|
|
December 2004 NGOBOSWAN FEMALE Location:
WESTERN MALA MALA / FLOCKFIELD Once again, the Ngoboswan Female leopard was seen only twice this month, suggesting that she is spending a fair amount of her time to the west of the Sand River. On one occasion, she was found with the remains of an impala kill, but this was then stolen from her by a couple of hyenas. The hyenas dragged the carcass down to the Sand River bed, and fed in the reeds there, while the leopard looked on. Sensing that there was little point in hanging around, as there was not much meat left anyway, the Ngoboswan Female left the area, and embarked on a territorial walk, scent marking heavily, as if she had not visited this part of her territory for some time.
The other sighting of the Ngoboswan Female was an evening
sighting of an active leopard on the hunt. She was seen to pursue a couple
of bushbuck, but without success. One wonders whether she and the Rock
Drift Male have had further sessions of courting and mating. November 2004 NGOBOSWAN FEMALE Location: WESTERN MALA MALA / FLOCKFIELD (2 sightings) October 2004 NGOBOSWAN FEMALE Location: WESTERN MALA MALA/ NW FLOCKFIELD (6
sightings) As far as we know, the Matshapiri was not previously used by the Ngoboswan Female as a place to start raising her cubs. This was more traditionally used by the White Cloth Female with her earlier litters. However, the Matshapiri seems to fall firmly under the control of the Rock Drift Male, who is undoubtedly the father of the newest litter of Ngoboswan Female cubs. Nevertheless, the Ngoboswan Female has still been sighted on the western bank of the Sand River, and the eastern bank further south than the Matshapiri, areas which she has probably considered to be her own for some time. She has also peacefully allowed two of her daughters to establish themselves, allocating parts of her old territory to them. These leopards are, of course, the Campbell Koppies Female and the Kikilezi Female. The Campbell Koppies Female has already expanded her territory northwards, while the Kikilezi Female is still apparently spending most of her time in land which was once her mother's. September 2004 NGOBOSWAN FEMALE WESTERN MALA MALA/ NW FLOCKFIELD (4 sightings)
It is not often that the Ngoboswan Female is seen only four times during a game report period. All seems to be well with this large, very attractive leopard. She seems to be favouring the areas along the lower reaches of the Matshapiri River, and might well consider giving birth to her next litter in one of the many gully systems which enter the Matshapiri. On two occasions she was seen hunting and exploring, on the third occasion she was feeding on a young impala kill on the western bank of the Sand River, and on the fourth occasion she was simply lying down next to a pan. August 2004 NGOBOSWAN FEMALE Location: WESTERN MALA MALA/ NW FLOCKFIELD (7 sightings) For once, the Ngoboswan Female was not seen to mate with the Rock Drift Male (or any other male) during this game report period! The sightings of the Ngoboswan Female were varied, but there are strong indications that she may, at last, be pregnant. Apart from her bulging abdomen, her behaviour and reaction towards vehicles was a little different from normal. The last session of mating involving the Ngoboswan Female and the Rock Drift Male that was witnessed, took place on 4 July. If this mating resulted in conception, cubs should be born in early October. It would be likely that the Ngoboswan Female would again look to give birth in or near the Sand River bed, somewhere south of the camp, perhaps close to West Street Bridge. July 2004 NGOBOSWAN FEMALE Location: WESTERN MALA MALA/ NW FLOCKFIELD (6 sightings) July was another fairly busy month for the Ngoboswan Female, and she was again seen mating with the Rock Drift Male early in the month. A few days later she was seen with both the Rock Drift Male and the Short Tail Male. An intriguing sighting which began on the eastern bank of the Sand River on western Flockfield, lasted for over an hour before all three leopards crossed Mala Mala's western boundary into a neighbouring reserve. The Ngoboswan Female was highly "wound up", and it is difficult to know exactly what feelings she was experiencing when swiftly moving from one male leopard to the other, sometimes running to the one, flirting and then running off again.   
