most common prey of animals 6–7 months old.
Savannah monitor | Diet
They are often preyed upon by trout during emergence. The larva of some South African species are known to be phoretic on mayfly nymphs. Adult males feed on nectar, while females exhibit anautogeny and feed on blood before laying eggs. Some species in Africa can range as far as from aquatic breeding sites in search of their blood meals, while other species have more limited ranges. Different species prefer different host sources for their blood meals, which is sometimes reflected in the common name for the species. They feed in the daytime, preferably when wind speeds are low.
Black fly | Ecology
The specimens inhabited a lakeside grassland environment with sparse tree cover, possibly similar to the modern Okavango Delta, and similarly predominantly ate C savanna foods—such as grasses, sedges, storage organs, or rhizomes—and to a lesser degree also C forest foods—such as fruits, flowers, pods, or insects. However, the teeth seem ill-equipped to process C plants, so its true diet is unclear.
Australopithecus bahrelghazali | Introduction
It is found in Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. This species can be nomadic, following food sources.
African hobby | Distribution
Little is known about the dietary habits of this species. They are believed to be omnivores that consume small animals. In addition, they feed upon fruits, leaves, nuts.
Black-spotted cuscus | Diet
The African pygmy kingfisher's diet consists of insects like grasshoppers, praying mantis, worms, crickets, dragonflies, cockroaches and moths. They are also known to take spiders which make out quite a large part of their diet. They also take geckos and lizards that are easily their length and small frogs and even occasionally small crabs. Prey are hunted from low perches and once caught are either crushed in the beak or are smashed against the perch.
African pygmy kingfisher | Feeding
The South African "P. robustus" appears to have been an omnivore, with a diet similar to contemporaneous "Homo" and nearly identical to the later "H. ergaster", and subsisted on mainly C4 savanna plants and C3 forest plants, which could indicate either seasonal shifts in diet or seasonal migration from forest to savanna. In leaner times it may have fallen back on brittle food. It likely also consumed seeds and possibly tubers or termites. A high cavity rate could indicate honey consumption. The East African "P. boisei", on the other hand, seems to have been largely herbivorous and fed on C4 plants.
Paranthropus | Diet
All species are found in a majority of sub-Saharan Africa in various woodland habitats such as rainforests, swamps, open savannahs, mountains, and sub-deserts. With the exception of the eland and sitatunga, spiral-horned antelopes are all browswers. All species forage on green foliage as well as rely on them for cover. During the dry seasons their diet consists mostly foliage from bushes and trees, shoots, twigs and herbs. They also supplement fruit, flowers, and fresh grass when the rainy season arrives. In response to living in dense cover, spiral-horned antelopes are able to move through the thickett by bounding, rushing, and dodging through the vegetation.
Tragelaphini | Distribution and ecology
When disturbed, individuals give a 'cough' alarm call and the herd retreats into thick bamboo thickets and lies on the ground for camouflage. Takin feed in the early morning and late afternoon, grazing on a variety of leaves and grasses, as well as bamboo shoots and flowers. They have been observed standing on their hind legs to feed on leaves over high. Salt is also an important part of their diets, and groups may stay at a mineral deposit for several days. They overlap in range with multiple potential natural predators including the Asiatic black bear and the leopard, and (more seldomly) tigers, Himalayan wolves, snow leopards, and dholes.
Takin | Biology
Jameson's mamba will chase prey, similar to other mamba species. When prey is caught, Jameson's mamba will strike until the prey dies. Since this species is arboreal, birds make up a large portion of its diet. Small mammals such as mice, rats, and bats and small lizards are also preyed upon. The main predators of this species are various birds of prey, including the martial eagle, bateleur, and the Congo serpent eagle. Other predators may include the honey badger, other snakes, and species of mongoose may also occasionally prey on the Jameson's mamba.
Jameson's mamba | Diet and predators
The fish is striped with the 12 to 28 dark vertical bars that give the species its scientific name, meaning "like a zebra". The males have wider, darker bars than the females. The breeding male develops bright orange coloration on most of his fins. This species feeds on chironomid larvae, copepods, nematodes, and other small animals. It is also herbivorous. It may feed by scooping up and swallowing mouthfuls of riverbed substrate to obtain buried food objects. The fish often spits out most of the sand and undigestible material, but the digestive tract usually contains an amount of sand. The fish eats mosquito larvae when available, and studies suggest it might be useful in mosquito abatement efforts.
