Pallandre Jean-Pierre, Lavenne Franck, Pellé Eric, Breton Grégory, Ribaud Mélina, Bels Vincent
Institut de Systématique Evolution Biodiversité (ISYEB-UMR7205, CNRS/MNHN/EPHE/UA), Sorbonne Université, Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, Paris, France.
CNRS, INSB, Centre d'Etude et de Recherche Multimodale Et Pluridisciplinaire en imagerie du vivant, Bron, France.
PeerJ. 2021 May 11;9:e11116. doi: 10.7717/peerj.11116. eCollection 2021.
Felidae species show a great diversity in their diet, foraging and hunting strategies, from small to large prey. Whether they belong to solitary or group hunters, the behavior of cats to subdue resisting small or large prey presents crucial differences. It is assumed that pack hunting reduces the per capita risk of each individual. We hypothesize that the sacroiliac articulation plays a key role in stabilizing the predator while subduing and killing prey. Using CT-scan from 59 felid coxal bones, we calculated the angle between both iliac articular surfaces. Correlation of this inter-iliac angle with body size was calculated and ecological stressors were evaluated on inter-iliac angle. Body size significantly influences inter-iliac angle with small cats having a wider angle than big cats. Arboreal species have a significantly larger angle compared to cursorial felids with the smallest value, and to scansorial and terrestrial species with intermediate angles. Felids hunting large prey have a smaller angle than felids hunting small and mixed prey. Within the lineage, pack hunters (lions) have a larger angle than all other species using solitary hunting strategy. According to the inter-iliac angle, two main groups of felids are determined: (i) predators with an angle of around 40° include small cats (i.e., ; median = 43.45°), the only pack-hunting species (i.e., ; median = 37.90°), and arboreal cats (i.e., ; median = 49.05°), (ii) predators with an angle of around 30° include solitary-hunting big cats (i.e., ; median = 31.80°). We suggest different pressures of selection to interpret these results. The tightening of the iliac wings around the sacrum probably enhances big cats' ability for high speed and large prey control. In contrast, pack hunting in lions reduced the selective pressure for large prey.
猫科动物在饮食、觅食和捕猎策略方面表现出极大的多样性，猎物大小不一。无论它们是独居猎手还是群居猎手，猫制服反抗的小型或大型猎物的行为都存在关键差异。据推测，群体狩猎降低了每个个体的人均风险。我们假设骶髂关节在捕食者制服和杀死猎物时起到稳定作用。通过对59块猫科动物髋骨进行CT扫描，我们计算了两侧髂骨关节面之间的角度。计算了该髂骨间角度与体型的相关性，并评估了髂骨间角度的生态压力因素。体型大小对髂骨间角度有显著影响，小型猫科动物的角度比大型猫科动物更宽。与具有最小角度的陆栖猫科动物相比，树栖物种的角度显著更大，与具有中等角度的半树栖和陆栖物种相比也是如此。捕食大型猎物的猫科动物的角度比捕食小型和混合猎物的猫科动物小。在谱系中，群居猎手（狮子）的角度比所有采用独居狩猎策略的其他物种都大。根据髂骨间角度，确定了两大类猫科动物：（i）角度约为40°的捕食者包括小型猫科动物（即；中位数 = 43.45°）、唯一群居狩猎的物种（即；中位数 = 37.90°）和树栖猫科动物（即；中位数 = 49.05°），（ii）角度约为30°的捕食者包括独居狩猎的大型猫科动物（即；中位数 = 31.80°）。我们提出不同的选择压力来解释这些结果。围绕骶骨的髂骨翼收紧可能增强了大型猫科动物控制高速和大型猎物的能力。相比之下，狮子的群体狩猎降低了对大型猎物的选择压力。
