GOING ON SAFARI!
The next stop on the safari sees us take in the savage beauty of the leopard.
We hear about the savage beauty of the leopard.
If you’ve ever been on safari and the gods of good fortune are particularly kind, you may come away with the briefest of glimpses of Panthera pardus — leopard sightings are a safari Holy Grail. They are almost never predicted and often surprise the guide as much as the clients. They are ephemeral, like the vapour of a forgotten dream. We have watched leopards drift in that sinuous way of theirs on to the short grass plains of the Serengeti and then vanish, like a spectre, leaving you wondering if you imagined the entire episode.
WIDESPREAD WILDCAT
The leopard is the world’s most widespread wild cat. They are found throughout much of Asia and Africa, and parts of Russia and the Middle East. Due to a fundamentally nocturnal routine and because they are naturally elusive, the Earth’s various leopard populations are almost impossible to quantify. Researchers have praised the arrival of the remote trail camera in recent years as a means of monitoring this cat.
Before then, it was done by mathematical modelling and the law of averages.
They are almost always solitary and they are incredibly strong. I have watched an 80kg male leopard haul the dead weight of an impala antelope ram (around 45kg) vertically up the tall branchless trunk of a leadwood tree as if it were a piece of cloth. They are the epitome of stealth, camouflage, and adaptability. They are beautiful, graceful, and savage. A leopard’s diet is as varied as its habitat preferences. They’ll consume arthropods, fish, reptiles, birds and their eggs, mammals from the size of mice to a large antelope, carrion, and other competing carnivores and scavengers.
Recently, a Cape leopard surprised tourists in Betty’s Bay by rushing out of a nearby fynbos thicket and snatching an African Penguin at the well-known colony there, in broad daylight no less. Leopards also seem to have a particular interest in domestic dogs. There are well-known cases of individual leopards in suburban neighbourhoods in parts of India specialising in consuming pets.
LEOPARD LIFE
Where do leopards fit into the grand scheme of things? They are the second smallest of the five cats of the genus Panthera. They are preceded by the tiger, lion, and jaguar. The slightly smaller snow leopard (Panthera uncia) has recently been added to the Panthera genus but is an entirely separate species to the leopard we are discussing in Africa. There is also an Asian species known as clouded leopard (Neofelis nebulosa). This is a much smaller cat and not in the Panthera genus.
All of the Panthera cats have elastic hyoid bones and are thus capable of roaring. A territorial leopard going about its vocal business in the dead of night sounds like someone sawing hardwood timber. These stunning big cats are characterised by short legs, muscular bodies, and large heads.The fur is soft and thick, notably softer on the belly.
Colouration is generally yellow toward golden and covered in dark circles of spots or rosettes. Belly fur tends to be white and the long tail is white tipped with incomplete dark bands towards the end. Recessive melanism is common in certain regions producing ‘black’ leopards or panthers.
Adult males are significantly bigger than the females. Adult association takes place only during courtship and when a female stays with her cubs after weaning. Both genders are territorial, with larger male territories frequently encompassing three to four female territories. Territory size is based almost exclusively on habitat type and prey availability, and vary in size from 16 square kilometres in the Serengeti to over 450 square kilometres in north-eastern Namibia. They have been recorded at
4,300m above sea level in Nepal and can tolerate desert and rainforest alike.
The oestrus cycle lasts around 46 days with the female being in heat for about seven days. Gestation is between 90 to 105 days and two to four altricial cubs are born. Cubs acquire independence between 18 to 24 months of age. Longevity in the wild is between 12 to 17 years. Captive animals have lived into their mid-twenties. There are eight recognised leopard sub-species. African, Indian, Javan, Arabian, Amur, Indo-Chinese, Sri Lankan, and Persian.
SOLITARY CREATURES
Being solitary in nature presents a challenge, particularly in Africa when sharing habitat with more social apex carnivores like lion and hyena. Leopard, for this reason primarily, have evolved the ability to climb and the strength to drag and deposit kills in seemingly impossible places. Defending a carcass in an African savanna environment is easier if it is elevated above the competition. Lions are generally too heavy to climb well and hyena, with non-retractile claws, find it impossible. If, while on safari, you come across a spotted hyena under a tree looking upward while drooling, the chances are there is a leopard kill hanging in the tree and maybe, the leopard itself feeding or resting.
Leopards are the quintessential stalk and ambush killers. There is no teamwork, no pack strategy, nothing to help except the basics of wind direction, cover, and camouflage, and an overwhelming burst of speed and power at the end.
I remember all of my various leopard encounters clearly. I have guided safaris in Africa for nearly thirty years and I recall them all. It is a species that continues to mesmerize me. One gets the inclination that a leopard sighting happens entirely on the leopard’s terms. I recall a night long ago, driving in the Nhlaralumi riverbed in the Timbavati Game Reserve of north-eastern South Africa. We were following a well-known female leopard on the hunt. She walked with purpose, focussed and statuesque, sinuous, as if her musculature was made of syrup. She ignored us, intent only on the task at hand.
A bushbuck antelope walked into view up ahead and we shut down our spotlight and engine. We listened in the gloomy darkness and strained our eyes in the lacklustre starlight. Suddenly, there was an almighty crash and the sounds of a struggle. We ignited the spotlight to find the hapless antelope in the jaws of the Leopard, right next to our Land Rover! She had circled round and chased her quarry into our vehicle, using it as a barrier. We revelled in the moment and the unbelievably opportunistic technique that this most beautiful felid had employed.
To me, they are the quintessential solitary hunter. Alone and yet seemingly unafraid. Built by the passage of time for the very business of survival, ethereal, wondrous, savage, and magnificent.
Leopard sightings are a safari Holy Grail.