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| December 2005 HLARULINI MALE part from patrolling his territory the Hlarulini male was seen stealing a kill from the two Jakkalsdraai cubs. All was frantic as leopards spread in all directions and the big male made off with the spoils disappearing into the notoriously thick bush of western Charleston . He was not relocated but it was assumed that he would have enjoyed his easy pickings unchallenged. November 2005 HLARULINI MALE The Hlarulini Male was kept fairly busy in November, and was seen to interact with two other male leopards. One of these males was an apparently nervous individual that the Hlarulini Male encountered on southern Flockfield. Because of the second leopard’s nervous reaction to vehicles, it was not possible to accurately assess how well he fared in his contest with the Hlarulini Male. The second male leopard seen to interact with the Hlarulini Male was his rival the Chellahanga Male, but there was not much in the way of a clash. The Chellahanga Male and the Hlarulini Male are well known to each other, and each one respects the other’s territory to some extent. Otherwise, there was nothing too dramatic in the Hlarulini Male’s month. He was seen on one kill, a newborn impala lamb, which would not have taken him more than a couple of hours to finish. October 2005 HLARULINI MALE Compared with September, when he was seen 16 times and was involved in some dramatic sightings, the Hlarulini Male had a relatively quiet, uneventful month in October. Or so we think! He was only seen on seven of the days, but who knows what he got up to on the other 24? We do not know the age of the Hlarulini Male, but believe him to be younger than the Rock Drift Male and probably somewhat older than the Chellahanga Male. Incidentally, the ages of those two leopards are also not known. September 2005 HLARULINI MALE The Hlarulini Male had another busy month, and was involved in many good sightings. The most significant of these were probably on the final 3 days of the game report period, when he was seen to clash with other leopards and then also lose a kill to a hyena. Predictably, the Hlarulini Male clashed with the Chellahanga Male in the vicinity of KK on one evening. These two leopards then went their separate ways, the Hlarulini Male going north and the Chellahanga Male east. The very next evening, the Hlarulini Male encountered the Rock Drift Male on Charleston , east of the Sand River . He seemed to have the definite edge in this encounter, and chased the Rock Drift Male up a tree, where the latter leopard stayed for a long time. Then on the last day of the game report period, the Hlarulini Male was seen on the eastern bank of Charleston North Crossing, with two kills. He had a young duiker kill and an adult warthog kill, both of them on the ground. Initially, he was feeding on the duiker close to some reeds at the eastern edge of the river, but then took this little carcass closer to the warthog kill, which he had left at the base of a jackalberry tree. While he was feeding on the duiker, a hyena approached. The leopard immediately left the duiker carcass on the ground, and rushed across to the much larger warthog carcass, which he tried to hoist up the jackalberry tree. The warthog was a heavy one, though, and the leopard only managed to take it up about two metres into the jackalberry, before he and the carcass fell to the ground. The warthog was duly claimed by the hyena, and when a second hyena arrived on the scene, the Hlarulini Male’s chances of reclaiming his prize rapidly dwindled. Much earlier in the month, the Hlarulini Male was involved in a stand-off with the Chellahanga Male, lasting a couple of days. The Rollercoaster Female was also present, and seemed to be in early oestrus. She sought the attention of the Chellahanga Male, but this male would not mate with her while the Hlarulini Male was so close at hand. It seemed that neither the Hlarulini Male nor the Chellahanga Male gained any real advantage in this interaction, and the situation remained tense. August 2005 HLARULINI MALE The Hlarulini Male was the most frequently seen leopard on Mala Mala Game Reserve in August, and he was involved in some good sightings. Early in the game report period, he arrived at the scene of an impala kill, which the Kapen Female leopard had lost to a hyena, this being at the confluence of the Rock Drift Donga and the Sand River . The Hlarulini Male was able to steal the kill back from the hyena, and take the remains up a tree. Later on, the remains dropped from the tree again, but this was only after the Hlarulini Male had eaten his fill. The Hlarulini Male was seen to make no fewer than 4 kills, two being impala and two bushbuck. One bushbuck kill was immediately stolen by a hyena. Just after the middle of the month, the Hlarulini Male was seen to have a