MalaMala - The Wildlife

December 2003

JAKKALSDRAAI FEMALE (Daughter of the Kapen Female) * 4 YEARS 1 MONTH

Location: W CHARLESTON/ NW TOULON
(6 sightings)

The highlight perhaps of the sightings involving the Jakkalsdraai Female this month was of her mating with the Hlarulini Male. This was witnessed on 8 December and took place a kilometre or so to the southwest of the territory controlled by the Jakkalsdraai Female. These two leopards were also seen mating last month. Should pregnancy result, cubs (a first litter for the Jakkalsdraai Female) could be expected in March 2004.

Other than this, the Jakkalsdraai Female was seen patrolling territory and hunting, the two activities which seem to dominate most leopards' lives.

November 2003

JACKALSDRAAI FEMALE (Daughter of the Kapen Female) * 4 YEARS

Location: W CHARLESTON/ NW TOULON
(5 sightings)

Although the Jakkalsdraai Female was seen only five times during this game-report period and four of these sightings were within 10 days of one another, she provided some splendid viewing.

For three successive days the Jakkalsdraai Female was seen in the area of an impala kill close to the lower reaches of the Rock Drift Donga. All proceeded as things perhaps should proceed when a leopard has a kill secured in a tree, except in this case there were a few additional extras, the first of which was when a male cheetah walked past the area. The cheetah seemed well fed and was moving steadily, unaware that he was passing within mere metres of where the Jakkalsdraai Female was resting. When the leopard saw the cheetah, she took off after him, displaying aggression of intensity perhaps beyond what is usually expected between these competitors - roaring, salivating and keeping up the chase for at least a kilometre. The cheetah, well fed as it was, easily outpaced the leopard. Having experienced such a hostile reception, however, its quite likely that the cheetah would think long and hard about returning to the area, so reducing the Jakkalsdraai Females' competitor load, ensuring that she has just that much more exclusive use of whatever antelopes occur in her territory. Then, when only scraps of the kill remained, her father, the Rock Drift Male, arrived and helped himself to what was left.

The final sighting of the month involving the Jakkalsdraai Female was of her mating with the Hlarulini Male, the male leopard which occupies the territory to the south and west of that controlled by the Rock Drift Male and of course also to the south and west of the Jakkalsdraai Females' own territory. Up until now a major concern has been just which male leopard will eventually father the Jakkalsdraai Females' cubs. With her father's territory encompassing hers, all indications were that he would be the one to perhaps respond first when mating was required and of course last month just such a mating was witnessed between the two. But now indications are that this mating was unsuccessful and the Jakkalsdraai Female moved out of his area to seek an unrelated male, this one being the Hlarulini Male. Hopefully the mating would have proved successful and the Jakkalsdraai Female can soon settle down to raising her first litter. The fact that she does not live within the area controlled by the Hlarulini Male is probably not important; the Rock Drift Male is familiar with her as a leopard expected during his daily routine and any cubs which appear and are associated with her will almost certainly be accepted and cared for.

October 2003

JACKALSDRAAI FEMALE (Daughter of the Kapen Female) * 3 YEARS 11 MONTHS

Location: SW FLOCKFIELD/ NW CHARLESTON

(7 sightings)
The Jakkalsdraai Female continued to patrol and operate within her territory on NW Charleston and SW Flockfield. Perhaps the most exciting piece of viewing involving this young leopard came towards the end of the month when had an adult female impala kill taken from her by a hyaena. But the leopard was then quick to recover and won back a fairly substantial portion of her prize.

September 2003

JACKALSDRAAI FEMALE (Daughter of the Kapen Female) * 3 YEARS 10 MONTHS

Location: CENTRAL FLOCKFIELD/ NORTHERN CHARLESTON

(4 sightings)
The most dramatic event involving the Jakkalsdraai Female was her mating with her father, the Rock Drift Male. This mating almost seemed inevitable since she has a territory within his and, although other male leopards appear to have been given the opportunity to mate with her, they have not, it appears, responded correctly.

