Animal Competitors for Prey in Cameroon

Dec 08, 2025 0

Cameroon, located along the coast of West Africa, boasts a complex ecosystem of savannas, tropical forests, coastal mangroves, deserts, and mountainous terrain. This diverse environment supports a wide array of animal species, including several large carnivores that compete for prey. Understanding the dynamics of these animal competitors is crucial for effective conservation efforts.

Topography of Cameroon.

Lions: The Iconic Apex Predators

The closest thing Cameroon has to a national animal is the lion. These predators range throughout savannas and plains in Cameroon, preferring areas with plenty of cover and prey. Lions live in groups called prides which range from 2-40 individuals, though they are rarely all together at once.

Female pride members are all related, as females don’t leave their mother’s territories. On the other hand, males are generally forced out of their father’s territory at about 2.5 years of age, roam for two to three years, and then attempt to take over a pride by seriously injuring or killing the current leaders and their cubs. While we often picture one male as the “king,” male lions sometimes form coalitions of 2-4 males to take over a pride.

Despite not having natural predators, lions are still susceptible to starvation and attacks from humans. Sadly, some subspecies of lions are critically endangered, and some are already extinct. The Lion Recovery Fund estimates about 80 lions live in Bouba Ndjida, out of Cameroon’s total population of 270 lions. But considering the park’s small size, Funston puts the number closer to 60 lions.

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GPS tracking of 10 collared lions in Bouba Ndjida National Park has confirmed multiple lionesses with cubs, indicating successful reproduction of Cameroon’s highly threatened northern lion subspecies. With only about 60-80 lions in Bouba Ndjida and fewer than 1,000 northern lions left in Central Africa, the park is seen as crucial to the subspecies’ survival and recovery.

WCS is working in partnership with the Cameroonian government to manage the park and to help tackle threats such as killing of lions, including targeted poaching, and illegal livestock incursions. The Lion Recovery Fund estimates about 80 lions live in Bouba Ndjida, out of Cameroon’s total population of 270 lions. But considering the park’s small size, Funston puts the number closer to 60 lions.

Conservationists warn many cubs may not reach adulthood because dispersing young lions are exposed to snares, retaliatory killings, and other human pressures along the park’s edges. It is now believed that fewer than 1,000 lions remain in Central Africa, where the species is considered regionally endangered.

“It is difficult for the lions to do well at the landscape level presently because there are just too many people with livestock and poaching in the landscape, killing lions even if they are safe in a small area in the middle of the park,” Funston said.

Conservation Challenges and Efforts

Uncontrolled livestock grazing, poaching, insecurity, and weak connectivity with neighboring parks hamper conservation; experts call for larger safe areas, community involvement, and coordinated management to ensure long-term survival. But the fraught security situation in the region, including the presence of bandits and kidnappers, can undermine conservation efforts, making it harder to monitor and protect wildlife. For the lion population to expand and connect to the other national parks, “there is a need to create a bigger area in which lions are safe,” Funston said.

In August 2024, Cameroonian biologists and rangers from WCS and the Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife (MINFOF) fitted seven lions in the park with GPS collars. WCS conservation experts are now recording the survival rates of the new cubs. “Data also highlights ongoing population dynamics that are vital for understanding lions’ prospects, with young males dispersing long distances across the landscape, making use of larger regions outside the national park,” Finiels said.

Unlike the more famous lions of Southern and East Africa (Panthera leo melanochaita), Cameroon’s lions belong to the northern lion subspecies (P. l. leo). “The subspecies has lost most of its original range and is highly threatened,” said Nakedi Maputla, senior conservation scientist at the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF).

Leopards: Masters of Ambush

Leopards have incredible athletic ability, which is one reason they are an apex predator in Cameroon. They can swim, climb trees and descend from them head first, run at bursts of 60 kph (36 mph), and jump 6 m (20 ft) horizontally and 3 m (10 ft) vertically. This is one carnivore that would break every record in gym class!

This excellent camouflage is essential as leopards are ambush predators. They approach prey while remaining hidden, crouched low to the ground, and then pounce before the animal has a chance to react. Individuals found in dry habitats tend to be lighter than those living in dense forests. Interestingly, the shape of their spots seems to be determined by location. For example, leopards living in eastern Africa have circular spots, while those in southern Africa tend to have square spots.

Sadly, leopard populations are declining due to habitat loss, range fragmentation, and hunting.

Read also: Discover Africa's Animals

Spotted Hyenas: Misunderstood Hunters

These odd animals live in clans of 3-80 hyenas. Females lead the clans, and all of the females within the clan are dominant over all males. One of the strangest features about these carnivores is that males and females are very difficult to distinguish.

Spotted Hyenas have a reputation as cowardly scavengers that steal food from other predators, but researchers have found that they kill most of their prey. Despite their odd, sloped appearance, hyenas are incredible runners and will chase prey for long distances at speeds up to 65 kph (40 mph).

Female Spotted Hyenas are incredibly dedicated mothers. Incredibly, they nurse their young until 12 to 16 months of age. By the time the young are weaned, they already have all of their adult teeth which is very rare among carnivorous animals in Cameroon.

Although Spotted Hyenas are not currently endangered, they are “Conservation dependent,” meaning that there are currently programs in place to protect them.

Other Notable Carnivores

Banded Mongoose

These cat-like predators live in varied habitats in Cameroon. Look for the Banded Mongoose in grasslands, woodlands, brushlands, and rocky country. They have large ranges, and individuals may travel more than 8 km (5 m) per day while foraging.

