Leopard Eating

If leopards have to fight hard to kill their prey, they will take a short break before they start to eat. Very small prey may be devoured whole in just one or two bites.

It may take much longer time to eat larger prey. Lions, hyenas, and wild dogs are attracted to the sounds and sights of a leopard’s kill. They will wait no time to come to steal an easy meal from an exhausted leopard. Leopards rarely fight with lions or hyenas to protect their hard-earned meal. A solitary leopard tryies to avoid any injury as much as possible. Leopards usually drag the carcass away from open ground to a hidden place underneath bushes. More often, if the prey is not too big and there are trees available, the leopard often drags the prey up a tree and hangs the carcass on a tree branch. In this way, leopards can enjoy the meal without the interruption from other predators.

The leopard rips open the belly of its prey to remove the stomach and intestines and eats other internal organs such as the liver, kidney, and heart first. Then it eats the meat. Leopards swallow whole pieces of meat without chewing. They may eat as much as 20 pounds (9 kilograms) of meat at one meal. If the prey is too large to eat at one time, they will come back later to finish it. They will eat almost the entire prey except the stomach, intestines, skull, and large bones. Male leopards can go about three days without eating. Females with cubs need to eat almost every day.

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