Fear responces of leopards + hyena durability

[LeopJag]

I have a theory that i'd like to explain the fear responses of leopards towards hyenas compared to those of cougars with wolves..


^above image shows a cougar standing its ground on a carcass against two or possibly more, wolves....it appears that leopards in general fear hyenas more than cougars do wolves - including solitary brown hyenas. from video the footage i've seen it seems to at the most take two spotted hyenas to displace a determined leopard from its kill, but usually just one..

More Hyena / Leopard interaction from Vita, posted by WBT -






More Leopard / Hyena interaction

From The Behavior Guide to African Mammals By Richard Estes, Edward Osborne Wilson

books.google.co.uk/books?id=g977LsZHpcsC&pg=PA332&lpg=PA332&dq=brown+hyena+killed+by+leopard&source=bl&ots=1upRTv2CKd&sig=ZmIVnpFlLp5M7_NUY3Hyt-WSuHE&hl=en&ei=PtBVSv_6EYHQtgPK_PzzAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=brown%20hyena%20killed%20by%20leopard&f=false

Brown Hyaena interactions with other predators :

Leopard

Leopards have little influence on the brown hyaena population in the southern Kalahari and vice versa. The leopards' habit of taking their kills into trees, means that most of their food remains are unavailable to hyaenas (Fig.2.23). On several occasions a brown hyaena came to a tree in which a leopard kill was hanging and spent several minutes sniffing around the base of a tree, sometimes picking up scraps that had fallen from the carcass.
On the few occasions that brown hyaenas and leopards met, they usually showed little interest in each other, merely keeping their distance. Occasionally, one may chase the other a short distance and I once found the remains of a six-month old brown hyaena cub which had been eaten by a leopard. The following is a typical interaction between brown hyaenas and leopards :
9 September 1979. Cubitje Quap. 23.50h. A male leopard is feeding on a scavenged wildebeest carcass when a brown hyaena approaches with its long hair and tail erect. The leopard retreats 20 m and lies down. The brown hyaena starts feeding and is soon joined by another one. Then two hyaenas feed for an hour and a half while the leopard lies close by. When they leave, the leopard returns immediately. After a minute or two one of the hyaenas returns. The leopard continues feeding, growling a little, and the hyaena lies down 10 m away. The leopard drags this carcass away from the hyaenas a few metres, at which the hyaena stands up and advances. The leopard drags the carcass even further away. The hyaena moves closer, the leopard stands, and the hyaena turns around and moves away.

Kalahari Hyaenas : Comparative Behaviour and Ecology of two species



www.owens-foundation.org/docs/OwensandOwensFeedEcology070309.pdf


'Beat about the Bush' - O.P'ed by Chui

the aforementioned image i initiated this post with - it is a still and i don't know the story behind it,, how long the cougar stood its ground... when i find comparative studies on cougars vs wolves i'll post them here.....i will say however, that it possible that leopards fear hyenas more because of how surprisingly difficult they are to kill - even prime lions may struggle to kill adult spotted hyenas. not to imply that leopards are mentally/physically "wimpier" than cougars....i could conclude that unless its a prime alpha male leopard with a good size advantage, for most part it is not worth it engaging a single hyena in a fight to the death given their superior physical resiliency/durability...they seem to be able to take more punishment than any other carnivoran in their size class...

[creature386]

Here is such a cougar vs wolf study:
www.wildfelid.com/p7iq/pdf/cougar-wolf_interactions_Banff-Ecoscience.pdf
There is no direct evidnece that they avoid each other, but cougars seemingly try to avoid areas used by wolves.

I don't think images prove a lot, I also have a video of a leopard scaring off a pack of hyenas:

I think in this regard, they're about equal.

[Venomous Dragon]

Hyena clans are also bigger than wolf packs, potentially alot bigger and that could have led to leopards avoiding lengthy standoffs that could result in being outnumber 20 to 1. Its one thing to stand your ground against a couple wolves its another thing entirely to stand against a dozen or so hyenas that could very well attract the attention of a pride of lions.
Its a higher competion enviroment in africa and Its probably easy to go kill something else than risk being attacked by a large group of hyenas.

