Do you know what is the animal with the highest success rate on the African continent? Have you ever seen an animal that can crush a lion in hunting? Today, Brain Cave Jun has found out the nine most efficient hunters on the African continent, and will take you to meet these masters who are proficient in hunting.
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Well, ninth, African wolf. The African wolf is a very old canine, previously thought to be a subspecies of the golden jackal, but later scientists found outThe African wolf has 72% the same genetic pedigree as the gray wolf and should be a subspecies of the gray wolf.
Like gray wolves, African wolves prefer to live in packs and go out in groups when hunting, but their hunting success rate is not high. According to a study abroad,Fourteen studies have shown that wolves have only 14 percent success in hunting. As a subspecies of wolves, the success rate of hunting of African wolves is also very different
Why is the success rate of wolf hunting in packs so low? American expert Daniel Starler once published a study in Behavioral Ecology, which showed that as the number of wolves increased, the success rate of wolf hunting did not increaseWhen there are more than 4 of them, their hunting success rate will be stable
The reason is that some wolves in the pack eat white food. These wolves don't have to raise offspring, they don't hunt hard, and they don't even think about getting something for nothing.
Well, eighth place, African wildcat. African feral cats are different from the stray cats we usually see, they are 13A subspecies of wild cats isolated 10,000 years ago and the ancestors of modern domestic cats.
The African wildcat lives mainly in semi-desert areas and savannahs, and is dominated by mice and other small mammals, and sometimes eats birds and insects. The African wildcat is said to have a 32 percent success rate.
In October 2020, a photographer named Peter Hall photographed a pure black African wildcat in Kruger National Park, South Africa. And ecologist Dr. Mana Herbster believes that this may be evidence of genetic contamination of African wildcats. One day, pure-blooded African wildcats may disappear from the earth.
Seventh place, lion. In our impression, the lion is the king of beasts in the African savannah, the apex predator standing at the top of the food chain, and the success rate of hunting should be high. In fact, the success rate of lion hunting is moderate, only 38%; And this is still the data of group hunting.
It is claimed that the success rate of male lions hunting alone is only 17%-19%.。Because lions are large and not fast, their main predators are mostly large prey such as wildebeest and African buffalo.
It is difficult for lions to hunt alone to be large herbivores of about the same size and strength as themselves. Even if it is a group hunt, the success rate is less than half. Of course, it's not that lions aren't strong enough, it's that their opponents aren't weak either. If one is not careful, the lion may also be killed.
Okay, sixth place, leopard. The leopard is a very widespread feline, from Asia to Africa and even the Himalayas. The leopard, which lives in Africa, is inferior to its relative cheetah in terms of hunting.
Leopards are not very fast, and their main way of hunting is through ambushes. When they walk on their backs, they can even hide themselves behind vegetation that is only 20 centimeters tall. But even so, leopards have a 38% success rate in hunting, which is the same as that of lions. But they hunt alone, so they are ahead of the lions.
It varies depending on the habitat. The success rate of leopard hunting will fluctuate. For example, in the Serengeti plains of Africa, the success rate of leopard hunting is only 5%; The leopard in Kruger National Park in South Africa can increase the success rate of hunting to 20%; If it is a night hunt, the success rate will be higher.
Below, is the serval in fifth placeThe serval is a small cat that looks very similar to a leopard, with a body length of about 60 centimeters, and is known as the "child of the night" because of its excellent night vision and hearing.
Servals are most active between dusk and dawn, and under the cover of night, they become one of Africa's deadliest and most efficient hunters. Although the data is not accurate, it is stated in many documentaries at home and abroad that the success rate of serval hunting can usually reach 50%.
This is mainly due to their special pair of large ears, and if you look closely at the appearance of servals, you will notice that their ears are uncoordinated, one ear is half a head wide. Through its keen sense of hearing, servals can accurately identify the location of their prey and quietly lurk around their prey, looking for an opportunity to complete the hunt.
