It has often been said of the 'Big Cats' - and of many of the smaller wild cats too - that they are the perfect predator, a killing machine, designed with every part specially tuned to the art of hunting and catching prey.
The Senses
Of the three senses - hearing, sight and smell - the first two are of prime importance to the cat when it comes to hunting and although the cats sense of smell is extremely keen, it is seldom used in prey detection. The cats eye is particularly developed in a number of ways which help in prey detection. Where as the human eye is equally developed to view in both the horizontal and vertical plane, the cats eye is exceptionally sensitive to movement on the horizontal axis - its is able to spot the movement of its prey from a great distance. Special receptor cells in the cats eye are particularly sensitive in low light conditions and enable a greater degree of 'night vision' - a cat can detect movement in approximately 20% of the light that would be required by a human.
The cats hearing is also extraordinary sensitive. A cat can hear sounds through a range of about 70 kHz, approximately three times that of a human and as a result can hear much higher pitched sounds, such as those given of by small rodents and insects. This coupled with the fact that the cats ear flaps or pinnae can rotate through 180 degrees enable it to pinpoint with great accuracy even the faintest sound.
Once detected, the prey has first to be caught and then killed - to do this the cat has specialised limb/muscle combinations which balance the need for speed and agility in the chase with a requirement for power and strength in holding down and killing its stricken prey. The teeth and jaw muscles of a cat are also specially developed - unlike other carnivores the wild cat has only 28 or 30 teeth, depending on the species and this is mainly due to the fact that they have a shortened jaw, thus enabling a stronger and wider bite. The canine teeth of a cat are generally larger and stronger than those found in other carnivores, which help in the effectiveness of the nape bite, used to dislocate the vertebrae or the throat bite, used to damage the victims trachea. Variations on these two killing techniques are adopted by all wild cats.
Due to enlarged nasal passages, which enable more air intake during the chase, the teeth of the cheetah are smaller than in other cats of its size and so it uses the throat bite to suffocate its victim. The jaguar on the other hand has particularly well developed temporalis muscles which enable it to use the nape bite to great effect - jaguars have been known to pierce the scull of their victim with one swift bite.
Many of the various species of wild cat have developed optimum hunting techniques which encompass not only their own physical attributes but also take into account the features of their habitat and the weaknesses of the particular prey species that they are hunting.
In the Serengeti, the Lion and Cheetah share the same habitat, but as a result of their individual attributes as hunters, coexist with relatively little competition for prey species. The cheetah has superior speed over the lion and is able to give chase to the fast grazing ungulates such as the impala and gazelle - the lion however cannot match the speed of these herbivores, and instead concentrates on the bigger and less agile species, such as Zebra and Wildebeest. The cheetah is one of the most accomplished of hunters within the wild cat species - it catches up to 60%-70% of prey that it hunts, the lion on the other hand has a relatively low success rate (less than 30%) and combats this by hunting collectively, thus maximizing its success rate with the larger of the prey species. Here, both the lion and cheetah, use to their best advantage, individual physical attributes and adopt techniques in hunting that will give them the greatest success.
© 1997 Andrew Garman
