JAKKALSDRAAI FEMALE

December 2002

Location: SW FLOCKFIELD/ NW CHARLESTON

(5 sightings)

Little excitement can be reported for the Jakkalsdraai Female and sightings of her this month indicated a young female leopard going about what is expected of such a leopard - patrolling territory and finding enough food to eat. So far this daughter of the Kapen Female has done well and appears to have achieved what is necessary.

There has been no indication that the Jakkalsdraai Female has mated yet.

November 2002

JAKKALSDRAAI FEMALE (Daughter of the Kapen Female) * 3 YEARS

Location: SW FLOCKFIELD/ NW CHARLESTON

(4 sightings)
There was nothing terribly exciting seen occurring with the Jakkalsdraai Female this month. She was observed mostly patrolling territory, consolidating her hold on the western parts of central-south of Mala Mala.

October 2002

JACKALSDRAAI FEMALE (Daughter of the Kapen Female) * 35 MONTHS

Location: CENTRAL & SW FLOCKFIELD/ CENTRAL & NW CHARLESTON

(7 sightings)

The nearly 3-year-old daughter of the Kapen Female, which has for the last year or so been trying to establish herself in the area to the south of that occupied by her mother, has been officially named the 'Jakkalsdraai Female' - this an area on Mala Mala which falls within her territory. Leopards only receive record-keeping names when it is fairly certain that they have established themselves in an area and look set to stay for some time. Hopefully this will prove the case with this tenacious youngster.

Towards the middle of October, the Jakkalsdraai Female provided some worry when she was found limping very badly. There was no external sign of what might have happened, but one of her front legs was noticeably painful. For at least two days the young leopard didn't move and then disappeared from the area in which she had been lying. Four days later she reappeared, still limping, but not so badly and was seen attempting to catch a Steenbok. Her body condition was lean but otherwise good and she seemed to be on the road to recovery. A few days later she found the remains of an impala kill which her father, the Rock Drift Male, had taken into a tree. When she arrived at the kill, the Rock Drift Male was away drinking from a nearby waterhole and the Jakkalsdraai Female climbed the tree and fed well. The arrival of the Rock Drift Male back at the kill caused some snarling between the two, but this was almost certainly more to ensure that respect was recognised rather than a sign of anger between the two. When the still slightly limping Jakkalsdraai Female departed, she came across the White Cloth Female, her aunt with which she has recently had several confrontations. The White Cloth Female had just killed a Steenbok and taken it into a tree when the Jakkalsdraai Female arrived. But, with a full belly and almost certainly respect for her aunt, the Jakkalsdraai Female moved on.

Earlier in the month, before her injury, the Jakkalsdraai Female was seen to encounter the two-year-old son of the White Cloth Female. The Jakkalsdraai Female was certainly hostile towards her cousin, but was in no danger from him; the young leopard was quite submissive.

September 2002

9 confirmed sightings of the 34-month-old daughter of the Kapen Female: Apart from patrolling and patrolling again with hunting in between, the only real excitement witnessed with the daughter of the Ngoboswan Female was another interaction with her aunt, the White Cloth Female. As with the hostilities last month, it was the younger female which sought out the White Cloth Female when she moved deeply inside her territory, an act which simply must have been designed to provoke. And provoke it did. When the two leopards were found, the White Cloth Female was in the process of escorting her niece to the outskirts of her territory. The two had clearly been together for some time already and exchanged physical blows. All seemed to have gone in favour of the slightly larger and infinitely more experienced White Cloth Female. Not only was the behaviour of the younger leopard definitely somewhat submissive (although every now and then she displayed signs that she still had fight in her), but she also had bloody scratches which simply must have been inflicted by the White Cloth Female. A few days after this had occurred, the daughter of the Kapen Female was once more patrolling within the area considered 'hers', looking none the worse for wear. Goodness knows why she decided to challenge her older neighbour.

August 2002

7 confirmed sightings of the 33-month-old daughter of the Kapen Female: August proved a busy month for the nearly three-year-old daughter of the Kapen Female. Towards the start of this game-report period, she and her father, the Rock Drift Male, were found sharing the remains of an impala kill. When the young female left the carcass to the Rock Drift Male and wandered off, she stumbled upon a duiker and caught it. The Rock Drift Male, upon hearing the distress calls issued by the dying antelope, left the scraps of the impala, darted out of the tree and immediately appropriated this kill too. The two leopards then spent the next 24 hours together, feeding from the kill, but with the Rock Drift Male clearly in charge. Later on in the month, the daughter of the Kapen Female was found with the remains of a young kudu. Then, at the end of August, she and her aunt, the White Cloth Female, met up and had a fight. This occurred way to the north of the area thought to be patrolled by the Daughter of the Kapen Female and right in the heart of the White Cloth Females' territory. The White Cloth Female and her son were sharing a duiker kill in the middle-reaches of the Kapen River, when the Daughter of the Kapen Female suddenly appeared, scent-marking in a blatant challenge to the White Cloth Female. The two then had a brief and more vocal than physical skirmish before the White Cloth Female escorted her niece southwards to the edge of her territory. What is surprising though, is the fact that the Daughter of the Kapen Female thinks it necessary to move this far away from the area which she has for the last nearly one year been patrolling. Perhaps the interaction is designed more for getting respect from neighbours which will then respect the boundaries, rather than seek to challenge them later.

