I just finished reading Death in the Long Grass(I am not trying open another Capstick bashing forum I think we have all had enough of that). Anyway Capstick mentions in the leopard section that they have been known to hunt men and other animals for sport. For some reason this intrigues me. Is this a fact or reality. I understand they will as all animals defend themselves if pressed or threatened. He stated that lions and all other predators of this type nearly all of the time eat or attempt to eat their kills but the leopards will kill and leave it's victim on occasion. Are there any other animals that seem to hunt for the thrill(Other than us LOL). If my numbers ever hit I would love to be able to hunt one of these animals. It seems like it could really get your heart going.

K20350, you pose a very interesting question.

But any attempt to reply meaningfully must first make it very clear on exactly what is your question. I see it as one of:
1. Does typical ‘normal behavior’ of leopards include hunting for the thrill of it?
2. Do some ‘inclined to abnormal behavior’ leopards hunt for the thrill of it?

Methinks that the answer to the first question is a resounding NO! The reply to the second question is probably: Quite possibly!

Some more thought about what constitutes ‘normal’ and what can be considered ‘abnormal’ in nature may be required to make any discussion of the posed question meaningful. Students of statistics soon learn about the Normal [or Gaussian] Distribution and how many things in nature fits this distribution. If it were possible to assign a value to the tendency of leopards to hunt ‘purely for the thrill of hunting’, and a student of leopard behavior quite probably can, one could then rank this tendency for all leopards. I am of the opinion that such a ranking will fit the Normal Distribution. Leopards in the wild have many things to do: Establish and maintain a territory, rest, hunt and eat, teach their young to hunt, evade lions, evade man, groom, court and get a partner to mate with, and many more things that leopards do. If any on of these gets undue attention, some other will be lacking and the chances of survival and propagation decreases. Al leopard that really regularly hunts for the fun or thrill of it, will spend too much time hunting, leave a lot of uneaten meat to attract hyenas and other scavengers, not guard and maintain it’s territorial borders, deplete the food supply in it’s territory and generally make a F*%@up of his/her life.

Yes, thinking about it I’m sure that there are a few leopards that can be said of that they hunt for the thrill of it, but it cannot be regarded as the 'norm' in leopard behavior. Meeting up with a leopard that regards hunting man as an all-time thrill will really get my pulse up!

In good hunting.

Andrew McLaren

Leopards do not reason like we do. They act on their instinct to kill prey when available. They are hard-wired to kill prey when ever the oportunity presents itself.
In short, thats what leopards do...kill things!

It was just an anomaly that I found interesting and was wondering if it was some of the "artistic license" that Capstick enjoyed (made some great story telling) or a true fact. I guess I was wondering really if it were common. I can see where a leopards time is valuable when you put it in that perspective.
I thought it would make an interesting topic also. Maybe a good story or two.........

Interesting side note: You mentioned grooming time in their schedule. I was watching a special on the National Geographic channel today and they mentioned that lions spend 1/6 of their life grooming!!!!!!

quote:

Originally posted by K20350:
It was just an anomaly that I found interesting and was wondering if it was some of the "artistic license" that Capstick enjoyed (made some great story telling) or a true fact. I guess I was wondering really if it were common. I can see where a leopards time is valuable when you put it in that perspective.
I thought it would make an interesting topic also. Maybe a good story or two.........

Interesting side note: You mentioned grooming time in their schedule. I was watching a special on the National Geographic channel today and they mentioned that lions spend 1/6 of their life grooming!!!!!!

Hmm,.....less than most women.

At the risk of being anthropomorphic (ascribing human traits to animals), I have no problem in believing leopards hunt for "sport". Anyone who has ever seen the Nat. Geo special, I think it was called "Eternal Enemies" can see that those large male lions took an absolute delight in killing hyenas. Did those lions "hate" the hyenas? You betcha! Strange, I also just finished re-reading Death in the Long Grass.

Of course, no-one has ever asked a Leopard this question, so it's all going to be a matter of opinion, albeit, sometimes informed opinion, but I reckon that a Leopard is the same as any other animal in that his behaviour is dictated by survival, therefore he won't hunt for sport because by doing so, he'd be risking getting injured and therefore risking his ability to hunt for no reason.

