In South Africa's Kruger National Park, a hungry leopard frequently attacked a porcupine on the road, but throughout the 90-minute process, the leopard, which was at the top of the food chain, frequently ate. It wants to prey on porcupines, and porcupines don't want to be preyed upon by it, sparking a long tug-of-war.
Although the porcupine is small and has little combat effectiveness, the defense is high, and it is a defense defended by "attack". The leopard constantly changed the angle to attack the porcupine's weak face, and the porcupine also changed the angle, always turning the most defensive "ass" to the leopard, the leopard's two forefoots, the naked eye visible injury bleeding, but it still tried for 90 minutes before helplessly giving up.
The leopard is an all-rounder in the feline, can catch monkeys in trees, can go into the water to catch fish, fly in the sky, run on the ground, swim in the water, can become its plate food.
In the predatory type of carnivores, the leopard's feeding habits are relatively wide, the prey species are many sources, it is reasonable to say that the porcupine is not its ideal prey, and the cost performance of preying on them is not high, but in reality, the proportion of porcupines in the leopard's diet composition is not small, and the phenomenon of leopards preying on porcupines is also frequently photographed by people, which is somewhat incomprehensible.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="3" > porcupine's secret weapon</h1>
Many people are always confused between porcupines and hedgehogs, although they are full of thorns, but they are two very different species, and they are very closely related.
The spines on hedgehogs are shorter and not easy to fall off; the spines on porcupines are longer and more likely to "lose their hair". Different types of arrows give them different defenses:
When the hedgehog encounters danger, it will shrink into a ball and will not expose any soft skin, like a barbed ball, making it impossible for the opponent to start;
When a porcupine encounters danger, it will arch its back, erect its arrows, turn its back against the enemy, and swing its tail to attack with the arrows on its tail.
hedgehog
The porcupine's strongest secret weapon is its arrow spikes, which are made up of countless keratinized cells, similar in composition to nails, but harder than nails.
Porcupine's arrows are not only sharp, but also have scaly barbs on them, somewhat similar to the spines on the fish hooks, which are difficult to remove once they are pierced into the attacker's skin. The spines on the porcupine are also relatively "loose", and it is easy to be taken away after piercing the attacker, but it will not take long for it to grow new ones.
For porcupines, as long as the face and soft abdomen are not attacked by the opponent, there is no need to worry.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="21" > "stubborn" beast</h1>
Judging from the phenomenon that Kruger's leopard has spent nearly 90 minutes still not taking down the porcupine, it is obvious that the price of preying on the porcupine is very low, and it will take great risks. After being stabbed by a porcupine, it will seriously affect the subsequent hunting, and even die of wound infection.
This skill or behavior, the leopard in the process of species evolution, should be eliminated from the genetic level, but no matter how many times the leopard eats, it still has to live with the porcupine? In fact, many beasts of prey love to live with porcupines, such as leopards, typically lions.
Lions are larger and gregarious than leopards, so their prey is basically large ungulates.
From the previous research on lions in many parts of Africa, their prey preferences are indeed mostly large ungulates, but there are still many lions preying on porcupines, and in some areas where large prey is scarce, porcupines have even become an important food source for lions.
For example, in the Serengeti steppe, animal resources are very rich, and large ungulates naturally become the main prey of lions; in some arid areas of South Africa, prey resources are relatively scarce, and lions have to increase the proportion of porcupines.
In areas where prey is scarce, it is understandable to prey dangerous porcupines, but in reality, even in areas with abundant prey resources, signs of lions and leopards preying on porcupines have been found.
In this regard, these beasts seem to behave a little "stubbornly", a little "axis", as if they have to take down the porcupine.
Leopards are not very picky eaters, food sources up to more than 90 kinds, it is reasonable to say that in areas rich in prey, in addition to the porcupine flavor, it has little impact on the leopard diet, they did not do that, perhaps to declare their authority at the top of the food chain.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="30" > younger males are more "stupid"</h1>
There are many examples of leopards dying from porcupine arrow wound infection, far from it, in July 2021, a dead leopard was found in the Hajapur forest area of India, and after preliminary veterinary examination, it was found that there was no obvious trauma and no trace of electric shock, only the porcupine's arrow thorn was found at its tail, suspected to have died due to predatory porcupine.
As the king of the hundred beasts, lions have also suffered a lot of embarrassment in the matter of preying on porcupines, and a team of scientific research has recorded a total of 50 lions injured or killed due to predation of porcupines between 1960 and 2016.
In addition to the lack of prey resources, lions, leopards and other predators have to risk prey on porcupines, a study by Roosevelt University professor Julian Kbis Peterhans found an interesting phenomenon, that is, young male individuals, than females, older individuals, are more willing to provoke porcupines.
The researchers call this phenomenon "stupidity syndrome of young males" because, in our opinion, it is a foolish act not to be forced to provoke a porcupine. The reason behind this may be that young male individuals are more curious and adventurous, and they are more willing to test their place in the food chain.