Fundulus zebrinus | Introduction
The dibatag is a typical browser, whose diet consists of foliage and young shoots and shrubs. It limits itself to a small area for foraging. Dibatag have hardly been observed drinking water in the wild. The elongated upper lip assists in the ingestion of thorny vegetation, while leaves are plucked off by the front teeth and mobile lips. They prefer "Commiphora", "Acacia", "Boscia", "Dichrostachys" and "Maerua" species. They often gather in areas with leafy "Commiphora" stands due to the high water content of their leaves and shoots. In the rainy season, young soft grasses are preferred, while in the dry season they feed on fry fruits, flowers, buds, shrubs, and tall herbs.
Dibatag | Diet
However, their taxonomy is poorly understood and species are difficult to tell apart, especially those that are brown or black without other pattern. Therefore, the actual number of species is unknown, with more species likely to be identified in the near future. In captivity, they are usually fed crickets; in the wild, they eat most insects, including crickets, grasshoppers, cockroaches, mantises, and beetles.
Aphonopelma | Introduction
The diet mainly consists of leaves, fruits and flowers, supplemented by insects, gum and soil. The food is mostly gathered from trees and shrubs, but grasses and small herbs are also eaten. A range of other foods are also eaten such as cultivated plants, tubers and roots. The monkeys are often fed by humans and accept cakes, millet, and other foods. The diet varies according to the time of year and food availability. In some areas, cattle and deer will stand under trees where the langurs are feeding and consume the edible pieces that they drop. The monkeys are preyed on by leopards, tigers and dholes, and they sometimes mob snakes.
Southern plains gray langur | Ecology
Tortoises made up 145 of 5748 from 73 sites (2.5%) in South Africa. Rarely, snakes and lizards may also be taken and even termites have been eaten by this species. In South Africa, the commonest foods were (in descending order of preference): Cape hyrax, Smith's red rock hare ("Pronolagus rupertris"), meerkat, mountain reedbuck ("Redunca fulvorufula"), goats and sheep, scrub hare ("Lepus saxatilis"), Cape francolin ("Francolinus capensis"), helmeted guineafowl("Numida meleagris"), yellow mongoose ("Cynictis penicillata") and Angulate tortoise ("Chersina angulata"). In “poor food areas” of the Matobo Hills, three nests included 53.6% hyrax, 10.7% cane-rats, 7.1% monkeys, 7.1% mongoose and 3.6% antelope.
Verreaux's eagle | Other prey
Being a large, ground-dwelling bird species, the kori bustard is vulnerable to many of Africa's myriad of formidable terrestrial predators. Leopards ("Panthera pardus"), caracals ("Caracal caracal"), cheetahs ("Acinonyx jubatus"), lions ("Panthera leo"), spotted hyena ("Crocuta crocuta"), African rock pythons ("Python sebae"), jackals ("Canis" spp.), Verreaux's eagle ("Aquila verreauxii") and martial eagles ("Polemaetus bellicosus") are amongst their potential natural predators. Young bustards are most at risk even to bigger predators, but animals of similar body mass to a bustard, such as jackals or caracals, or larger also capably kill adults. Additionally, warthogs ("Phacochoerus spp."), mongoose and baboons ("Papio ssp.") may eat eggs and small chicks.
Kori bustard | Interspecies interactions
Preferring to hunt by ambush, it probably spends much of its life motionless, waiting for prey to wander by. Froesch (1967) described a captive specimen that would hardly ever leave its hide box, even when hungry, and once waited for three days for a live mouse to enter its hide box before striking. Feeding mainly on small mammals, but in wetland habitats, it is also known to take toads, frogs and even fish. One long-term captive specimen, regularly fed killed mice and frogs, always held on to its prey for several minutes after a strike before swallowing. It generally feeds on smaller prey than the closely related Gaboon viper (Bitis gabonica)
Bitis nasicornis | Feeding