territorial dispute with the Chellahanga Male. This interaction lasted at least two days, and took place just to the south and east of KK Crossing on Toulon . Neither leopard was prepared to back down, but the impression gained was that the Hlarulini Male was more reluctant to approach his rival than had been the case several months ago. On at least two occasions, the Hlarulini Male and a male leopard cub were seen close to each other, on the western bank of the Sand River on northern Toulon . It is likely that the Hlarulini Male is the father of the cub, the mother being a rather nervous female. July 2005 HLARULINI MALE Although the Hlarulini Male was only seen on five occasions in July, he covered a large amount of territory and provided some good viewing, including the killing of an impala on western Toulon. Late in the game report period, he was seen to have received a nasty wound across the top of his back, quite low down. This could have been inflicted by any of a number of animals, including lion, leopard, hyena, warthog, baboon or bushbuck. By no means a life-threatening injury, it will nevertheless leave a prominent scar, and it is possible that the Hlarulini Male narrowly escaped with his life. Nobody will ever know for sure what animal gave him the wound, or in what circumstances, but it is likely that the Hlarulini Male will remember the incident and will have learnt a lesson from it! June 2005 HLARULINI MALE The Hlarulini Male leopard was surprisingly only seen on one day in June. On that occasion, he was mating with an unidentified female leopard on the eastern bank of the Sand River on southern Charleston, during the morning. By that afternoon, he and the female had parted company, and the Hlarulini Male had moved a couple of kilometres further south, crossing over the Sand River. May 2005 HLARULINI MALE There were six sightings of the Hlarulini Male leopard in May, and he was not seen to do anything out of the ordinary. Like any male leopard hoping to hold on to a territory, he needs to keep advertising his presence in the area, by regular patrols and scent marking. April 2005 HLARULINI MALE The Hlarulini Male had quite an eventful month, and covered a good deal of ground. He was seen mating with an unidentified female leopard to the west of the Sand River on Toulon on one occasion. On another occasion he was seen with a female leopard, also on Toulon, but he aggressively chased this female, first up a tree and then into the Sand River. The day before the aggressive interaction with a female leopard, he had been seen to kill an adult male impala, only to lose this kill to hyenas. Once again, he ventured quite far north onto western Flockfield, where he was briefly trailed by the Dudley Female, before the latter animal went off in a different direction. March 2005 HLARULINI MALE Location: NORTH-WESTERN TOULON, WESTERN & CENTRAL
CHARLESTON, WESTERN FLOCKFIELD The Hlarulini Male leopard apparently had a relatively uneventful month, but who knows what he might of got up to when nobody was looking? On one occasion he was seen on western Flockfield, closely following the scent trail of the Kapen Female, who had been seen about an hour ahead of the Hlarulini Male. He was not seen to come into contact with her, but she is still lactating, so he would have most likely not been interested in sexual activity with her. February 2005 HLARULINI MALE Location: NORTHERN TOULON, WESTERN & CENTRAL CHARLESTON He was not seen as frequently as in the previous couple of months, but the Hlarulini Male still provided good viewing, mainly on Charleston. One wonders whether he had any hostile encounters with any of his rivals, such as the Rock Drift Male and Chellahanga Male. In the past, the Hlarulini Male has seemed to emerge the victor in his psychological clashes with both of these two known rivals. January 2005 HLARULINI MALE Location: NORTHERN TOULON, WESTERN & CENTRAL CHARLESTON, SOUTHERN FLOCKFIELD January was a good month for the Hlarulini Male leopard, and there were frequent sightings of this large male leopard. Although he seems to have pushed the Rock Drift Male leopard northwards, he is competing quite strongly with the Chellahanga Male leopard for areas south of the middle of the reserve. He was not seen to make any kills, but he was seen to join the Jakkalsdraai Female leopard and her two cubs at the site of an impala kill. He fed on scraps of the kill, and there was no hostility between him and the Jakkalsdraai family. It is very likely that he is the father of the cubs of the Jakkalsdraai Female, and he was seen to show some paternal tolerance of the young leopards. Late in the month, the Hlarulini Male leopard
was seen to be escorting an unidentified female leopard westwards towards
the Sand River on Charleston, but there was no hint of any mating behaviour.
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