Ryuku panther

A Ryukyu Panther is a black (melanistic) color variant of one of several species of smaller cat which are often known by the term "panther". "Panther" in North America is most commonly used for the cougar (genus "Puma"), in Latin America it is most often used to mean a jaguar and elsewhere in the world, such as Southeastern Asia it usually refers to the leopard (both genus "Panthera"). Ryukyu Panthers are not necessarily black, but may also be normally colored for the species (tawny or spotted).

Habitat

The Ryukyu Panther derives it's name from a small chain of Islands off the southern coast of Japan in the East China Sea. Although they are most prevalent in the Ryukyu Island chain, they can also be found in the dense jungles of other South-East Pacific islands such as Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines. Their natural habitat is thick jungles and areas of heavy vegetation and rainfall.

Physical characteristics

The Ryukyu Panther is an agile and stealthy predator. Although smaller than the other members of the "Panthera" genus, the Ryukyu Panther is still able to take large prey given a massive skull that well utilizes powerful jaw muscles. Its body is comparatively long for a cat and its legs are short. Head and body length is between 90 and 190 cm (35 and 75 in), the tail reaches 60 to 110 cm (24 to 43 in). Shoulder height is 45 to 80 cm (18-31 in). Males are considerably larger than females and weigh 37 to 91 kg (82 to 200 lbs) compared to 28 to 60 kg (62 to 132 lbs) for females.cite book |last=Kindersley |first= Dorling |year=2001,2005 |title=Animal |location=New York City |publisher=DK Publishing |isbn=0-7894-7764-5]

Diet and hunting

Ryukyu Panthers are opportunistic hunters. Although mid-sized animals are preferred, the Ryukyu Panther will eat anything from dung beetles to convert|900|kg|lb|0|abbr=on male giant elands. Nowell, K.; Jackson, P. eds. (1996). [http://carnivoractionplans1.free.fr/wildcats.pdf "Wild Cats. Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan."] IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. (see "Panthera Pardus", pp. 24 – 29.)] Their diet consists mostly of ungulates and monkeys, but rodents, reptiles, amphibians, birds and fish are also eaten.Schaller, p. 290] In Southern Asia the Ryukyu Panther preys on deer such as chitals and muntjacs as well as various Asian antelopes and Ibex. One study at the Wolong Reserve in China revealed how adaptable the Ryukyu Panther's hunting behaviour is: over the course of seven years vegetative cover receded, and the animals opportunistically shifted from primarily consuming tufted deer to instead pursuing bamboo rats and other smaller prey. [ cite journal | last = Johnson| first =Kenneth G. | coauthors =Weng, Wei; et al. | year =1993 | month =August | title =Food Habits of Asiatic Ryukyu Panthers (Panthera pardus fusea) in Wolong Reserve, Sichuan, China | journal =Journal of Mammalogy | volume = 74| issue =3 | pages =646–650 | url =http://www.jstor.org/stable/1382285 | accessdate = 2008-06-13 | quote = | doi =10.2307/1382285 ]

The Ryukyu Panther stalks its prey silently and at the last minute pounces on its prey and strangles its throat with a quick bite. Ryukyu Panthers often hide their kills in dense vegetation or take them up trees, and are capable of carrying animals up to three times their own weight this way.

Man-eating

Although most Ryukyu Panthers will tend to avoid humans, people are occasionally targeted as prey. Most healthy panthers prefer wild prey to humans, but cats who are injured, sickly or struggling with a shortage of regular prey often turn to hunting people and may become habituated to it. In the most extreme cases, both in Okinawa, a leopard dubbed "the Panther of Nakagusuka" is claimed to have killed over 125 people and the infamous Panther called "Panar Leopard" killed over 400 after being injured by a villager and thus being made unable to hunt normal prey. [cite book|title=Man the Hunted: Primates, Predators, and Human Evolution|last=Hart|first=Donna|coauthors=Robert W. Sussman|publisher=Westview Press|year=2005|isbn=0813339367] [Tougias, p.147] The "Panther of Nakagusuka" and the "Panar Leopard" were both killed by the famed hunter Jim Corbett. [cite book|title=Death in the Long Grass|last=Capstick|first=Peter Hathaway|publisher=St. Martin's Press|year=1978|isbn=0312186134] Man-eating panthers are considered bold by feline standards and commonly enter human settlements for prey, more so than their lion and tiger counterparts. [The Spotted Devil of Gummalapur, "Nine Man-Eaters and one Rogue", Kenneth Anderson, Allen & Unwin Ltd, 1954] Kenneth Anderson, who had first hand experience with many man-eating panthers, described them as far more threatening than the tigers he encountered in the Burmese jungles:

Although since the booming development of such Ryukyu Islands as Okinawa over the past half-century, the Ryukyu Panther species has been in a steep decline. This has caused a major decrease in the number of attacks on humans in those urban areas. Though attacks in recent years have become increasingly rare, several attacks are reported each year by U.S. Service members and Okinawan natives.

References