The day on which mating was witnessed provided very fine activity with the mating pair, visual at times being nothing short of excellent. There still seems to be a fertility problem with the Ngoboswan Female, or is it the Rock Drift Male which has a problem? Other sightings of the Ngoboswan Female, when she was not with a male leopard, were mainly during the day, and were relatively short-lived, the leopard moving through dense or inaccessible terrain while she hunted. June 2004
May 2004 NGOBOSWAN FEMALE Location: WESTERN MALA MALA/ NW FLOCKFIELD (8 sightings) For a change there were no sightings this month of the Ngoboswan Female mating with the Rock Drift Male. Does this perhaps mean that she's pregnant? Hopefully so.
And without the mating, the Ngoboswan Female was seen having what could be described as a rather run-of-the-mill month, patrolling, hunting and so on. April 2004 NGOBOSWAN
FEMALE Location: WESTERN MALA MALA/ NW FLOCKFIELD (8 sightings of the Ngoboswan Female, 6 of her daughter) The Ngoboswan Female continued to operate to the south of her long established northern territorial limits, seemingly happy that her two-and-a-half-year-old daughter incorporates these parts into whatever territory she is trying to claim for herself.
April also saw two further mating events between the Ngoboswan Female and the Rock Drift Male, one near the months beginning and the other just over two-weeks later. Goodness knows why the Ngoboswan Female simply won't fall pregnant. The first mating event ended when the Hlarulini Male leopard, usually expected to patrol the southern areas of the reserve, moved north, confronted both the Ngoboswan Female and Rock Drift Male and chased the latter away. It's not known whether the Hlarulini Male then mated with the Ngoboswan Female.
The Short Tail Male, old mate to the Ngoboswan Female, continues to wander the areas which she wanders too. This month they were seeing bypassing one another opposite the camp, completely ignoring each other, even though they were only metres apart. The male happened to be stalking impalas and the Ngoboswan Female was moving away from the same impalas which had seen her and had started snorting in alarm. March 2004 NGOBOSWAN
FEMALE Location:
WESTERN MALA MALA/ NW FLOCKFIELD The Ngoboswan Female delivered some fine viewing this month, making kills, patrolling territory and interacting with other leopards. Perhaps the most positive sign as far as the sightings of the Ngoboswan Female went this month was the fact that she hasn't mated again, indicating that she may indeed be pregnant. The last mating event which the Ngoboswan Female was involved in was when she and the Rock Drift Male were seen together in the second half of February. Should this mating have proved effective, then cubs could be expected sometime towards the end of May or beginning of June this year.
As far as relationships with other leopards is concerned, the Ngoboswan Female appeared to be very active in chasing neighbours and ensuring that her two-and-a-half-year-old daughter realises that her mother still has a good deal of power. Much evidence suggests that the Ngoboswan Females' recently independent daughter is trying to establish her own territory to the northwest of that area controlled by her mother and including at least part of her mothers' territory in this area. Some indications are that the Ngoboswan Female is willing to let this happen, but this month there was at least one sighting where the Ngoboswan Female was observed chasing her daughter away from this area. Granted, the chase wasn't particularly hostile, but the younger leopard didn't stay and argue. This particular incident, which took place just to the south of the camp, also delivered an additional bonus when the Ngoboswan Female was seen catching a young Nyala in spectacular style after the antelope ran straight into her, probably after having been startled by the Ngoboswan Females' daughter which was, in all likelihood, stalking them from the other side. After killing the young antelope, the Ngoboswan Female dropped it and continued to chase her daughter, which, at that time, was moving rapidly from the area. Only once she was certain that her daughter had moved off and that the local area had been well scent-marked, did the Ngoboswan Female return to the carcass. But, if the Ngoboswan Female is ever to relinquish her northwestern territories, she will, in all likelihood, want to replace this land with other land in another area and it is perhaps with this in mind that she has been particularly active in parts to her southeast, land currently held by the Kapen Female. And, with the Kapen Female having a daughter of nearly identical age to that of the Ngoboswan Female, she finds herself in an almost identical territorial dilemma - how to cope with her own, her daughters and her neighbours' land requirements.
