In ecology, hunting success is the proportion of hunts initiated by a predatory organism that end in success. Hunting success is determined by a number of factors such as the features of the predator, timing, different age classes, conditions for hunting, experience, and physical capabilities. Predators selectively target certain categories of prey, in particular prey of a certain size. Prey animals that are in poor health are targeted and this contributes to the predator's hunting success. Different predation strategies can also contribute to hunting success, for example, hunting in groups gives predators an advantage over a solitary predator, and pack hunters like lions can kill animals that are too powerful for a solitary predator to overcome.
Similar to hunting success, kill rates are the number of animals an individual predator kills per time unit. Hunting success rate focuses on the percentage of successful hunts. Hunting success is also measured in humans, but due to their unnaturally high hunting success, human hunters can have a big effect on prey population and behaviour, especially in areas lacking natural predators, recreational hunting can have inferences for wildlife populations.
Definition
Predators may actively seek out prey, if the predator spots its preferred target it would decide whether to attack or continue searching, and success ultimately depends on a number of factors. Predators may deploy a variety of hunting methods such as ambush, ballistic interception, pack hunting or pursuit predation. Hunting success is used to measure a predator's success rate against a species of prey or against all prey species in its diet, for example in the Mweya area of Queen Elizabeth National Park, lions had a hunting success of 54% against African buffaloes and 35.7% against common warthogs, though their overall hunting success was only 27.9%.
Hunting success across the animal kingdom vary from 5–97% and hunting success can greatly differ between different populations of the same species. Hunting success can be measured for predators in different trophic levels. Hunting success rate is the percentage of captures in a number of initiated hunts, for example, 1 in 2 to 20 tiger hunts are guessed to end in success, which means tigers are guessed to have a hunting success rate of between 5–50%. Percentage is the preferred method used to write hunting success rather than raw numbers. Usually a single study is used to represent the hunting success of an entire species or in some cases estimations are used.
Hunting success can also be used to define the number of kills a human hunter makes over a specific number of hunts. However, hunting success is not used to define the number of animals a poacher, or a canned trophy hunter kills.
Hunting success in animals Detailed field studies show that prey are usually successful at escaping predators, with hunting success rates as low as 1–5% in many systems. The result of a predatory attack largely depends on the interaction between the predator's physical performance and any evasive maneuvers by the prey animal.
List of animals by hunting success rate
Common name Family Preferred hunting style Image Hunting success rate Source WolfCanidaePack hunting 20%Spotted hyenaHyaenidae Pack hunting and pursuit predation 30.5%Peregrine falconFalconidaePursuit predation 47%Great white sharkLamnidaeAmbush 48%DholeCanidae Pack hunting 20%Harbour porpoisePhocoenidaePursuit predation 90%CatFelidae Ambush 30%DragonflyOdonata Pursuit predation 76–97%LeopardFelidae Ambush 14–38%LionFelidae Pack hunting and ambush 8.3–57.1%African wild dogCanidaePack hunting and pursuit predation21–100% (31.2% mean)CheetahFelidae Pursuit predation 20.2–100% (43.4% mean)Black-footed catFelidae Ambush60%TigerFelidae Ambush 5–50%SeahorseSygnathidaeAmbush84-94%Horsfield's tarsierTarsiidaeAmbush88%
Reasons for high hunting success
Most mammals have a hunting success below 50% but some mammals such as African wild dogs and harbour porpoises can have hunting success rates of over 90%. The African wild dog is one of the most effective hunters on earth, with hunting success reaching a maximum of 90%. Their high levels of hunting success is due to their highly co-operative hunting behaviour accompanied with high stamina. Wild dogs typically use their stamina to exhaust their prey, which are usually caught after a chase lasting an average of . The wild dog's stamina and the prey animal's exhaustion are the driving factors that cause most successful hunts. Harbour porpoises are not usually social but on multiple occasions they've been recorded hunting cooperatively. The average group size consists of about two individuals. Using echolocation, they locate prey and capture them. They continuously forage throughout the day and night to meet their body requirements. It is hypothesized that harbour porpoises eat large amounts of food, about 10% of their own body mass. Another theory suggests that harbour porpoises require relatively large energy-rich prey, with high hunting success rates to meet their estimated metabolic requirements.
