MalaMala - The Wildlife

(7 sightings)
There were good sightings of the Newington Male this month as he wandered around the area which he seems to control. Sightings over this last report-period suggested that he is perhaps moving somewhat further south than has been the case over the last few months. This may show a return of some confidence after he was chased away from a bushbuck kill by his father, the leopard with the short tail, some months ago.

November 2001

Location: AREA IMMEDIATELY AROUND THE CONFLUENCE OF MARTHLY/ EYREFIELD & MALA MALA

(2 sightings)
B

oth sightings of the Newington Male were towards the beginning of the game report period, but these and the subsequent lack of encounters in certain areas, combined with sightings of his old adversary and probably father, the male with the short tail, in others, suggests that the Newington Male is spending more time to the north of where he used to roam. Time will tell if this holds, but his interaction with the male with the short tail last month which saw him chased off might well have led to this. But will it last? The older male leopard is not expected to survive in the area for much longer, already having lost ground to both the Rock Drift Male and probably even to the Tlebe Rocks Male and certainly some standing in the community of leopards courtesy of the Newington Male. Interestingly, if the Newington Male has moved more north, what is to become of the cubs of the Ngoboswan Female which he probably fathered? Although the Ngoboswan Female has showed a more northerly trend in her movements so that at least some of her wanderings overlap with those of the Newington Male, the cubs and the core of her territory are further south. But her mate of previous litters was probably the old short-tailed male so although he may not have actually fathered the current litter of cubs, his familiarity with the Ngoboswan Female may ensure that he still acts in a protective way towards the cubs. In spite of the change of power which last month's interaction between these two male leopards must have introduced, sightings of the Newington Male certainly do not indicate a defeated leopard. His general behaviour remains that of a confidant and territorial animal.

October 2001

(9 sightings)

October may have proved a turning point in the life of the Newington Male, the leopard assumed to be taking over the territory radiating from the confluences of the Mlowathi, Manyelethi and Sand Rivers and south of this too. The leopard from which the territory seems to have been wrested is his father, the old male with a shorter than average tail and nervous disposition during the daylight hours. This month the old male chased his son, the Newington Male, from a bushbuck kill and in the process even dished out a few cuts and bruises. The Newington Male had been discovered on the kill one morning and spent the day lazing around savouring the carcass. The following morning, a scuffed up Newington Male was some hundred or more meters from the kill whilst the old male was at the carcass. Later that evening when the Newington Male tried to return to the kill site, he did not even attempt to confront the older male. Instead, he tried to slink around him and get to the kill. But he was seen and immediately confronted and when this happened he fled, scrambling to the top of the tallest tree on hand, a textbook sight of a leopard in mortal fear. So what is happening? Why would the old male not challenge his son when the latter mates with one of the females of the area and why is the Newington Male allowed to roam around killing and marking territory seemingly without confrontation? Or is this a last-ditch effort by the old male to reclaim what was once only his? Certainly later on in the month the Newington Male remained in the area, carrying on with life as though nothing untoward had happened.

September 2001

(10 sightings)

Since the three-year-old son of the Newington Female has displayed such obvious signs of dominance - mating with the Ngoboswan Female, scent-marking etc. it has been decided to give him an 'official' name. At the beginning of this game-report period the Newington Male and Ngoboswan Female were found with an impala kill close to the Mala Mala Main Camp. The male dominated the kill and the female moved off. A total of five hyaenas were at one time beneath the tree hoping to get something to eat. They ended up with nothing and moved off. Aside from this, the Newington Male was seen on various parts of the area which he seems to have taken control of. The interesting thing is that the leopard which is almost certainly his father is still in the area and as far as is known, the two have really not come to blows. Just when the old male will finally give in is anyone's guess. It is not known if the Newington Male has made association with the Mlowathi Female, one of the other females which his father has been a long-term mate with and in fact may still be. Interestingly, as reluctant as the Ngoboswan Female has been to mate with the old male, the same was not seen when the Newington Female was last looking for a mate and travelled out of her territory to seek out this old male. And the Newington Male still has much to learn and some maturing to do. Towards the end of September he was seen spending several days apparently fascinated by a pool in the Sand River filled with hippos and crocodiles - not something a wise and learned leopard would really waste time on.

August 2001

The close-to-three-year-old son of the Newington Female was seen five times over this game-report period and, although young, really seems to be mature beyond his years. The finest sighting involving this male leopard was of him mating with the Ngoboswan Female, a totally different affair to when she initially courted him in the beginning of May. This time the mating was fast and furious and the son of the Newington Female handled admirably. The next few months will be interesting as he, the Rock Drift Male and Tlebe Rock Male battle it out for the establishment of territorial boundaries in the northern areas.

July 2001

June 2001

Location: W MALA MALA

3 sightings of the 32-month-old son of the Newington Female. The first two encounters were close to the Mala Mala Main Camp and towards the very beginning of this game-report period. The third sighting was some three weeks later and on the opposite bank of the Sand River, amongst the boulders and koppies of the Manyelethi River. This young male has shown rapid physical development and, perhaps more importantly, appears to have great confidence; this latter demonstrated by his general 'body-language'. With there being increasing evidence that the male leopard which has for the last few years dominated the northwestern parts of Mala Mala is losing his hold on the area, the son of the Newington Female finds himself perhaps in the position to take over. However, it should not be forgotten that as big and confidant is this young leopard is, he is still young and would no doubt have other contenders to clash with before he gains any sort of control.

