| Leopard, there are no tigers in Africa! Just got back from an amazing trip to Botswana (Okavango Delta region) and was really fortunate to see some incredible animal sightings. The most elusive of the big cats, the leopard, was visible daily in the Tubu Tree camp part of the delta. This one is an adult male, was perched on top of this branch stalking for prey and ready to pounce as soon as something would walk below. We were about 15 feet away in our jeep and watched this beauty for a good 45 minutes before it vanished in to the thickets for some serious hunting. Leopards make every effort to remain solitary animals except during mating season. The South African species do not have round spots like the East African ones do and are more accustomed to vegetated environs, ideal for stalking prey. Pound for pound it is the strongest cat and they drag their kill (sometimes twice or thrice their own weight) on treetops to eat in peace away from lion or hyena intrusions. One on one, the hyena is no match but two or three of them will invariably chase a leopard away or even kill it. They are also believed to be the shrewdest of all cats, taking their prey by surprise rather than chases. They are known to have the highest success ratio in hunts amongst all cats and spend the least amount of energy killing due to their deadly stalk and surprise strategy. Although extremely difficult to spot in the wild, one way to track leopards in jungles is to listen to baboon calls as they can see the animal from treetops and send out loud warning calls. Most of the cats as a result are nocturnal hunters with excellent night vision when most other animals cannot see. Interestingly, the leopard communicates when it is hunting for prey and when it is not. It will display the white underside of its tail by raising it to signal that all is well and there is no reason to worry. There have been sightings where leopards have walked through a group of impala without causing panic runs. This adult male jumped up and down the tree a few times before deciding that it was too early to hunt. It then dropped its hunting mode and came down on the grass and generally lazed around as two landrover full of photographers went trigger happy. |
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