Dragonflies have the highest observed hunting success of any animal, with success rates as high as 97%. They are also opportunistic and pursue a variety of prey. Predatory performance may have consequences in terms of energetics, mortality and potential loss of feeding or mating territories. The reason for their hunting success is due to many unique evolutionary adaptations, which includes aspects of eyesight and flight. In terms of flight, dragonflies can independently control their fore and hind wings, they can also hover and fly in any direction, including backwards. They can fixate on their prey and predict its next move, catching it midair with extreme accuracy. Each of a dragonfly's eyes is made up of thousands of units known as ommatidia that run across its head. This gives them almost 360-degree-vision, which helps them spot prey more efficiently.
The black-footed cat has one of the highest hunting success of any member of family Felidae. In 1993, a female and male were observed for 622 hours, a kill was made every 50 minutes and they had a hunting success of 60%. A total of 550 animals were consumed. About 14 small animals were caught each night. Their hunting success is due to their hunting behaviour and frequency of initiated hunts. They use three different ways of hunting, which includes "fast hunting", "slow hunting" and "sit and wait" hunt. They use these three hunting strategies to ambush or pursue their prey which mostly includes small mammals, insects and small birds.
It seems that a predator speed relative to prey speed and other predators speed, is another factor influencing the hunting success. In Serengeti, cheetahs have a hunting success rate of 70% hunting Thomson gazelles, compared to 57% of African wild dogs, 33% of spotted hyenas and jackals, and 26% of lions. In Okavango delta, cheetahs have a hunting success of 26% when hunting impalas, compared to 15.5% of African wild dogs. In Kruger National Park, cheetahs have a hunting success of 20.7% hunting impalas, compared to 16% of the leopards.
Cougars have a hunting success rate of 82% hunting elks and mule deers in the snow, while Siberian tigers hunting Manchurian wapitis in the snow have a hunting success of 30%. Grey wolves have a hunting success rate of 26% hunting elks in the snow.
Kill rates The quantity of prey killed over a certain period by an individual predator is referred to as "kill rate". Changes in kill rates due to shifting prey density may predict the carrying capacity of predator populations, and also the extant to which predation effects the stability of prey populations. Large predators such as the wolf, cougar, jaguar, tiger, and leopard have been the subjects of kill rate studies. In the cougar, an analysis of foraging studies revealed that factors such as biological sex, reproductive status, prey biodiversity and density, interspecific kleptoparasitism, intraspecific competition and human presence, impact kill rates. Mean kill rates for adult males, rearing females, and solitary females, were 0.84, 1.24, and 0.99 ungulates per week, respectively. Rearing females in Northern California were reported to have the highest kill rates, at 2.35 ungulates per week.
Factors influencing success Selective feeding
Hunting success depends on the distance or time the predator has to catch its prey, comparable to the distance (time) that the prey has to escape. In the wild, a discrepancy is observed between the carnivore's low hunting success and highly selective predation on ill animals. This behaviour may be described by the co-adaptive evolution of predator and prey. A predator like a wolf cannot always hunt a given deer, because an error in prey choice can lead to energy loss, injury and even death.Nelson, M.E. and Mech, L.D., A Single Deer Stands-Off Three Wolves, Am. Midl. Nat., 1993, no. 131, pp. 207–208. Predators tend to seek vulnerable prey, and this is the basis of the selective impact of predators on the population of prey species.Creel, S. and Creel, N.M., Communal Hunting and Pack Size in African Wild Dogs, Lycaon pictus, Anim. Behav., 1995, vol. 50, pp. 1325–1339. The low hunting success rate of wild carnivores, may be due to the fact that identification of potentially vulnerable prey from distance is imperfect, the more so that the behaviour of prey compensate for its poor health. In the wild, the capacity for distinguishing odors or a slight difference in prey behaviour are influenced by a number of factors, such as wind strength and direction, the body condition and features of the predator, its experience, conditions for pursuing prey and much more.Mowat, F., Never Cry Wolf, 2nd ed., Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1973. Translated under the title Ne krichi–volki, Moscow: AST, 2002. The microbiota (metabolites at the surface of the body) in animals exposed to long-term stress are responsible for their specific stress odor, this allows predators to evaluate the vulnerability of its potential prey. The causes of reduced health differs and depends on the individual animal's sensitivity to several biotic and abiotic factors such as endogenous, infectious, and parasitic diseases, intra- and interspecific interactions, etc. The host macro-organism, which is the microflora system helps predators to judge the state of its prey.MacNulty, D.R., Mech, L.D., and Smith, D.W., A Proposed Ethogram of Large-Carnivore Predatory Behavior, Exemplified by the Wolf, J. Mammal., 2007, vol. 88, no. 3, pp. 595–605.
Social and solitary predators