July 2002

8 confirmed sightings of the 32-month-old daughter of the Kapen Female:

This young leopard seems to be going from strength to strength in her bid to keep the area of western Charleston and SW Flockfield, east of the Sand River, as hers. The rate with which she seems to get around her potential territory-to-be suggests great energy and determination, attributes likely to throw off any other challengers.

There was one sighting within this afore-mentioned area of a young female leopard and a young male leopard having what could only have been described as a hostile encounter. Neither was positively identified, but chances are good that it was this daughter of the Kapen Female as well as the son of the Paradise Valley Female. The latter leopard was seen hanging around this part of the reserve at the time.

June 2002

5 confirmed sightings of the 31-month-old daughter of the Kapen Female:
All indications are that the Kapen Female has relinquished the southern parts of her territory to her daughter which has done some impressive patrolling of the boundaries, a display of energy which would surely intimidate other land-hungry female leopards. It is not known what will happen when (if) the Kapen Female and her sister, the White Cloth Female, come to blows and stop their 'territory sharing' which appears to have allowed the Kapen Female to move north, providing the southerly portion of her range for her daughter. There was a good sighting of the young female leopard catching a baby bushbuck, a meal which did not last long. On another occasion her father, the Rock Drift Male, was seen to come within 50 meters of her, but appeared not to notice her. The two leopard went their separate ways without apparently making contact.

May 2002

2 confirmed sightings of the 30-month-old daughter of the Kapen Female :
This young leopard seems to be doing well for herself, particularly now that her mother appears to have moved north, giving her daughter more chance to get a foothold into a territory on central and western Charleston.

April 2002

9 sightings of the 29-month-old daughter of the Kapen Female: All sightings of this young leopard were in or close to the general area where she appears to be setting up territory, this on central and western Charleston to the south of her mother. One of the encounters with the daughter of the Kapen Female was slightly to the east of this range, in the area where her aunt, the White Cloth Female, has recently moved. The Rock Drift Male, the father of this young leopard, was seen with her on one occasion. The female leopard was finishing off the remains of an impala and the male leopard was nearby. Both were seen moving off together and vanished into a gully system. Should the daughter of the Kapen Female finally manage to establish herself in this area, it would put her inside the territory controlled by her father, the Rock Drift Male. Matings amongst family members is not unknown in leopards and it will be interesting to see if this does happen or if another, peripheral, male enters the scene. The Hlarulini Male may well be a contender in this latter scenario.

March 2002

6 sightings of the 28-month-old daughter of the Kapen Female: All encounters with the daughter of the Kapen Female were from midway through March and all within the area to the south of the territory occupied by her mother. Judging by the vigour with which this young leopard is getting around this territory-to-be, things are progressing well for her. But this enthusiasm for territory establishment has not gone unrecognised by neighbours and there was at least one sighting this month of the female leopard which is thought to control the area to the west of the Sand River, west of the daughter of the Kapen Female, coming across the river to scent-mark. Such a presence would surely be a warning to the young female not to trespass too far.

February 2002

7 sightings of the 27-month-old daughter of the Kapen Female:
The daughter of the Kapen Female seems to be taking the establishment of territory quite seriously now and is working hard to control the area to the south of her mother. This is the region which for a time used to belong to the old Chellahanga Female. She and her mother are now sworn enemies and this was seen during February when the two met up on the Kapen Females' southern border. Although there was no physical interaction seen between the two leopards, there was enough hissing and spitting and flexing of muscles to make it quite clear that they were no longer friends. After some time of this - and its not known for how long it had been going on before the two were found - the leopards parted ways, the young female heading south and away from her mothers territory. The following day she was found several kilometres further south, probably exploring the limits of what could ultimately be her territory. Towards the end of the month there was another good sighting of the daughter of the Kapen Female when she approached two hyaenas which were lying close to the carcass of an impala which they had probably killed. Stereotype roles were reversed; the leopard was trying to scavenge from a hyaena kill. Of course the two hyaenas were having none of it and chased the leopard up a tree where she remained before descending and then moving off.

January 2002

11 sightings of the 26-month-old daughter of the Kapen Female: This young female leopard spent the first parts of the month to the north of where her mother resides, but then moved south and concentrated upon the region to the south of her mother. This area of land has for some months now been unoccupied and seems an ideal place for a young leopard to set up residence. Perhaps the daughter of the Kapen Female has at last seen this and will have the chance to establish herself. One of the best sightings involving this young leopard occurred towards the beginning of the game-report period when she was found with a freshly killed impala lamb. As the leopard was dragging the kill to an area of safety, a hyaena (which had been seen in the area earlier) rushed in and stole the kill. The young leopard refused to give up and doggedly trailed the hyaena, every now and then regaining a small piece of meat.

