Research overview: leopard predation on primates

An overview of the significant and well-documented role of leopards as predators of primates, from monkeys to apes, and the evolutionary consequences for primate behavior. Leopards are major predators of forest primates such as guenons, colobus and baboons, and have shaped primate alarm-call systems, group living, sleeping-site selection and vigilance. This survey synthesizes diet and predation studies, including faecal and kill evidence of primate consumption, the antipredator adaptations primates deploy against leopards, and debates over leopard predation on great apes. It connects felid predation ecology to primate evolution and to the coevolutionary arms race between stalking cats and intelligent, social prey. The topic illustrates how a single predator can exert strong selective pressure on the behavior of its prey lineage.