tion. A deserted lamb becomes slow
and sickly. This can trigger the predation response. But the solution to
this problem lies in preventing desertion rather than removing the
predator. If you know what to look
for it is possible to tell whether a
lamb killed by a predator would
have died anyway.
Was the lamb killed by a predator?
Blood stains and bruising around
the wounds are the most important
signs to look for In your investigations, At death, blood ceases to
flow. So If a lamb was fed on by a
predator after it died, there will be
no signs of bloody wounds.
Eagles kill with their mighty talons.
Lambs can either be killed by a
strike to the head or, more usually,
by the crushing grip of the talons
on the neck and upper back. It is
essential to skin these areas. If the
eagle was the culprit you will find
IRREGULARLY spaced punctures to
the skin, and maybe to the skull.
These punctures will be surrounded by MASSIVE bruising under the
skin which is caused by the immense grip of the talons.
Skull of lamb showing wounds
(arrowed) made by eagle talons
(Rowley, I. 1970)
If it was a predator, which one?
Besides actually seeing an eagle at a
lamb, there are other signs indicating that an eagle has fed at the carcass. You may find feathers or droppings around the carcass. Eagles
often pluck out large quantities of
fur or wool (it is important to note
however, that caracals and leopards
will sometimes pull out tufts of belly fur with their teeth). With their
beaks, birds neatly peck out the
meat from between the bones, leaving the carcass well cleaned. Only
the ends of the ribs may be clipped
off. These signs show that an eagle
may have fed on the lamb, but they
do NOT indicate that the eagle
killed the lamb.
Drawing of infant roe deer pelt
showing eagle talon marks.
Measurements in mm- Nose to
tail length 500 mm. (Ratcliffe, P R
& Rowe, J J. 1979)
Crows with a lamb carcass
Birds rarely kill lambs. Eagles are less
often implicated than crows or ravens. These smaller birds do not
have powerful talons and can only
peck at the soft body parts. If you
find a carcass that has been opened
at th e eyes, mouth, umbilicus or
anus then it is likely that one of the
crow family has fed here. Only if
these wounds are surrounded by
blood or bruising does it indicate
that the crow actually killed the
lamb. Vultures are messy feeders
and leave long sinews of meat attached to the bones. They are not
known to kill lambs (for more details on vultures consult the booklet
Vultures and Farmers from the Endangered Wildlife Trust).
Points of con/id penetration
(arrowed) on a lamb carcass
(Rowley. I. 1970)
Research studies have shown that
carnivores such as jackals, caracals
and especially domestic dogs are
the main culprits when it comes to
lamb killing in southern Africa, In
the Swartberg mountains caracals
accounted for 93 percent of lambs
killed and jackals the remainder. In
the Drakensberg mountains domestic dogs accounted for 85 percent of
lambs killed, jackals 13 percent and
caracals the remainder. Eagles were
not implicated at all in either of