Okay, fourth, cheetah. As the fastest animal on land, cheetahs have a very high success rate. It can be ranked second among felines. There is also a "king" of hunting in the feline family in front of it, which we will introduce below.
In 2012, a research institute conducted statistics on the predation behavior of cheetahs in the SerengetiOf the 192 kills recorded by cheetahs, 114 were successful, indicating that it had a 58% success rate. Compared with the lions and leopards in front, the success rate of cheetahs is already very high.
The reason why cheetahs can have such a high success rate of hunting is that speed is the key. In the fiercely competitive African savannah, which predator who can gain a foothold, which does not have "two brushes". Cheetahs, which win by speed, can outperform all prey, and the success rate of hunting is naturally high.
However, speed has made cheetahs a "master hunter" among big cats, and at the same time, it has also buried huge hidden dangers. Cheetahs are fast, but they don't have the stamina, and running for long periods of time can make them very tired。After a successful hunt, cheetahs are often so tired that they don't even have the strength to eat.
As a result, "scavengers" like hyenas saw the opportunity to go up and grab food. Most of the time, cheetahs, almost exhausted, are unable to protect their food and can only watch as the hyenas snatch away their hard-won prey. And the probability that they will be robbed of food is about 10%.
The third place, the black-footed cat, is the real "king of the hunt" among felines. If you don't look closely, do they look exactly like tanuki cats?
However, tanuki cats can be kept as pets, but also small black-footed cats cannot. Beneath their cute exterior lies deadly motives. Black-footed cats are brutal and aggressive, and can even hunt antelope cubs up to 4 times their size. Moreover, they have a 60% success rate in hunting.
Luke Hunter from the Global Wild Cat Conservation Group once described the black-footed cat as a real hunting motor. And the reason why the hunting efficiency of black-footed cats is so high is completely forced.
Black-footed cats eat a lot of food and can eat the equivalent of 1 5 of their body weight in one night。To capture their prey, they can lie in ambush for two or three hours and wait quietly for their prey to come out of their burrows.
They also move back and forth within their territory, reaching as far as 10 kilometers to feed. If the hunt is not efficient, the black-footed cat may not find enough food to fill its stomach.
Well, second place, African wild dog. The African wild dog, also known as miscellaneous, is a canine similar to the hyenaAfrican dingoes are cooperative hunting animals and live in close groups. The population size is usually around 40 individualsThe number of African wild dogs in large groups can be as high as hundreds. Their teamwork often leads to higher hunting efficiency.
In fact, the African wild dog is the second most efficient animal to hunt locally. According to the video materials, they have a 70%-80% success rate. African wild dogs are not slow and can run at speeds of up to 50-60 kilometers per hour. Although they can catch up with a car, on the African continent, this is really not fast, so their main way of hunting is tracking.
African wild dogs stalk their prey for long periods of time, and the colony cooperates with each other, often surrounding the prey without the prey noticing. In the face of such a clear division of labor, few prey can escape.
Because of the fact that African wild dogs live in packs, they need a very large territory to operate, and there are too many ferocious carnivores in Africa. In the midst of competition, the African wild dog's territory has been compressed, and the destruction of the environment by humans has led to a decline in its population. African wild dogs are currently endangered, with only about 3,000 of them in the world
1st place, hyenas. Hyena is not the name of a single animal, but a collective term for the hyena family, the most famous of which is the infamous "second brother of Africa" spotted hyena.
Hyenas, like African wild dogs, are social animals and are more ferocious。During a group hunt, more than a dozen hyenas will swarm and bite the stomach, neck, limbs and other parts of the prey at the same time. When your own number is small, the hyena will resort to a war of attrition, following all the way and attacking the prey's abdomen, ** and other weak points from time to time until the prey is consumed alive.
Sometimes, hyenas will take advantage of their large numbers and openly steal food from lions, cheetahs, and even another pack of hyenas. However, if the ratio of the number of your own team to the number of your opponent is 10:1, the hyena will grab food. Group cooperation, predatory and even scavenging, flexible hunting methods, so that the success rate of hyena hunting is as high as 80%-85%.