August 2003

JACKALSDRAAI FEMALE (Daughter of the Kapen Female) * 3 YEARS 9 MONTHS

Location: SW FLOCKFIELD/ NW CHARLESTON (east of the Sand River)

(10 sightings)

Towards the beginning of the month, the Jakkalsdraai Female spent a fair amount of time calling for a male leopard, but the response was disappointing. After several days of this, the male leopard which killed the nearly adult male kudu in November last year and with which she has almost certainly had past 'meetings', appeared. But he could hardly have been more reluctant to accept the young females flirtatious advances and the following day the Jakkalsdraai Female was on her own again, still calling. One wonders whether other male leopards in the area are just too aware of the power of the Rock Drift Male, her father and also the male leopard within which most of her territory still resides. So, although they have the attraction of the female in season, at the back of their minds is the vengeance of the Rock Drift Male! Hopefully, though, something will come of all this. With the superb physical state which the Jakkalsdraai Female is now in, having cubs must surely be high on the list of priorities.

Aside from other fine sightings involving the Jakkalsdraai Female this month, one of the more interesting ones was when she was found high up in a tree, surrounded by a pack of Wild Dogs. The leopard had probably approached the Wild Dogs, which she would almost certainly regard as both enemy and food, but had then had to flee when the Wild Dogs refused to be intimidated by her appearance. As it turned out, the Wild Dogs had a den-site nearby with small pups and so would have been extra-protective. The leopard eventually had the opportunity of leaping from the tree and moving away.

July 2003

JACKALSDRAAI FEMALE (Daughter of the Kapen Female) * 3 YEARS 8 MONTHS

Location: SW FLOCKFIELD/ NW CHARLESTON (east of the Sand River)

(6 sightings)
The Jakkalsdraai Female had a good month, it seems, and continued her offensive on the southern parts of the Kapen Female's territory, something which has been seen over the past few months. The Kapen Female is of course her mother and two years ago gave up part of her southern territory so that her daughter, the Jakkalsdraai Female, could have an easy start to life as a territorial leopard.

The first incident witnessed was at the beginning of the report-period, when the Jakkalsdraai Female was found well into her mothers' area and terrorising her younger sister, the Kapen Females' 21-month-old cub. The young leopard was high up in a tree, trying to get as far from her sisters' aggression as possible. The Jakkalsdraai Female eventually left the area, scent-marking as she went, but certainly having made a statement. Was this a warning to her soon-to-be-independent younger sister not to even think about invading her territory when the Kapen Female eventually chased her out to start a life of her own, or was this another side in the conflict between her and her mother?

The day after this incident, the Jakkalsdraai Female was back in her mothers' territory and this time even further north of their southern border. And later in the month, towards the end of July, the Jakkalsdraai Female undertook a similar northerly incursion, this time in another part of the Kapen Females' territory.

Although she may very well have done something about these incidents, the Kapen Female has not been seen responding.

Other than that, the Jakkalsdraai Female apparently had a successful month and in spite of the very physical side of her domain-control and expansion programme, was rarely seen looking lean. As was mentioned a few months ago, the Jakkalsdraai Female leopard seems to have suddenly made the transition from an enthusiastic yet reasonably unskilled novice to an efficient and calculating professional.

June 2003

(7 sightings)
The sightings of the Jakkalsdraai Female delivered nothing extra-ordinary and showed perhaps that this young leopard is starting to prosper and has reached the stage where she is more often than not well fed as opposed to lean and hungry. After nearly two years on her own, it could be expected that her hunting skills are as accomplished as they could be expected to be and struggling to catch food should not really be an issue by now.

With this level having been reached, one would also anticipate that the next step in life for a young leopard would now be taken and that is breeding. So far the Jakkalsdraai Female has not been seen mating, but if her levels of nutrition are as good as her body condition suggests, then perhaps this is the time to start. The question, of course, is which male leopard will she mate with? Technically her territory falls within that of her fathers, the Rock Drift Male, but a mating between these two would not be desirable. Alternatively, she could summons a neighbouring male leopard, perhaps the Hlarulini Male to the southwest of her territory, or the one thought to hold an area to the west of the Sand River, west of her territory.

There were at least two occasions this month when the Jakkalsdraai Female was seen patrolling and calling at the same time; was this simply standard communications with hostile neighbours, or was she in fact calling for a male leopard?
At one of the sightings involving the Jakkalsdraai Female in June, she was seen sharing an impala kill with her father, the Rock Drift Male. The female leopard had apparently killed the impala and the male had invited himself to the feast. Although both leopards fed from the carcass, hostilities were simmering.

