Surplus killing

Surplus killing, also known as excessive killing, henhouse syndrome,[1][2] or overkill,[3] is a common behavior exhibited by predators, in which they kill more prey than they can immediately eat and then they either cache or they abandon the remainder. The term was invented by Dutch biologist Hans Kruuk after studying spotted hyenas in Africa[4] and red foxes in England.[5][6] Some of the animals which have been observed engaging in surplus killing include zooplankton, humans, damselfly naiads, predaceous mites, martens, weasels, honey badgers, jaguars, orcas, red foxes, leopards, lions, spotted hyenas, spiders, brown bears,[7] American black bears, polar bears, coyotes, lynx, mink, raccoons and dogs.

A stoat surplus killing chipmunks (Ernest Thompson Seton, 1909)
Multiple sheep killed by a cougar

There are many documented examples of predators exhibiting surplus killing. For example, researchers in Canada's Northwest Territories once found the bodies of 34 neonatal caribou calves that had been killed by wolves and scattered—some half-eaten and some completely untouched—over 3 square kilometres (1.2 sq mi).[8]

In Tasmania, in a single dog attack, 58 penguins were killed.[9] In Australia, over several days a single fox once killed around 74 penguins, eating almost nothing.[10] One leopard in Cape Province, South Africa killed 51 sheep and lambs in a single incident.[11] Similarly, two caracal in Cape Province killed 22 sheep in one night, eating only part of the buttock of one carcass.[12] Up to 19 spotted hyenas once killed 82 Thomson's gazelle and badly injured 27, eating just 16%.[1]

In late autumn, least weasels often surplus kill vole and then dig them up and eat them on winter days when it is too cold to hunt.[1] Surplus killing by wolves has mainly been observed when snow is unusually deep in late winter or early spring,[13] and the wolves have frequently cached their prey for eating days or weeks later. On February 7, 1991, in Denali National Park, six wolves killed at least 17 caribou and left many untouched. By February 13, 30–95% of each carcass had been eaten or cached, and by April 16, several had been dug up and fed upon again.[14] In March 2016, a Wyoming wolf pack of 9 wolves were found to have slaughtered 19 elk. John Lund, of the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, claimed to have never documented surplus killings to that extreme.[15] In Florida, laboratory experiments documented cases of surplus killing in larvae of the predatory midge Corethrella appendiculata against specific larval stages of different species of mosquitoes of the genus Toxorhynchites.[16]

In surplus killing, predators eat only the most-preferred animals and animal parts. Bears engaging in surplus killing of salmon are likelier to eat unspawned fish because of their higher muscle quality, and high-energy parts such as brains and eggs.[1] Surplus killing can deplete the overall food supply, waste predator energy and risk them being injured. Nonetheless, researchers say animals surplus kill whenever they can, in order to procure food for offspring and others, to gain valuable killing experience, and to create the opportunity to eat the carcass later when they are hungry again.[1][17]

See also

References
  1. Mills, L. Scott. Conservation of wildlife populations: demography, genetics, and management (2nd ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell. p. 148. ISBN 9780470671504.
  2. Moskowitz, David. Wolves in the Land of Salmon. Timber Press. p. 144. ISBN 1604692278.
  3. Mysterud, Ivar (1980). "Bear Management and Sheep Husbandry in Norway, with a Discussion of Predatory Behavior Significant for Evaluation of Livestock Losses". Bears: Their Biology and Management. 4: 233–241. doi:10.2307/3872873. ISSN 1936-0614.
  4. Kruuk, Hans (1972). The Spotted Hyena: A study of predation and social behaviour. p. 335. ISBN 0-563-20844-9.
  5. Macdonald, David (1987). Running with the Fox. p. 224. ISBN 0-04-440199-X.
  6. Hans Kruuk: Surplus killing by carnivores Journal of Zoology 1972
  7. "Far North Grizzlies Develop Taste for Muskoxen, Alaska Science Forum". June 21, 2011. Archived from the original on August 7, 2011.
  8. Mech, edited by L. David; Boitani, Luigi (2003). Wolves: behavior, ecology, and conservation. Chicago [u.a.]: Univ. of Chicago Press. p. 145. ISBN 9780226516967.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
  9. Adamczyk, Ed (2018-10-17). "Dog attack kills 58 penguins in Tasmania". UPI. Retrieved 2020-04-04.
  10. Peacock, Sue (2017-08-10). "Penguins killed in fox attack on Victoria's Middle Island". ABC News. Retrieved 2019-09-26.
  11. Stuart, C. T. (1986). "The incidence of surplus killing by Panthera pardus and Felis caracal in Cape Province, South Africa". Mammalia. 50 (4): 556–558. doi:10.1515/mamm.1986.50.4.553. ISSN 0025-1461.
  12. Skinner, J. D. (1979). "Feeding behaviour in Caracal Felis caracal". Journal of Zoology. 189 (4): 523–525. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7998.1979.tb03979.x.
  13. Henryk Okarma, Sven Herzog: Handbuch Wolf. Kosmos-Verlag, Stuttgart 2019, page 148
  14. Moskowitz, David. Wolves in the Land of Salmon. Timber Press. p. 145. ISBN 1604692278.
  15. "Wyoming wolf pack kills 19 elk in rare 'surplus killing'". Archived from the original on 2016-04-04. Retrieved 2016-03-25.
  16. L.P. Lounibos, S. Mahkni, B.W.Alto, B. Kesavaraju (Mar 2008). "Surplus Killing by Predatory Larvae of Corethrella appendiculata: Prepupal Timing and Site-Specific Attack on Mosquito Prey". Journal of insects behaviour. 21 (2): 47–54. doi:10.1007/s10905-007-9103-2. PMC 2600435.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  17. Hansen, Kevin (2006). Bobcat: master of survival ([Online-Ausg.] ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 114. ISBN 0195183037.

Bibliography
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