December 2001

Two sightings of the 25-month-old daughter of the Kapen Female: These two encounters were three weeks apart, probably due to the fact that the area in which this young leopard has continued to stay has not really been well worked by game-drive vehicles, this principally a result of a strong-flowing Sand River covering some river crossings earlier in the month. Sightings of this young leopard continued to indicate a willingness to establish herself at least partly within the area in which her mother resides and overlapping into the area patrolled by her aunt, the White Cloth Female.

November 2001

10 sightings of the two-year-old daughter of the Kapen Female.
Most of these were on Flockfield in an area to the north and east of where her mother typically resides, but still within the territory of her aunt, the White Cloth Female. At one stage the daughter of the Kapen Female spent several days very close to where her cousins (probably half-brother and half-sister actually since they almost certainly share the same father, the Rock Drift Male) the cubs of the White Cloth Female, had been left after they had finished off a duiker kill. It is not known if the three leopards came into contact with one another, but if this did happen, it would almost certainly have been hostile. For a brief time this young leopard wandered south into the area which at one stage was held by the Chellahanga Female, a region probably ripe for her to move into. But she did not stay here long and any take-over hopes may be too late since the Toulon Female has already been active here. And the Toulon Female has an upper hand - not only is she an old and experienced warrior (a socially mature leopard), but, having at one time occupied this particular area at least temporarily, she is quite familiar with it. Nothing like hometown advantage to give one the advantage. So all may be lost for the daughter of the Kapen Female to stay around. If she tries to establish herself in the area which she is currently staying in, not only will it infuriate her mother, but also her aunt, two well established and still quite young leopards. But until she is forced to leave, she still provides fine viewing as only a young and inquisitive leopard can. One of her finest moments came at the beginning of the month when she was found pursuing monkeys which were taunting her from the treetops. Monkeys hate leopards, recognising them as enemies and, when they see them, start chattering and scolding them, telling all around of the presence of the leopard. Although a leopard is an agile climber, monkeys are better and can jump further and climb higher. So the wise leopard usually pretends to ignore the monkeys and slinks off with whatever dignity it can. But for young leopards the monkeys are to be chased, not only to stop them from chattering, but also to eat. Perhaps the young leopards also see them as a challenge and not having too many others worries in the world at such a young age, they may represent sport. So when the Kapen Females' daughter was found, she was in the midst of a troop of Vervet monkeys which had climbed numerous medium-sized trees and were hurling abuse down at her. Whenever the leopard would climb a tree, the monkeys would either climb higher or jump to another tree where the leopard could not follow. And so it would be repeated when the leopard descended and approached the new tree. Soon it appeared as if the young leopard had had enough; the monkeys seemed to have won the day with their tactics and not only had they escaped with their lives, but all other creatures in the area were aware that a leopard was on the prowl. Then, as the young leopard was slinking off, she saw an adult female monkey drop to the ground, perhaps to move towards other troop members from which she had become separated. The leopard spun around and went sprinting after the monkey which did the sensible thing by climbing a large Marula tree. The leopard shot up the tree after the monkey which immediately moved to the end of a thin branch and jumped to an adjacent tree. So intent was the leopard in following the monkey that she almost fell to the ground and for a while it appeared as if the branch would break under her weight. The monkeys immediately increased their torrent of abuse and the humiliation of the leopard appeared absolute. But the monkey which she was pursuing made a critical error; it failed to leave the smaller tree into which it had jumped. Instead, the monkey - which was also holding a small baby to her belly - sat in her new tree and continued to scold the leopard as she descended the original taller tree. The leopard now seemed very angry and when it descended from the tree from which it had so nearly fallen, it moved slowly towards the that one in which the monkey now sat. The leopards' tail was now flicking ominously and its eyes were glued to the monkey above her. The leopard slowly and deliberately circled the tree. In some ways it appeared as if the leopard was calculating her chances and, having assessed them as being good and with the monkey unable to go anywhere else except perhaps higher or to the ground, started climbing the tree. Initially the leopard climbed slowly, making sure that she selected the correct limb of the several-stemmed Combretum tree. Then everything happened in the blink of an eye; the leopard rocketed up the tree towards the monkey which, with her baby firmly attached, launched herself into the air. The daughter of the Kapen Female did not hesitate and, completely oblivious of the 6 or so meter fall to the ground, followed the monkey. The leopard made first contact with the monkey whilst still in mid-air, not enough to grasp hold, but sufficient perhaps to add to the already intense terror which the poor creature must have been suffering. As the two hit the ground, the monkey a fraction of a second before the leopard, it was all over in a flash. The monkey made one last dash for safety but hardly moved a meter before the young leopard caught her behind the head. Then, with the poor little baby monkey still hanging on, the leopard moved off to eat her prize.

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