HLARULINI MALE
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December 2004 HLARULINI
MALE
A look at the map shows that the Hlarulini Male leopard is spending more time further west than in the past. Perhaps pressure from the Chellahanga Male in the vicinity of the lower Chellahanga is beginning to tell, and the Hlarulini Male is more inclined to expand westwards. He is still a large and formidable leopard, and once again provided some fine viewing in December. He was twice seen to make kills, one of them a bushbuck lamb, the other an impala lamb. November 2004 HLARULINI
MALE (7 sightings)
On another occasion, the Hlarulini Male and a slightly nervous female leopard were seen together, feeding on a baby impala kill. It is not clear which leopard had killed this impala, but of course only one leopard will feed at a time on a particular piece of flesh. Later in the month, the Hlarulini Male was seen on north-western Charleston, being eagerly followed by the New Hogvaal Female. This young female leopard was probably in the early stages of oestrus, and she flirted openly with the male, but he did not oblige by mating. The two leopards moved together for a couple of kilometres, before the young female caught a baby duiker. Before she had even had a chance to kill this little antelope, the Hlarulini Male stole it and began to feed on it, still alive. The next day, the Hlarulini Male was seen again, down at Rocky Crossing, now without the female (although tracks indicated that the female had followed him for quite a distance towards Rocky Crossing). October 2004 HLARULINI MALE Location: CHARLESTON / TOULON (11
sightings) September 2004 HLARULINI MALE Location: CHARLESTON / TOULON (8 sightings) Most of the sightings of the Hlarulini Male leopard in September were concentrated over a relatively small area. This does not, of course, mean that he did not cover a great area during his wanderings, but merely that he was not seen in other areas. The area in which he was sighted is good leopard territory, with plenty of Sand River frontage, as well as sufficient prey and female leopard numbers. On two occasions he was seen interacting with female leopards. The first interaction was between him and the Toulon Female, whose kill the Hlarulini Male stole. The second interaction was with the young Rollercoaster Female, and it seems that this was a chance encounter, on the western bank on northern Toulon. Not much happened, but the Rollercoaster Female did follow the Hlarulini Male for a short distance. August 2004 HLARULINI MALE Location: CHARLESTON / TOULON (7 sightings) At the beginning of August, the Hlarulini Male was seen mating with the Kapen Female on two consecutive days. Other sightings of the Hlarulini Male were fairly typical male leopard sightings, with him scent marking as he patrolled his territory, and hunting. On one particular hunt, the Hlarulini Male was seen to catch and kill a duiker, but this kill was stolen from him by a hyena. It often happens that a leopard, particularly a male leopard, is able to reclaim at least part of his kill from a hyena, and the Hlarulini Male did indeed follow the hyena, no doubt hoping that he would be able to do just that. A look at the map will show that the sightings of the Hlarulini Male in August were concentrated in a fairly small area, that being along both banks of the west-east section of the Sand River in the south of the reserve. July 2004 HLARULINI MALE Location: CHARLESTON / TOULON (8 sightings) The Hlarulini Male seems to have much of the southern part of the reserve firmly under his control, and this could continue for a long time, as he is a large and confident leopard. He does face a challenge, in the form of a younger male leopard that has been seen several times in recent months, mainly along the Chellahanga River system on eastern Charleston. No territorial male leopard is ever without such challenges, however, and the Hlarulini Male will probably deal with them in his stride. It was interesting to see him mating with the Kapen Female leopard, as well as with another unidentified female leopard earlier in the month. June 2004 May 2004 HLARULINI MALE Location: WESTERN FLOCKFIELD/ CENTRAL CHARLESTON (east of the Sand River)/ SOUTHERN TOULON (5 confirmed sightings) Sightings of the Hlarulini Male were all in the southern parts of the reserve this month. He was seen mating on two occasions, both times with unidentified female leopards which had probably left their territories to seek him out for mating purposes. The first female leopard which he mated with might have been the three-and-a-half-year-old daughter of the White Cloth Female which has her territory to the north and east of that patrolled by the Hlarulini Male. The two were seen together near the confluence of the Chellahanga and Sand Rivers, an area perhaps just within the territory of the Toulon Female, which actually arrived on the scene when they were mating. The Toulon Female appeared quite upset about the whole thing, but perhaps understood that this other female was in the area on only a brief visit and would return to wherever she'd come from when the mating was over. Nevertheless, the Toulon Female still scent-marked the area with great enthusiasm before leaving. The second mating session involving the Hlarulini Male took place towards the end of the May report-period and on northwestern Toulon. Towards the beginning of May, the Hlarulini Male was seen with an impala carcass near the lower reaches of the Chellahanga River. The kill had been taken into a tree and, on the second day, he shared it with the Toulon Female and her one-and-a-half-year-old son; the Hlarulini Male is probably the father of this young leopard. April 2004 HLARULINI MALE Location: WESTERN FLOCKFIELD/ CENTRAL CHARLESTON (east of the Sand River)/ SOUTHERN TOULON (5 confirmed sightings) The most dramatic moment involving the Hlarulini Male this month was when he confronted the Rock Drift Male on NW Flockfield, an area considered way north of his territories most northerly limits. He'd almost certainly been attracted to the area by the Ngoboswan Female which was at the time mating with the Rock Drift Male. The result of this was the Rock Drift Male fleeing the area, leaving the Hlarulini Male to mate with the Ngoboswan Female, if he ever did.
