Movement patterns and athletic performance of leopards in the Okavango Delta

Abstract

Although leopards are the most widespread of all the big cats and are known for their adaptability, they are elusive and little is known in detail about their movement and hunting energetics. We used high-resolution GPS/IMU (inertial measurement unit) collars to record position, activity and the first high-speed movement data on four male leopards in the Okavango Delta, an area with high habitat diversity and habitat fragmentation. Leopards in this study were generally active and conducted more runs during the night, with peaks in activity and number of runs in the morning and evening twilight. Runs were generally short (less than 100 m) and relatively slow (maximum speed 5.3 m s −1 , mean of individual medians) compared to other large predators. Average daily travel distance was 11 km and maximum daily travel distance was 29 km. No direct correlation was found between average daily temperature and travel distance or between season and travel distance. Total daily energy requirements based on locomotor cost and basal metabolic rate varied little between individuals and over time. This study provides novel insights into movement patterns and athletic performance of leopards through quantitative high-resolution measurement of the locomotor, energetic, spatial and temporal movement characteristics. The results are unbiased by methodological and observational limitations characteristic of previous studies and demonstrate the utility of applying new technologies to field studies of elusive nocturnal species.

Spatial and temporal overlaps between leopards (Panthera pardus) and their competitors in the African large predator guild

“…We used the mean of the mean acceleration values of the X‐axis (fore‐aft direction) as a proxy for activity levels (Hubel et al , 2018). As such, activity was based on absolute activity levels rather than a priori thresholding into active and inactive categories ( a la Cozzi et al , 2012; Hubel et al , 2018).…”

“…We used the mean of the mean acceleration values of the X‐axis (fore‐aft direction) as a proxy for activity levels (Hubel et al , 2018). As such, activity was based on absolute activity levels rather than a priori thresholding into active and inactive categories ( a la Cozzi et al , 2012; Hubel et al , 2018). To avoid pseudoreplication, for wild dog packs, we only used data from a single GPS collar within the pack over a given period, but we again used all lion data due to their fission–fusion social structure (as outlined previously).…”

“…et al, 2013.Collars also continuously recorded and binned into 30 s windows triaxial accelerometer data, with each window having two activity measurements recorded for the three axes. These measurements were (1) the largest peak-to-peak acceleration over the 30 s window and (2) the mean of the mean acceleration values calculated over 15 x two second blocks within the 30 s window (Hubel et al, 2018).…”

“…We used the mean of the mean acceleration values of the Xaxis (fore-aft direction) as a proxy for activity levels (Hubel et al, 2018). As such, activity was based on absolute activity levels rather than a priori thresholding into active and inactive categories (a la Cozzi et al, 2012;Hubel et al, 2018).To avoid pseudoreplication, for wild dog packs, we only used data from a single GPS collar within the pack over a given period, but we again used all lion data due to their fission-fusion social structure (as outlined previously). To investigate the impact of light levels on carnivoreactivity patterns, we subdivided each day into five periods reflecting the main activity periods within the literature, morning, afternoon, evening twilight, night and morning twilight (sensu Cozzi et al, 2012) (Table 1) and looked at peaks in activity across periods.…”

Spatio‐temporal factors impacting encounter occurrences between leopards and other large African predators

“…To filter erroneous GPS locations from our dataset, prior to interpolation, we removed GPS fixes with >10 m horizontal accuracy and removed fixes that required individuals to have travelled at speeds exceeding 15 m/s between locations >5 min apart. Although large African predators can reach maximum speeds that exceed these values, these speeds typically occur over short distances and are unlikely to have been sustained over five minute step lengths (Wilson et al , ; Hubel, Golabek, Rafiq, McNutt, & Wilson, ).…”