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At what size do felids and canids become deadly
Topic Started: Jan 12 2012, 02:57 AM (6,271 Views)
Full Throttle
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Apex Predator
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This pit put down it's owner pretty quick, it couldn't have weighed more than 50 pounds. Disturbing that it would so readily attack its owner.
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da pink
Omnivore
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Hmmmm, is the guy "training" his dog with a lash at the beginning? He seems to have summat in his hand he's ineffectively slapping with later on. The owner's not killed though, is he? He's alive at the end of the clip anyway.
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Kurtz
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I think leopard starting at 35-40 kilograms like about the small size must be this specimen:

obvious this is a leopard not a tiger probably a 35 kg. female
Edited by Kurtz, May 23 2013, 05:26 AM.
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Sicilianu
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The Costs of Carnivory - Chris Carbone*, Amber Teacher, J. Marcus Rowcliffe

Abstract

Mammalian carnivores fall into two broad dietary groups: smaller carnivores (,20 kg) that feed on very small prey
(invertebrates and small vertebrates) and larger carnivores (.20 kg) that specialize in feeding on large vertebrates. We
develop a model that predicts the mass-related energy budgets and limits of carnivore size within these groups. We
show that the transition from small to large prey can be predicted by the maximization of net energy gain; larger
carnivores achieve a higher net gain rate by concentrating on large prey. However, because it requires more energy to
pursue and subdue large prey, this leads to a 2-fold step increase in energy expenditure, as well as increased intake.
Across all species, energy expenditure and intake both follow a three-fourths scaling with body mass. However, when
each dietary group is considered individually they both display a shallower scaling. This suggests that carnivores at the
upper limits of each group are constrained by intake and adopt energy conserving strategies to counter this. Given
predictions of expenditure and estimates of intake, we predict a maximum carnivore mass of approximately a ton,
consistent with the largest extinct species. Our approach provides a framework for understanding carnivore
energetics, size, and extinction dynamics.

Full Paper can be read here: http://www.plosbiology.org/article/fetchObject.action?uri=info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pbio.0050022&representation=PDF


So it seems that above 21kg is the best place to start. I think we got to that without the paper, but it is nice to have some science behind the speculation. Of course, this paper is about when predators need to hunt animals at or above their weight, but it does correlate nicely with when canids/felids become dangerous to us, as we are generally going to be larger than them at the weight at which they can kill us.
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maker
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If this is on healthy adult humans who are aware of them and are ready to fight back, I doubt a healthy 50 lb cat is going to be deadly, of course it could inflict dangerous infectious injuries but if you count infections, any felid of any size would be deadly, for non-infectious deadliness, a felid would have to be more than 30 kg and canid 25 kg, of course it varies, as a clouded leopard is going to be more deadly than a lynx and a pitbull terrier or African wild dog more deadly than a maned wolf.
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Creeper
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maker
Mar 14 2015, 09:52 PM
as a clouded leopard is going to be more deadly than a lynx
You'll need to back that statement up. Lynx are the most successful feline hunters and take much larger prey than Neofelis is known for.
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