Behavioural correlates of predation by tiger, leopard and dhole

A companion to their prey-selection study, Karanth and Sunquist examined how the hunting behavior, social organization and activity patterns of tigers, leopards and dholes in Nagarahole map onto their differing diets. Tigers, hunting solitarily, killed the largest prey; leopards used arboreal caching and stealth to exploit smaller prey while avoiding tigers; dholes relied on diurnal cooperative pursuit of medium ungulates. The authors linked morphology, group size and temporal activity to realized prey size and predation success, showing that behavioral differences reinforce the dietary partitioning that enables coexistence. The study is a key reference for understanding how mechanism, not just prey availability, structures Asian large-carnivore guilds and the fine-scale niche separation among them.