Whodunnit?

**TStone** · 13-02-2021, 09:02

On investigating the doings of a murder of crows, I found this springbok ram. He had been caught last night. I am going to put up a trailcam late this afternoon, in case the culprit returns.

Whodunnit?

**Pirate** · 13-02-2021, 09:22

Leopard? Looks like puncture wounds in the neck (suggesting a single cat, instead of a pack of something else that may have left bite marks over the rest of the carcass) and feeding starting at the soft parts progressing into the rear leg... he was hungry

At least, thats the Stadsjapiejagter's postulation based on 2 photos and precious little field experience

**knipmes** · 13-02-2021, 09:37

I am not an expert but if you skin the neck/ throat area you will be able to clearly see the canine marks. The distance between the two puncture marks will give you an idea if it is a leopard or a lynx. Also look for the claw marks of the predator on the shoulder/ body
Perhaps I am telling you something you know more about than me but cast around and look for tracks in the vicinity where the animal was caught.
Leopards will eat rotten meat but lynx will normally just feed once or twice on a carcass.
I do not know how old the carcass is but from the amount of meat eaten (if it was in one feeding) it seems to me a bit to much for a lynx
If the jackals don't get to it first, please let us know what the trail cam photos show.

**TStone** · 13-02-2021, 09:47

Originally Posted by knipmes

I am not an expert but if you skin the neck/ throat area you will be able to clearly see the canine marks. The distance between the two puncture marks will give you an idea if it is a leopard or a lynx

This is good advice and if I did not know what it was, it is exactly what I would have done.

**Drakensberger** · 13-02-2021, 10:06

Are there cheetahs in your area? Both leopard and caracal, remove the hair from the area that they are eating. On realy fresh kills one finds tufts of hair in the general area on the feed. In the picture one can see rib bones. I suspect these were picked clean by the crows, as ribs are not really a problem for larger predators.

**TStone** · 13-02-2021, 10:16

I do know who, actually what, the culprit is. There is a lot of good advice coming in though. We do get the occasional leopard moving through the property, this however was not a leopard. We have free ranging cheetah, caracal and more jackal than you can shake a stick at. We also have African wildcat, black footed cat (which obviously did not do this), and cape fox (also not guilty).

**Springer** · 13-02-2021, 10:18

Looks like it could have been a rooikat.

**Messor** · 13-02-2021, 12:01

For me the evidence does not point to a caracal, they hunt alone and that is waaaay too much meat gone.
Secondly, many of their kills does not show external puncture marks, they are specialist killers they don’t destroy the main artery they compress it.
Caracal will drag the body into shade, covering it and will return the same night.

Look at that messy feeding, dunno what k9’s you guys keep(jackal or wild dogs) but they will be in the picture you intend to capture.

**TStone** · 14-02-2021, 11:23

When I first saw the springbok I thought that it had been killed by a caracal (lynx, rooikat) because of the way it was eaten. Closer inspection revealed that both hind legs were eaten. A large male caracal will eat one leg in a sitting but I doubt if it could manage two (±5kg of meat).
While a caracal will often drag a kill into cover (as pointed out by Messor), at other times they just cover it with grass. It is quite possible that if it get disturbed it will leave the carcass uncovered.

While the cats start eating at the rear, close to the anus, jackal start eating at the shoulder, often eating the ribs in order to get to the organs. Cats prefer the softer meat while canines are better at eating though the rib cage. Below is a photo of a springbok lamb that was fed on by a black backed jackal.

The springbok ram in the OP was killed by a single female cheetah, judging by the amount eaten, the way it was eaten, also I skinned out the neck this morning (as Knipmes suggested) and the punctures by the canine teeth is wider than a caracal's.

The second photo below is of a blesbuck female that was caught and eaten by a coalition of two male cheetah. Both of them are above average size and they have no problem cleaning up a blesbuck in one sitting. Cheetah are not supposed to return to kills but I have seen them do it occasionally with a large antelope, recently the two males caught a tsessebe cow, ate about half of it and returned the next night and finished it.

Things can sometimes get confusing when a second species scavenge on a carcass killed by another species. Also, in our area crows, goshawk and black eagle happily scavenge on cheetah and caracal kills, often eating surprising amounts of meat.