They’re primarily insectivores, feeding on termites, earthworms, grasshoppers, scorpions, slugs, and snails, but they’ll also feed on fruit, snakes, crabs, eggs, birds, and rodents. Banded Mongooses are social and usually live in packs of 10-20 individuals. That said, they’re very possessive of their food and eat it immediately without sharing.

Incredibly, mating is often synchronized so that the pack’s young are all born within a few days of each other. The entire pack will help care for the young, and lactating females will nurse any baby. When it’s time to hunt, a few females stay behind to look after the young.

African Wolf

Adults stand about 40 cm (16 in) tall at the shoulder. African Wolves have an extensive range, and their appearance and size vary with location. African Wolves have flexible social structures that are largely dictated by prey availability.

Each pack consists of a monogamous breeding pair that remains together constantly. These wolves can be formidable predators in Cameroon, sometimes taking prey up to three times their own weight. However, they usually go after much smaller animals. Pairs of wolves often hunt gazelle fawns and other small mammals like cane rats and ground squirrels. They also consume fruit, snakes, and insects.

African Civet

African Civets are incredibly unique. They have some similar features to raccoons and cats but aren’t related to either. These unusual-looking animals will live in both forested and open areas, but they need plenty of cover for hunting and hiding from larger animals.

African Civets are primarily nocturnal but occasionally move around during the morning or evening of cloudy days. They’re secretive and solitary except when they come together to breed. Despite being a relatively shy animal, they can become a nuisance to farmers. Occasionally, they go after poultry and young lambs.

African Wildcat

Adults are 46-60 cm (18-24 in) long. African Wildcats are skillful hunters with incredible hearing. Once they’ve located prey, they slowly and sneakily approach it and pounce once they’re in range.

African Wildcats are most active at night. During the day, they tend to avoid the heat and rest under bushes or other shelter, although sometimes they can be observed out hunting on cloudy, overcast days. Additionally, when threatened, these cats raise their hair to make themselves seem larger and intimidate their opponents, similar to what we see in domestic cats.

However, they have some distinctly wild traits. For example, when they sit upright, their long front legs raise their bodies almost vertically (more so than domestic cats). This posture can be seen on Egyptian bronze mummy cases and tomb paintings.

African Wildcat.

Diet Overlap and Resource Competition

Predators of similar size often compete over prey. In semi‐arid ecosystems where water is a limiting resource, prey availability can be affected by water distribution, which further increases resource competition and exacerbate conflict among predators. Diet overlap serves as an indication of resource competition.

A high degree of diet overlap, which can indicate the potential for a high level of resource competition, can exacerbate conflict among predators. One way to reduce interspecific competition is through diet segregation, particularly when competing species overlap spatio‐temporally.

The African wild dog (Lycaon pictus) (~22 kg) is an endangered, social and subordinate carnivore within Africa's large carnivore guild (IUCN, 2023). It suffers from interspecific competition with lions (Panthera leo) (150-250 kg) and spotted hyaenas (Crocuta crocuta) (~70 kg).

In arid and semi‐arid ecosystems, water becomes a limiting resource in the dry season and is, therefore, in some areas, actively pumped to provide water to animals. Variation in water availability affects the abundance and distribution of herbivores, which in turn affects the abundance and distribution of predators, and ultimately, the level of intraguild competition between predators.

Research Findings from Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe

A study in Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe, evaluated the dynamics of food resource competition between African wild dogs and four competing predators (cheetahs, leopards, lions, and spotted hyenas) across areas with different waterhole densities. The study found that for most predators, kudu was most frequently consumed and preferred.

Wild dog diet overlap was high with all predators, particularly with hyaenas and lions. There were no seasonal differences in the predators diet. The diet overlap of wild dogs with lions was highest in the low waterhole density area, and wild dog diet composition did not differ significantly from the diet of lions and hyaenas.

A low density of waterholes increased food resource competition. However, high density of waterholes, where there is more prey availability, can increase the aggregation and density of predators, and hence, increase the risks involved in interspecific competition on wild dogs.

To reduce food resource competition on wild dogs, the study proposed to conserve larger‐bodied prey that are less dependent on water (e.g. kudu, reedbuck, eland, and gemsbok) by keeping their populations stable.

Table: Diet Overlap and Prey Preference in Hwange National Park

Predator	Most Frequently Consumed Prey	Diet Overlap
Lions	Kudu	High with Wild Dogs and Hyenas
Hyenas	Kudu	High with Lions and Wild Dogs
Wild Dogs	Medium and Small-Sized Prey	High with All Predators
Cheetahs	Medium and Small-Sized Prey	Moderate
Leopards	Medium and Small-Sized Prey	Moderate

Conservation Implications

Large predators help maintain stable ecological processes as they exert top‐down effects. Thus, their conservation is crucial to maintain healthy ecosystem functioning. Diet separation can reduce exploitative competition, which is when species indirectly compete for common resources through depletion of these resources.

Subordinate predators can reduce interspecific competition by feeding on different prey groups (e.g. prey water dependency or prey size); as well as, through segregating their diet seasonally and spatially (different habitats and areas).

To promote coexistence among competing species, a form of niche separation is necessary; this can be temporal, spatial or through diet partitioning. As predators of similar size compete over prey, a subordinate predator (smaller in size) may change its diet due to the presence of a dominant predator (larger in size), especially when food is scarce.

In 2024, Cameroon’s Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife validated the protected area guidelines stipulating that local communities around protected areas must be involved in the planning and decision-making processes.