MAY 2001

There were 5 sightings of the 31-month-old son of the Newington Female. All sightings were close to the Sand River on western Mala Mala. This young leopard had a dramatic month. Three of the 5 sightings were of him together with the Ngoboswan Female and on one of these occasions, the dominant male leopard of the area, thought to be his father, was also present. For some time now it has been speculated that the days of this young male leopard are numbered and that he will get chased from the area by one of the already dominant leopards, most probably the dominant male. However, what was so startling about the days with the Ngoboswan Female was that she was quite blatantly wanting to mate with the young male, this in preference to her old mate. Whilst this may have been the females desire, it was thought that the adult male of the area would not have tolerated it and would have chased off the young male, but this simply did not happen - not only did the adult male keep his distance, but even when the Ngoboswan Female and young male emerged after several days of being together and were seen mating once, there were no wounds on the young male to indicate that any physical conflict had occurred. Just how successful the mating between the Ngoboswan Female and the young male was is not certain. In the end they were seen to copulate only once, this on perhaps their fourth day of being together. For much of the time they were in the reeds of the Sand River and were not observed. On those occasions on day one and early on day two and day four of them being seen, the son of the Newington Female was decidedly uncomfortable with the Ngoboswan Females' advances and spent most of his time snarling at her and moving off whenever she approached.

APRIL 2001

MARCH 2001

There were 11 sightings of the 29-month-old son of the Newington Female, all of these along the banks of the Sand River (or close by) between Harrys Camp and the Mala Mala Main Camp. Just why this confidant young male leopard has not yet been chased out of the area by any of the dominant adults is not known; as was seen last month, he did have an aggressive interaction with the leopard thought to be his father and there have also been several sightings of him and the Ngoboswan Female snarling at each other.

However, for the young leopard all looks good, perhaps because his major intentions still appear to be on finding food and exploring. It would perhaps be a most different story if one of the females started looking for a mate and he arrived on the scene - then great hostilities could be expected. Anyway, he has continued to provide good viewing, as most young leopards do, performing feats which adults would generally shy away from. Perhaps one of his most daring displays this month was to steal the remains of a baby wildebeest from a lioness and haul them up into a tree where she could not get to it. This requires some courage. Generally things work the other way around with the leopard losing its kill to the lion, but in this case the lion was caught off-guard and the leopard took advantage. But acts like that should not be repeated too often. A simple slip could well spell doom.

FEBRUARY 2001

7 confirmed sightings of the 28-month-old son of the Newington Female, all of these close to the Sand River on NW Flockfield and western Mala Mala. Five of the sightings were towards the beginning of this report-period and started with this leopard killing a young duiker. Thereafter he was seen crossing the Sand River at the Bridge and making his way north towards the Mlowathi River before returning. A similar pattern of behaviour was noticed last month. After several weeks during which he was not seen, the young male again appeared and promptly had a conflict with the adult male known to these north-western areas. This same male is probably his father. As it happened, the Ngoboswan Female and her two daughters were also in the area. Although the two males were seen displaying some hostility towards each other, it was evidently not enough to discourage the young male which was still in the area the following day, showing no scars of battle or signs of nervousness.

JANUARY 2001

There were 12 sightings of the 27-month-old son of the Newington Female, these concentrated around the Sand River between Harrys Camp and Mala Mala Main Camp. As usual this young leopard supplied much high quality viewing with his antics which are so typical of a young recently independent male. At the beginning of this game-report period he was seen claiming an adult female impala kill which earlier in the day had been fed upon by one of the daughters of the Ngoboswan Female. It is quite likely that the Ngoboswan Female had another kill and was saving this one for later. However, the young leopard was not going to be gracious and he consumed it all. A few days after this he was seen on the eastern bank of the Sand River, this the first record sighting of him on the 'other' bank. When found he was nibbling on a large monitor lizard which he had presumably killed and taken into a Scotia tree. In spite of his body condition indicating that he could have done with a good feed, the young leopard soon abandoned the kill and went north. His progress was slow and cautious as he inspected all the smells of the area. Clearly the territory was new to him and he needed time to familiarise himself with not only the lie of the land, but also the inhabitants.

Towards the end of the month he put on his best display when he again crossed the river from west to east, using the bridge. Within minutes of what was again a cautious crossing, the young leopard encountered the large herd of buffalo. Between these large animals and him were three male impala which he rather amateurishly tried to stalk. He was soon seen and the three impala stood their ground as he walked past, snorting loudly. The buffalo were only a hundred or so meters further on and the leopard proceeded towards them, perhaps tempted by the great number of young calves. Anyway, within minutes the leopard found himself high up in a tree with a dozen or so angry buffalo sniffing at the base. When the buffalo had moved off a distance, the leopard climbed down again and promptly followed them, only to be chased up yet another tree. This happened once again before the buffalo moved off to some mudholes and thicker bush. The young leopard again followed and, soon found himself within meters of a newly-born buffalo calf. However, the calf was surrounded by adult cows and, upon sensing the leopard, ran towards the rest of the herd. The calf stumbled and was temporarily left behind as the adults outpaced it and the leopard started to run in, but the bellows from the panic-stricken youngster and from the angry cows brought the rest of the herd tearing back and once more the leopard was forced to flee, this time with a touch more desperation and he just managed to escape by clambering into the dense branches of a Pappea tree. His buffalo experience continued for a while longer and, although he caught nothing, he hopefully learned some important lessons.

MalaMala Game Reserve, PO Box 55514, Northlands, 2116, South Africa.
Telephone: + 27 11 442 2267 or 0861 SAFARI.
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