Research library
🧬 The Felid Wiki — 3,000 research summaries
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69 summaries in Predator-Prey Dynamics on lion
Research overview: trophic cascades initiated by apex felids
OverviewAn overview of how large cats can structure ecosystems from the top down, with effects rippling through herbivores to vegetation and beyond. By killing and frightening herbivores, apex felids such as…
Research overview: wildebeest migration and predator satiation
OverviewA survey of how the synchronized mass calving and movement of migratory wildebeest may swamp predators, reducing per-capita predation on any individual. By giving birth in a brief, highly synchronized…
Surplus killing by carnivores
PaperKruuk documented and analyzed cases where carnivores kill far more prey than they can consume, challenging the assumption that predators only take what they need. Drawing on spotted hyena and other ca…
Kruuk, H. · Journal of Zoology · 1972
The Serengeti Lion: A Study of Predator-Prey Relations
ReviewSchaller's monograph is the foundational field study of lion ecology and one of the most thorough predator-prey investigations ever conducted. Over years in the Serengeti, he documented lion social st…
Schaller, G.B. · University of Chicago Press · 1972
The lion king and the hyaena queen: large carnivore interactions and coexistence
ReviewPeriquet, Fritz and Revilla reviewed the full breadth of interactions between lions and spotted hyenas, the two dominant large carnivores of African savannas. They synthesized evidence on kleptoparasi…
Periquet, S., Fritz, H. & Revilla, E. · Biological Reviews · 2015
The rise of the mesopredator
ReviewPrugh and colleagues synthesized global evidence that the worldwide decline of apex predators has triggered widespread increases in mid-sized carnivores, with far-reaching ecological and economic cons…
Prugh, L.R., Stoner, C.J., Epps, C.W., Bean, W.T. et al. · BioScience · 2009
To flee or not to flee: predator avoidance by cheetahs at kills
PaperHunter, Durant and Caro examined the decisions cheetahs make at carcasses when dominant competitors threaten, quantifying how the presence of lions and hyenas governs whether and when cheetahs abandon…
Hunter, J.S., Durant, S.M. & Caro, T.M. · Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology · 2007
Trophic downgrading of planet Earth
ReviewEstes and a large group of coauthors synthesized evidence that the loss of apex consumers, including big cats, is among humanity's most pervasive influences on nature. The review marshaled cases acros…
Estes, J.A., Terborgh, J., Brashares, J.S. et al. · Science · 2011
Wild Cats of the World
ReviewSunquist and Sunquist's comprehensive reference compiles the natural history, ecology and behavior of all wild felid species, with extensive treatment of diet, prey selection, hunting modes and predat…
Sunquist, M. & Sunquist, F. · University of Chicago Press · 2002