Sure he'll kill other predators if given the chance but that's because the other predators compete with him for the available food supply and by taking them out, he's reducing the competition for the available food supply. This happens with all predators if and when they get the chance.

I think they do however, kill (prey) when an opportunity to kill arises, even though they might not need the food immediatly, but I wouldn't call that killing for sport as such. Perhaps a better term for that behaviour might be a well developed predatory instinct.

Leopard depredation of domestic animals or game farm animals can go far beyond what is needed to fill their bellies. They can be indiscriminate killers.

If they get over, under or through a fence, they will sometimes kill every single animal in the pen. There are many reports of this on record.

Still, it is wrong to ascribe human emotions or motives to wild animals. We must simply acknowledge that we don't understand why leopard behave this way.

Cats can seem to get their blood lust up- I responded to a complaint one time and the cougar had killed 22 sheep in a pen that night!

quote:

Originally posted by mrlexma:
Leopard depredation of domestic animals or game farm animals can go far beyond what is needed to fill their bellies. They can be indiscriminate killers.

If they get over, under or through a fence, they will sometimes kill every single animal in the pen. There are many reports of this on record.

Still, it is wrong to ascribe human emotions or motives to wild animals. We must simply acknowledge that we don't understand why leopard behave this way.

It's not just Leopards that do that. Lions do it in Africa, foxes do it in the UK & Europe etc as do mink and most other predators..... I'd call that nothing more than a well developed predatory instinct.

Another way to think about it.

I have had a number of bird dogs who killed for sport. This was on their part, a purely social exercise in partnership with me.

Do we presume a leopard to be intellectually incapable of what a dog is capable of?

I realize the cats have a much restricted limbic system and thus a more typically restricted social development for the most part.
But... I have seen dogs who just every now and again just need to kill something. Maybe a specific individual thing or maybe just something, but they kill and it is not for food or competition.

Apples to oranges or more accuratly, American dogs to African cats. One has nothing to do with the other.

Predators in the wild hunt to survive in the wild. Killing his part of it. Do leopards kill for the fun of it, I think not. They have tough enough time taking prey as it is just to survive. Why do they take their prey into a tree. I think that is self evident.

You notice I said above in the wild. The exception is the house cat. The house cat just kills to kill period. I have observed these house cats play with a mouse for minutes before killing it then just leave it.

There is one other animal (and it is an animal and not a fish) are known to play with their prey before killing it and eating it. What comes to mind is the Killer Whale (Orca). When it captures a seal, you may have seen it on TV it plays with it before actually killing it. I was forunate to see this happen one time in Puget Sound in Washington State with Pod of Orca's that had caught a harbor seal and started tossing it up in the air. They did this for a good 30 minutes before actually killing it. It was pretty bloody and grusome. Maybe that is how they taught young Orca's in the capture and killing of seals. I found out later only certain pods of Orca's do this. Other Orca's only hunt salmon.

Just a little observation on my part.

There was a British documentary a few years ago that concluded the traits of the big cats and be observed in domestic house cats. Anyone who has lived around ordinary houses cat knows that catch mice, rabbits snakes, etc... and “play” with them just for the hell of it. So, I don't think assuming leopards do the same thing is misguided.

Shakiri and mrlexma are right in my opinion. The problem comes when any predator is confronted with a large group of domestic animals who cannot or do not know how to defend themselves, especially in a confined area. Instinct takes over and they kill far more than they can use. The old "fox in the henhouse" story. Coyotes do the same. I doubt that behavior is limited to North America, but I don't think it's "sport", at least not like you and I think about it.

Enjoying the hunt and kill is natural to all predators. they would be much less likely to survive otherwise. The joy man takes in the hunt is not some highly cerebral function that sets him apart from other predators, but rather something that show his close relationship to them. It might be difficult separating this enjoyment from an arbitrary definition of "sport".

Interesting question! Hunting is hard-wired into predators, but I am sure that they also get some enjoyment from it from time to time when not thinking about eating to survive, set a territory, mate, etc, etc. Think of how many cats like to play with their food before killing and eating it when not extremely hungry. It makes the enjoyment of the hunt last a bit longer, although can't be much fun for the prey item.