Hunting success
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 largest 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 |
| Wolf | Canidae | Pack hunting | 20% | ||
| Spotted hyena | Hyaenidae | Pack hunting and pursuit predation | 30.5% | ||
| Peregrine falcon | Falconidae | Pursuit predation | 47% | ||
| Great white shark | Lamnidae | Ambush | 48% | ||
| Dhole | Canidae | Pack hunting | 20% | ||
| Harbour porpoise | Phocoenidae | Pursuit predation | 90% | ||
| Cat | Felidae | Ambush | 30% | ||
| Dragonfly | Odonata | Pursuit predation | 95% | ||
| Leopard | Felidae | Ambush | 14–38% | ||
| Lion | Felidae | Pack hunting and ambush | 27–34% | ||
| African wild dog | Canidae | Pack hunting and pursuit predation | 60–90% | ||
| Cheetah | Felidae | Pursuit predation | 40–50% | ||
| Black-footed cat | Felidae | Ambush | 60% | ||
| Tiger | Felidae | Ambush | 5–50% | ||
| Seahorse | Sygnathidae | Ambush | 84-94% |
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 other factor influecing 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
Kill rates is the number of prey or biomass killed by an individual predator per unit time. A predator's functional response refers to how kill rates vary with prey density and are of central importance when predicting the stability threshold for prey populations under the effects of predation, and also estimate the potential carrying capacity of the populations of predators. Kill rates and functional responses are both influenced by diverse ecological variables. Kill rates differ between males and females, solitary individuals, social individuals, mothers with cubs, different age classes, individual fitness, prey availability, experience, etc.Kill rates are required to further understand functional responses and predator-prey dynamics, as well as develop conservation strategies for predator species around the world. Kill rate studies have been conducted for large carnivores such as gray wolves, jaguars, tigers and leopards. A kill rate study of cougars showed that females with cubs had the highest kill rate, with one adult female with cubs in northern California having a kill rate of 2.35 ungulates per week. Adult males averaged 0.84 ungulates per week, females with cubs had an average of 1.24 ungulates per week and solitary females had a mean kill rate of 0.99 ungulates per week.