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Wild prey made up 96.8% of identified leopard kills on Namibian farms

Male leopard with prey in a tree in Kruger National Park, South Africa
Conservation · Human–wildlife conflict

A ten-year study on freehold farmland in central Namibia found that wild animals made up 96.8% of the identified prey consumed by leopards (Panthera pardus). Livestock accounted for 3.2% of identified kills, and the researchers found no individual leopard that specialised in livestock.

Maximilian L. Allen and colleagues tracked 29 leopards for an average of about 422 days between 2013 and 2022. GPS collars allowed the team to identify clusters of locations where a leopard had remained for long enough to indicate a possible feeding site. Researchers investigated 455 such clusters and found prey remains at 388 of them. In total, 375 prey items could be identified to species. This GPS-cluster method is better at detecting larger prey that leave remains and can miss small prey or brief feeding events, so the identified kills do not represent a perfectly complete inventory of everything the leopards ate.

Map of central Namibia showing leopard GPS prey clusters, home ranges and farm boundaries
Study area in central Namibia, with identified prey clusters and home ranges of the GPS-collared leopards. Figure 1 from Allen et al. (2026), CC BY 4.0.

Three wild ungulates dominated the identified kills

\n\nThree wild ungulates dominated the diet. Gemsbok (Oryx gazella), common warthog (Phacochoerus africanus) and greater kudu (Tragelaphus strepsiceros) together represented just over 77% of all identified prey. The leopards also consumed a range of other wild animals, including steenbok, impala, birds, chacma baboons, Cape hares and Cape porcupines.

Only 12 of 375 identified prey items were livestock

Only 12 of the 375 identified prey items were livestock: ten cattle and two horses. Eleven of the 29 tracked leopards were documented feeding on livestock at least once. Ten of those animals did so only once during the documented kills, while one leopard was recorded feeding on cattle twice. Males consumed livestock more frequently than females, with livestock making up 6.4% of identified prey for males and 1.3% for females.

No tracked leopard specialised in livestock

The researchers also tested whether particular individuals consistently focused on certain prey. Individual leopards did show dietary specialisation, but this involved wild prey such as gemsbok, warthog and greater kudu. No leopard in the study specialised in livestock. Allen and colleagues therefore interpret livestock predation in this landscape as largely opportunistic rather than being driven by a small number of habitual livestock-killing “problem leopards”.

The authors stress that a small proportion of livestock in the leopard diet does not mean losses are unimportant to farmers. Cattle and horses are valuable, and even occasional kills can impose substantial costs on individual landowners. At the same time, the findings suggest that maintaining healthy populations of wild prey and using non-lethal measures to prevent livestock losses may be important parts of reducing conflict between farmers and leopards outside protected areas.

Sources and image credit

  1. Allen, M. L., Šabeder, N., Oliveira, T., Portas, R., Žagar, A., Melzheimer, J., Wachter, B., & Krofel, M. (2026). Individual variation in leopard (Panthera pardus) prey composition in Namibian farmlands highlights the importance of wild prey over livestock. Biodiversity and Conservation, 35(8), 209. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-026-03413-wPrimary peer-reviewed open-access study; published and version of record 8 July 2026

Image: Bernard DUPONT — male leopard with prey in a tree north of Lower Sabie in Kruger National Park, South Africa; representative image, not from the Namibian study area. Source: Wikimedia Commons. · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Source

About this content: This story was produced with AI assistance within an editorial workflow developed by Wildlife Vagabond. Editorial responsibility remains with Wildlife Vagabond.How AI is used

Human–wildlife conflict

SPECIES IN THIS STORY

Species in this story

Leopard Panthera pardus Explore species Common Warthog Phacochoerus africanus Explore species Greater Kudu Tragelaphus strepsiceros Explore species

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