May 2003

(8 sightings)
The first couple of sightings of the Jakkalsdraai Female this month had her eating the remains of an adult male impala carcass which she had hauled up a large Marula Tree, safe from several hyenas waiting below. This rather spirited young leopard has over the year-and-a-half of her independence really shown that she has the mettle to survive.

A couple of weeks after these first sightings, the Jakkalsdraai Female was encountered, rather surprisingly, just beyond the bounds of what is considered to be her territory, and within that held by her mother, the Kapen Female. She was certainly aware of her intrusion and it appeared that it was deliberate; the young leopard was scent-marking as she moved along and was covering ground quite steadily, moving southwards towards safer ground. The following day the Kapen Female herself was found in this area, also moving at pace and also scent-marking, no doubt in response to her daughters' doings. And this is what is needed for the Jakkalsdraai Female to survive. Although she owes her mother a huge debt since the Kapen Female gave up probably as much as half of her old territory so that her daughter could have an easy start to life, the two are now competitors and if the Jakkalsdraai Female forgets this, she will be tramped on, not only by her mother, which will take advantage of any weakness, but by other leopards as well. Although the odd border-crossing, such as what was seen here, must surely anger a neighbouring leopard, it must also create fear and respect for the energy of the invader and serve as some sort of preventative tool to discourage any form of similar insurgency.

April 2003

(5 sightings)
Apart from patrolling and keeping herself supplied with enough food to do this patrolling, the only real bit of excitement seen to involve the Jakkalsdraai Female is when she and her mother and younger sister came face to face on a common border. The Kapen Female and Jakkalsdraai Female snarled and spat at one another whilst the Kapen Females' 18-month-old daughter moved off. When the two adult leopards had sorted out their differences, both went their separate ways.

March 2003

(6 sightings)
The six encounters with the Jakkalsdraai Female this month produced nothing out of the ordinary and what was observed was really a territorial female leopard going through the paces of surviving and also holding onto a chunk of land.

Although this young leopard has now held her territory for perhaps a year now, there have been no signs that she has mated. It will be interesting to see what does happen when she comes into season; will the Rock Drift Male, her father, respond, or will she seek out an 'outsider'?

February 2003

Location: CENTRAL-SOUTH FLOCKFIELD/ CENTRAL-W CHARLESTON (east of the Sand River)

(5 sightings)
The Jakkalsdraai Female was seen at the very beginning of this game-report-period and then not for nearly three weeks. Just what she had been up to in this time can only be guessed at. When first seen, she was in the process of feeding from a bushbuck kill, probably made by another leopard. This other leopard, the male which killed the nearly adult male kudu a couple of months ago, had been seen in the area the previous evening. Just what the relationship is between the two leopards is not known. The presence of this other male leopard in an area controlled by the Rock Drift Male, father of the Jakkalsdraai Female, has been debated at length. There was certainly some speculation that his presence might have been tolerated by the Rock Drift Male, even only if it was to mate with his daughter, the Jakkalsdraai Female. After this event, this kudu-killer (he actually killed a baby kudu in this area a couple of weeks later) stayed around for two weeks longer before eventually disappearing - at least as indicated by a lack of sightings.

Then, towards months end, there were regular encounters with the Jakkalsdraai Female once more, these mostly to the east and north of her territory. One of the sightings was of her hunting kudu and impala, this perhaps just a fraction beyond her most northeasterly limits, in an area from which her aunt, the White Cloth Female, ran her out some months ago. But since the White Cloth Female has been very absent from this particular area and her own daughter has been attempting to establish herself here, it would probably tempt the Jakkalsdraai Female to trespass once more.

January 2003

The Jakkalsdraai Female continued to patrol and generally maintain the integrity of her territory this month - at least this is what sightings of this young leopard during January suggested. One point of interest as far as the Jakkalsdraai Female is concerned is that a young adult male leopard, first seen several months ago on central Charleston, is still around and very active in the area which she occupies. Technically, her territory also falls within that controlled by her father, the Rock Drift Male. But the Rock Drift Male almost appears to be ignoring the intruding male. Is this because deep down something suggests that his daughter should mate with an outsider? Who knows? Perhaps the Rock Drift Male is prepared to surrender some of his territory or territorial benefits to this other male, not for the other males' advantage, but for the good of his daughter and her offspring.