What is the fastest animal? <\/a><\/li>
The truth about trophy hunting<\/a><\/li>
Which mammals live the longest? <\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div>
2. Black-footed cat – 60% successful kills<\/h3>
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A black-footed cat disturbed while hunting in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, Botswana. \u00a9 Dave Hamman\/Getty<\/figcaption><\/figure>
Black-footed cats are astonishingly active and successful nocturnal hunters \u2013 one scientist\u2019s observations show they make a hunting attempt every 30 minutes, and are successful 60% of the time, making them one of the world’s most efficient predators They eat a wide variety of prey, from gerbils and shrews to small birds and insects<\/a>, and make 10-14 kills every night.<\/p>
3. Cheetah – 58% successful kills<\/h3>
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Cheetah chasing Thomson’s gazelle. \u00a9 James Warwick\/Getty<\/figcaption><\/figure>
A study from the Serengeti in 2012 observed 192 cheetah<\/a> pursuits, of which 114 ended in a kill \u2013 a success rate of 58%. In order to stop larger carnivores from stealing their hard-earned meals, they move them to more secluded, shadier spots – even so, research suggests they are ousted 10% of the time.<\/p>
Cheetah vs leopard: what’s the difference?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>
4. Leopard – 38% successful kills<\/h3>
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Leopard, Chobe National Park, Botswana. \u00a9 Art Wolfe\/Mint Images\/Getty<\/figcaption><\/figure>
Studies carried out on leopards have revealed wide-ranging success rates, varying from 38% for individuals in north-east Namibia to 14% in the Kalahari. A female with cubs has been shown to have a kill rate of 28%, while a lone male can only achieve one of 14%!<\/p>
5. Domestic cat – 32% successful kills<\/h3>
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Domestic cat playing with prey, a dead Common treecreeper. \u00a9 Laurent Geslin\/Nature Picture Library\/Getty<\/figcaption><\/figure>
A study of feral domestic cats, carried out by scientists in northern Australia, found they were made a kill in 32 out of 101 hunting attempts \u2013 a success rate of 32%. This kill rate soared when they were hunting in open habitat to 70%. Only 28% of kills were actually eaten.<\/p>
Domestic cats kill millions of small birds and animals every year, and they’ve been shown to cause significant ecological damage as a result. But what can you do to reduce your cat’s impact?<\/p>
Can I stop my cat hunting?<\/a><\/li>
How wild is your cat? 6 key behaviours that reveal the wild ancestry of your cat<\/a><\/li>
Why do cats play with their prey? And why do they then kill but not eat their prey?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>
Photo \u00a9 <\/em>Andia\/Getty<\/i><\/p><\/div><\/div>
6. Lions<\/a> – 25% successful kills<\/h3>
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Roaring male lion. \u00a9 Mark Chilton\/EyeEm\/Getty<\/figcaption><\/figure>
Lions<\/a> are the archetypal apex predator, but their hunting success rate strongly depends on the number of lions involved \u2013 a single lion hunting in daylight has a success rate of 17-19%, but this increases for those hunting as a group to 30%. Of 1,300 hunts observed in the Serengeti, nearly half involved only one animal, 20% involved two and the rest a group of (normally) between three and eight individuals.<\/p>
There is only one species of lion, which is known scientifically as Panthera leo<\/em>. There are two recognised subspecies, the African lion P. l. leo<\/em> and the Asiatic lion P. l. persica<\/em>.<\/p>
Some taxonomists have proposed a different split of the subspecies \u2013 with P. l. leo<\/em>covering lions in Asian and west, central and north Africa, and P. l. melanochaita<\/em> for lions in south and east Africa.<\/p>
7. Wolves – 14% successful kills<\/h3> $\"\"$
Northern timber wolf running through snow. \u00a9 Michelle Lalancette\/Getty<\/figcaption><\/figure>
In 14 separate studies of wolf hunts, the average kill rate for this species was 14%, but there is much variation within this. Wolves hunting moose on Isle Royale (in Lake Superior in the US) were found to be successful just 6% of the time, while wolves chasing white-tailed deer in Minnesota made a kill about 20% of the time.<\/p>
8. Polar bear<\/a> – 10% successful kills<\/h3>
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Polar bear. \u00a9 Rebecca R Jackrel\/Getty<\/figcaption><\/figure>
Polar bears<\/a> mainly hunt either by ambushing seals in their snow lairs or when they come up to their breathing holes, or by stalking seals on sea ice \u2013 in both cases, research has shown that their odds of success are 10%.<\/p>
Some individuals on Svalbard have been observed successfully hunting reindeer and \u2013 elsewhere \u2013 killing beluga whales that must surface through a small hole in the ice in order to breathe.<\/p>
What\u2019s the biggest threat to polar bears?<\/h3>
Climate change<\/a> is causing significant changes in sea ice extent, condition and duration throughout the Arctic. Polar bears need sea ice to hunt seals, and these reductions are leading to fewer cub births and reduced survival rates. Sea ice is disappearing at different speeds across the Arctic, so each population is responding on a different time scale.<\/p>
9. Tiger<\/a> – 5% successful kills<\/h3>
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A tiger’s hunting gaze. \u00a9 Freder\/Getty<\/figcaption><\/figure>
Based on observations made in Kanha National Park in India, US field biologist George Schaller reckoned tigers<\/a> were successful only 5% of the time, while tiger conservationist Valmik Thapar estimates 10%. But studies of Amur tigers in Russia\u2019s Far East, reconstructing predation events from tracks in the snow, give kill rates of a 38% when hunting red deer to 54% for wild boar.<\/a><\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n
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