Leopard mystery

23 March 2012 | Leopard Freedom

Leopard search clues

Dusk is the time of competitive advantage for the leopards. Scavengers and predators watch each other and are usually not far from one another.

Here in Leopard Freedom, a 10 ha camp, there are impala, civets, birds, etc., but not leopards as in Leopard Kingdom´s 1 ha camps.

Here we have a situation where the search for leopard clues can be anticipated or deducted, but not confirmed. The civets, for example, demonstrate good reason for approaching the water against the wind.

It is as if the hamerkop birds and the civet on the video intuitively know that the camp is safe and the hamerkop even searches for food in the dark in a potentially risky environment. The hamerkop´s behaviour after sunset will be interesting to research.

24 March 2012, 7:40 am | Leopard Network

Leopard search clues

Each year, for the past ± 23 years at Shayamanzi, the leopards become active in the month of May.

This is also the beginning of winter and the start of the impala´s breeding season.

In situations such as these the impala rams drop their guard by focussing so much on one another in order to get to the ewes, that they easily become the leopard´s prey. Analysing the droppings of leopards indicate that impala form a large part of the leopard´s diet.