Leopards Eat Chimpanzees as Offerings in Tanzania

Most of us don't really think of chimpanzees or leopards coming in direct contact, unless we're at the zoo. (And, for that matter, most of us don't see either unless we're at the zoo.) But regardless, in the case that chimps had to fend themselves against some leopard cubs, statistics show that, surprisingly, it is more common for a group of them to win a fight against this group of canines.

However, scientists have recently found evidence of leopards eating chimpanzees.

In Tanzania's Mahale Mountains National Park, researchers spent 41 days collecting African leopard scat from June to August 2012. In one of the cat's "offerings," scientists found several chimpanzee patella and phalanges, corresponding to kneecaps and toe bones, respectively. DNA analysis showed that the bones came from an adult female chimp.

According to the press release, the researchers can not be certain if the leopards hunted down the chimpanzee. Findings show that these leopards occasionally eat dead animals, and findings have shown that scientists can re-examine three mysterious wounds incurred by the different chimps in Mahale over the last few years. Scientists see that these wounds are deeper than thought to be possible from fights with other chimps, which is what scientists previously thought had happened. 

A 2009 study confirms that chimpanzees face only negligible pressure from predators. If it's true that the leopard ate a live chimp, scientists believe that they may need to rethink this view and further examine how predation from leopards and other animals can drive the evolution of chimpanzees, according to one of the researchers. One study from 1993 shows that lions ate four chimpanzees, who were also in Mahale Mountains National Park. This park is one of the first few places with ongoing research to show the overlap of leopards and chimpanzees. 

The new research was published online May 21 in the Journal of Human Evolution.