ABSTRACT
Rabbits and other small mammals are examples of prey that are on the menu of every carnivore, snake, and raptor—and they survive as species—but animals such as rabbits depend on strategies of quick escape and quick "littering". Hominids are not overly quick at escape: bipedal individuals simply cannot outrun swift four-legged predators, nor was fast and furious reproduction in the hominid plan. Nine species of carnivores are potential nocturnal predators of patas: lions, leopards, two small African wild cats, golden jackals, black backed jackals, side striped jackals, spotted hyenas, and striped hyenas. A clear consequence of most arboreal primate species' evolution of increased body size is that they are too large to be attractive prey to the very predators most active in their arboreal habitats—small predatory birds. The distribution of reptile is also similar to wild cats and dogs in the sense that reptilian predators include extremely large animals.