On one day, whilst the Kapen Female was busy patrolling along what is almost certainly her most northwesterly border, she was pursued by the Ngoboswan Female in a clear display of aggression. Then, later on that day, a kilometre or so to the south of where this incident occurred, the Kapen Females' daughter had a similarly unpleasant experience when, whilst strolling along, she had the Ngoboswan Female descend upon her. The younger and smaller leopard fled and the Ngoboswan Female returned in triumph to safer ground to her east. But these land disputes involving leopards won't be settled in a single day and the outcome is not yet certain. Both the Ngoboswan and Kapen Females have similar requirements and both will surely fight it out using their strength as well as their years of experience. The last sighting involving the Ngoboswan Female over this report-period was of her killing a young impala. February 2004 NGOBOSWAN FEMALE Location:
WESTERN MALA MALA/ NW FLOCKFIELD The Ngoboswan Female had two lengthy mating sessions with the Rock Drift Male this month. These two leopards were of course seen mating last month as well. Hopefully this time the Ngoboswan Female is pregnant.
January 2004NGOBOSWAN FEMALE Location:
WESTERN MALA MALA/ NW FLOCKFIELD The highlight from the sightings of the Ngoboswan Female this month was of her mating with the Rock Drift Male. They were first seen together on 14 January and then probably parted nearly a week later on 19 January.
Mating was intense for much of this time and they were seen with two kills over this six-day period, the first close to the lower reaches of the Matshapiri, when they actually abandoned some of the bushbuck carcass so that they could continue mating. This bushbuck carcass was then eaten by the 27-month-old daughter of the Kapen Female (which is almost certainly the Rock Drift Males' daughter). Then, on the last day that the two were seen together, they were found with the remains of an adult male impala carcass in a Marula Tree. The presence of a well-fed hyaena in the area as well as the mangled state of the carcass suggested that much of it had been stolen from the leopards before the rest of the kill could be hoisted to safety. That evening, whilst the Rock Drift Male was feeding in the tree, the Ngoboswan Female was sleeping on the ground nearby and the hyaena was filching dropped tid-bits, a herd of elephants came wandering along. Two of the elephant bulls walked right up to the tree in which the male leopard was feeding and both reacted with some alarm. The larger of the two bulls raised his trunk within mere metres of the leopard and trumpeted and thrashed the bushes, but failed to impress the Rock Drift Male, which, with hardly a glance at the elephant, continued feeding.
Aside from the spectacle of the two leopards mating, what this mating also meant was that the Ngoboswan Female either didn't fall pregnant from the mid-September 2003 matings with the Rock Drift Male, or she lost the litter which following a three-and-a-half-month long pregnancy would have been born at the end of December - the last is the most likely scenario. Towards the end of December there was one sighting of the Ngoboswan Female wandering around the thick bush on the western bank of the Sand River between the camp and the Mala Mala Airstrip, looking lean, perhaps lactating and hunting impala. She failed to catch anything and appeared slightly irritable, a most unusual behaviour for this leopard. This particular piece of land, with its thick brush and rugged gullies, has been a favourite of the Ngoboswan Female for keeping her cubs during the early days of their lives. So, perhaps she did in fact give birth, but something happened to the cubs and, within a few weeks, she was mating again. Much of the mating between the Rock Drift Male and the Ngoboswan Female took place outside the Ngoboswan Females' territory and inside that occupied by one of her neighbours, the Kapen Female. And this isn't unusual; female leopards will often leave their territory in search of a male when mating is required and then, when it's over, will return to their usual haunts. However, at the very end of the report-period, the Ngoboswan Female was seen with an impala kill, also just outside what has been accepted as the easterly limits of her territory. This carcass, which wasn't secured in a tree, was finally stolen by a male lion. But, is the Ngoboswan Female eyeing out land to her south and east or has her presence in such parts been the result of mating and unusual circumstances? With the 27-month-old daughter of the Ngoboswan Female still hanging around and seemingly trying to claim at least part of her mothers' territory, this the northwestern corner, will the Ngoboswan Female allow her to do this and, if so, will this result in her pushing south and east to make up for the last land? MalaMala
Game Reserve, PO Box 55514, Northlands, 2116, South Africa. Copyright © Rattray Reserves |
