2012).Įncounters between chimpanzees ( Pan troglodytes) and leopards ( Panthera pardus) have been observed at various field sites from West (Zuberbühler and Jenny 2002) to East Africa (Nishie 2018 Pierce 2009), and in some populations leopard predation was considered responsible for almost 40% of adult mortality cases (Boesch 1991). Although predation pressure may decrease with increasing body size of prey species, field reports show that even the largest species are vulnerable to attacks by predators (Klailova et al. Evidence suggests that predation impacts primate species’ behaviour and survival despite the wide variations in gregariousness, spatial proximity among group members, group size and composition, and habitat use (Isbell 1994 Zuberbühler 2007). Predation is widely considered a major selective force in the evolution of primate social systems (van Schaik and Hörstermann 1994) and sociality (Cheney and Wrangham 1987). For future investigations, we suggest tagging leopards to remotely monitor their movements and allow assessment of encounter rates as one of several factors influencing predation pressure. Our report adds novel information to descriptions from other African ape species, and sheds light on the behavioural repertoire of bonobos’ anti-predation strategies. While no predation was observed, their behaviours confirm that bonobos perceive leopards as potential predators. Two adult males and one adolescent female bonobo actively harassed the leopard, which remained still for most of the encounter and reacted only to close approaches by bonobos.
A single leopard was confronted by a group of habituated bonobos for three hours. Here, we describe the first encounter between wild bonobos ( Pan paniscus) and a leopard ( Panthera pardus). Although larger body size is considered as protection against predation, evidence for predation on great apes by carnivores comes from chimpanzees ( Pan troglodytes), gorillas ( Gorilla gorilla), and orangutans ( Pongo spp.). Predation is a major cause of mortality in non-human primates, and considered a selective force in the evolution of primate societies.
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