How much do leopards eat?

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Note: I am referring to the common leopard (read about species of leopards). Captive leopards are fed around 1 to 1.2 kg of meat daily. There is less information about the daily food intake of wild leopards. In the Kalahari it is recorded that male leopards consumed 3.5 kg per day. Females consumed 4.9 kg per day when they were with cubs.

In the Tsavo National Park male leopards consumed 2 to 9.5 kg per night. In the Kruger National Park the meat consumption of two leopards was estimated to be between 4.4 to 4.7 kg per day.

In the Nagarahole National Park, leopards spent an average of 2.1 days with each kill. They consumed an average of 11.2 kg per day per leopard.

In north-eastern Namibia, single females consumed 1.6 kg per day whereas females with cubs consumed 2.5 kg per day. Male leopards in this area consumed 3.1 kg per day.

A leopard may eat a quarter of their body weight in a day having adopted the “feast-or-famine” regime.

The source material for this information comes from the well-respected book Wild Cats of the World by Mel and Fiona Sunquist who referred to a variety of other reference works in the section on the leopard.