Four days after this, the Hlarulini Male was perhaps 20 kilometres further to the south, close to what is almost certainly the most southern limit of his territory. One wonders whether this push north is a sign of things to come or whether it was simply a once-off and a result of the Ngoboswan Female being in season. The last sighting of Hlarulini Male this month was of him with the carcass of an adult male impala near the middle-lower parts of the Chellahanga River. The carcass was on the ground and when two hyaenas arrived on the scene, the leopard simply lay there and let them take it. March 2004 HLARULINI MALE Location:
CENTRAL CHARLESTON (east of the Sand River)/ NORTH-CENTRAL & WESTERN
TOULON Most sightings of the Hlarulini Male were towards the southern parts of his range, on Toulon, south of the Sand River. This was probably largely due to the Sand River being in flood for much of the time and hampering both the leopards access to the opposite bank as well as that of the landrovers. The last sighting, however, of the Hlarulini Male, over this report-period, was indeed on central Charleston and he was seen catching a young warthog one morning as the warthog fled from its burrow. The Hlarulini Male easily caught up with the warthog and killed it. Generally though, the Hlarulini Male appears to be in fine health and well in control of his territory. February 2004 HLARULINI MALE Location: CENTRAL CHARLESTON (east of the Sand River)/ NORTHERN & CENTRAL TOULON Sightings of the Hlarulini Male this month further indicated that this large male leopard has indeed taken over what used to be the southern areas of the Rock Drift Males' territory, or at least the western parts thereof. On one occasion, the Hlarulini Male was found patrolling north from central Charleston and then west along the Charleston-Flockfield boundary, scent-marking and hunting as he went.
The female leopard that is inside this area is the Jakkalsdraai Female and was fathered by the Rock Drift Male. Having a sexually mature daughter inside ones territory makes no genetic sense and so having the Hlarulini Male take this territory over should be of benefit. The Hlarulini Male was seen mating with the Jakkalsdraai Female this month. This is the third time that the two have been seen mating. Perhaps one of the finest sightings involving the Hlarulini Male occurred half-way through the month when he was found together with the 15-month-old son of the Toulon Female (his son too, most probably), walking side by side through a large open area. After a while the young leopard left the Hlarulini Male and returned to the other end of the open area and joined his mother, the Toulon Female. The leopards appeared very well fed but at this stage there was no sign of any kill. The Hlarulini Male, meanwhile, headed towards a large gully system, where he came across a hyaena. The two had a brief clash, after which the hyaena dug into a waterhole and hauled out the remains of an adult female impala carcass and dragged it northwards. The Hlarulini Male followed and attacked once more in an attempt to wrest the carcass from the hyaena. When this didn't work, he lay down, seemingly aware that he'd failed to intimidate the hyaena and that it would be impossible to get the carcass. With the four predators and a dead impala in the same general area, one conjures up a scenario where the Toulon Female killed the impala, went to fetch her son, had the Hlarulini Male join them either en route back to the carcass or at the carcass whilst they were feeding and then, having failed to secure their prize, the leopards lost it to the hyaena which muscled its way in later. January 2004HLARULINI MALE Location:
NW CHARLESTON/ NORTH-E TOULON (south of the river) Leopard sightings indicate that the Hlarulini Male has gained control of much of western Charleston, east of the Sand River, an area of land which up until recently has been patrolled by the Rock Drift Male. But, with the Jakkalsdraai Female, daughter of the Rock Drift Male, in this area, what incentive does the Rock Drift Male have to keep it? And now that the Hlarulini Male has mated with the Jakkalsdraai Female, it makes even more sense that the Rock Drift Male gets out.
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