[LeopJag]

^that's quite true i was thinking the same thing...

to demostrate the remarkable physical durability of the hyena....these examples are the spotted species, but the brown is probably not much different if at all, in that regard...it is probably an adaptation they evolved to survive severe maulings by big cats such as lions and leopards. i'm not certain about the striped species, the smallest hyena after the aardwolf....

skip to 1:53


@ 3:25 escapes and runs off in spite of mauling by multiple lionesses


skeleton comparisons OP'ed Vita


www.theboneman.com/images/wolfforsite2.jpg



by 221extra
www.hyaenidae.org/uploads/images/crocuta%20pix/InjuryFromLion%28ALE%29.jpg

more, by Canidae

www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=lSgCdTxZt_M

www.youtube.com/watch?v=LA91HqQoScQ&list=PLD338118BEAB3C526&feature=player_embedded
Survived 2 lionesses without playing dead.

www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=fMoW0pQ57mA
About 5 lionesses here.

[Runic]

I know it's late but I'd like to add some general information.

This topic seems to foucus on Spotted hyena (C. Crocuta), the leopard (P. Pardus) and the other sympatric Cougar (P. Concolor) and the wolf (C.Lupus). A few facts as to why cougar and leopard act differently to these dog like animal (yes I know hyena are feliforms).

1) Cougar on average are significantly bigger than Grey wolves on a one to one basis (A large wolf is considered at 130lbs compared to 150lbs average for a tom cougar however wolves are taller) thus they generally do not fear them.

2) I'm guessing from the pics and vids we're using the savannah leopard? Wonderful. Ok in the savannah the sized are reversed with the hyena actually on average being the larger of the two (150lbs for most female hyena population compared to around 130lbs average for male leopard)

3) Grey wolves generally do not put up an aggressive defense 1 on 1 when confronted by a lone cougar, there was an account whereon even bolted when it saw a cougar (The cat later caught and killed the canine). Hyena on the other hand display more boldness (Probably because they are bigger and taller) towards leopard.

I don't think durability has anything to do with this as not every single hyena has been attacked by a lion and lived and at the same time not every leopard has bothered with trying to kill a hyena and found out it took hard effort. The animal don't think like "Oh my neck is muscular enough as my friend last week survived a lion attack, I should be more durable than this leopard".

This is all just my speculation of course. Tho tbh I'd back a wolf in a fight against an equal sized hyena despite their different attitude towards co existing cats.

[theropod]

It all makes sense, agressivity and size as much as durability.

Leopards are on average not that large, cougars seem to be larger compared to wolves than leopards to hyaenas. Hyaenas have A very robust built that makes killing them difficult, especially for an animal with a feline jaw apparatus that doesn't so much rely on the mechanical damage but on precise bites. Strangulating a hyaena or biting its spinal chord is difficult,, due to the thick neck-area and vertebrae. Probably this is easier with wolves that don't have as robust forequarters in favour of higher running efficiency, hence cougars have an easier time with them in a confrontation.
Hyaenas simply can take a lot of damage and an animal that is hard to kill quickly and itself can inflict lost of damage quickly is of course dangerous to felines that have rather bad stamina.

[full]

May 28, 2013 1:45:16 GMT 5 theropod said:

It all makes sense, agressivity and size as much as durability.

Leopards are on average not that large, cougars seem to be larger compared to wolves than leopards to hyaenas. Hyaenas have A very robust built that makes killing them difficult, especially for an animal with a feline jaw apparatus that doesn't so much rely on the mechanical damage but on precise bites. Strangulating a hyaena or biting its spinal chord is difficult,, due to the thick neck-area and vertebrae. Probably this is easier with wolves that don't have as robust forequarters in favour of higher running efficiency, hence cougars have an easier time with them in a confrontation.
Hyaenas simply can take a lot of damage and an animal that is hard to kill quickly and itself can inflict lost of damage quickly is of course dangerous to felines that have rather bad stamina.

Spot on Theropod, very well written post.

I've being saying for ages that the hyenas thickly muscled neck is both a great offensive and defensive tool, great for offence in that it provides a very pwerful anchor for any lateral shaking and tearing and defensivley because it offers just that bit more protection to the hyenas most vulnerable area, some relevant quotes:

"Above you can see the headless neck sticking out to the left. The neck was like a fifth limb, only larger and more heavily muscled than any of the rest. Honestly, this thing's neck was almost the size of one of my thighs. I've seen lots of dead dogs and cats, and I've never seen anything like it. It was like the neck of a small horse had been grafted onto the body of a large dog."

SOURCE: link


"The hyena has very thick, calloused skin on it's neck and throat, it is rough and hard, like eczema"

-Gordon Grice, The book of deadly animals, page 52.