MalaMala - The Wildlife

WHITE CLOTH FEMALE

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Location: EYREFIELD / MALA MALA
(7 sightings of the female, 4 of them with her cub; 3 sightings of the cub on his own)

The White Cloth Female and her fast-growing son continue to prosper, and the month of December was a good one from the point of view of seeing these two leopards. The White Cloth Female was seen to kill a steenbok one day, and by the next day she had led her son to the kill. It is clear that these leopards are spending some of their time to the north of Mala Mala, but the female’s territory does still include a substantial portion of land within this reserve’s boundaries. Not surprisingly, the White Cloth Female has “given up” a chunk of land along the Matshapiri for her daughter, the Matshapiri Female. To compensate, she has moved further north, and finds herself in competition once again with the Hlabatini Female, along the Mwana Nanontshemeni Donga. She no doubt also shares at least some territorial boundary with the Campbell Koppies Female.

The son of the White Cloth Female is fast approaching the age when his mother will no longer share her kills with him. Typically, female leopards and their cubs split permanently from each other when the cubs are about two years old, but there are certainly cases when this happens 3 to 6 months earlier or later.

(3 sightings of the female, all of them with her cub; two sightings of the cub on his own)
The White Cloth Female leopard was twice seen to make kills in November, and on both occasions the victims were duiker. The first duiker was killed in the morning, and was hoisted into a tree. At that stage, she was accompanied by her cub, and the two leopards took turns in feeding until they had finished the kill. Two weeks later, the mother and cub were again moving together, also in the morning, when the female killed another duiker.

A few days later, the cub of the White Cloth Female was seen on his own, near Buffalo Bush Dam, looking very well fed. There was no sign of his mother, but it is likely that she had killed something nearby and had shared it with her youngster. The young male leopard provided some entertainment when he stalked a large rhino bull for several minutes. Just part of his education!

4 sightings of the female, one of them with her cub; one sighting of the cub on his own

Location: NORTHERN EYREFIELD/ SOUTH-CENTRAL MALA MALA (2 sightings of the female on her own, no sightings of her son)

Once one of Mala Mala's most regularly seen leopards, the White Cloth Female is seen far less these days, mainly because the area which she now frequents is not worked as thoroughly by game drive vehicles. On the two occasions that she was seen, the White Cloth Female was active and hunting, and she appears to be in good order. The fact that her cub was not seen is not alarming.

Location: NORTHERN EYREFIELD/ SOUTH-CENTRAL MALA MALA (6 sightings of the female, three of these being with her son; one sighting of the youngster on its own)

The most dramatic sighting involving the White Cloth Female took place in the middle of this game report period, when she and the Hlabatini Female were seen together, to the north and east of Mlowathi Dam. This area is probably rightly considered by the Hlabatini Female to be her own, but the two female leopards were both determined not to give in. Although no physical fighting took place, there was a good deal of salivating and vigorous scent-marking from both parties. The Hlabatini Female killed a duiker and treed it, but the White Cloth Female remained in the area for some time, before moving off southwards. Both the White Cloth Female and her cub were seen over the next couple of days, now in the Ostrich Koppies area, which has been White Cloth Female territory since her last cubs were born. Her cub seems to be doing well, and is definitely the most easily identified of Mala Mala's leopards from a distance, thanks to the break in his tail, which he has had since he was only a few months old.

Location: NORTHERN EYREFIELD/ SOUTH-CENTRAL MALA MALA (3 sightings of the female, one of these being with her son; two sightings of the youngster on its own)

The White Cloth Female and her son both seem to be doing reasonably well, although sightings of them were few. On just one occasion were the two leopards seen together, this being a rather brief sighting when they were seen along the Mwana Nanontshemeni Donga in the north of the reserve, with a duiker kill. A male leopard, not positively identified, but believed to be the Newington Male, stole this kill.

On one occasion the White Cloth Female was seen to the south and east of the central parts of the Matshapiri River, an area which for years was considered to be within the core of her territory. Nowadays, the White Cloth Female operates much further north than she did then, perhaps suggesting that the Newington Male is the father of her cub, and she wants to remain within his territory. It is worth remembering that when her previous litter of cubs approached independence, the White Cloth Female spent a good deal of time way down in the south of the reserve.

Of course, both the White Cloth Female and Kapen Female grew up in the southern part of the reserve, not far from Rocky Crossing. They were the cubs of the Trollips Crossing Female, who died about 9 years ago, and whose territory is now occupied by the Toulon Female.

Location: NORTHERN EYREFIELD/ SOUTH-CENTRAL MALA MALA (4 sightings of the female, 1 of these with her son, 1 of the youngster on his own)

The first sighting of the White Cloth Female this month was of her being chased up a tree by some lions. The lions soon lost interest and walked on, leaving the leopard to descend when conditions were safe. Once she was on the ground, the White Cloth Female started calling softly as if trying to locate her youngster, but he didn't appear. The next morning, however, both were found, not far from where this incident happened. The female looked nervous and had some nasty wounds on her back legs, these either inflicted by another leopard or perhaps lions.

The next sighting of the White Cloth Female was over two weeks later; the wounds were still very apparent and she was limping quite noticeably. Nevertheless, the White Cloth Female wasn't looking as if she was battling to find food and was seen patrolling and climbing trees with little effort.

There were only two sightings of the White Cloth Females' son, once with the White Cloth Female at the beginning of the month, the day after she'd been treed by some lions and then, at the very end of the report-period, when he was alone and experienced the misfortune of being chased by a cheetah. The young leopard had been found earlier that day, wandering around the Wild Dog Rocks Open Area on central Eyrefield, probably awaiting the return of his mother from some or other hunt. When some low-flying vultures appeared overhead, the young leopard followed them as fast as he could, but obviously couldn't keep pace with them. As it turned out, the vultures were probably inspecting a female cheetah and her three 6-month-old cubs; these appeared in the same open area that afternoon, looking well fed.

As the cheetahs lay down to relax, the son of the White Cloth Female emerged and wandered towards them. At this stage neither party was aware of the other and when they were only thirty or so metres apart, the leopard scaled a tree and was immediately seen by the mother cheetah, which sprang to her feet and advanced threateningly towards the young leopard, which hardly seemed to believe his eyes. The young cheetahs didn't hesitate when they saw what their mother was doing, leapt to their feet and fled in the opposite direction. As the female cheetah walked stiff-legged towards the young leopard, he focussed briefly on her, uttered some noise which was probably one of terror, flung himself from the tree and fled, eventually disappearing from view into thick bush several hundred metres from the tree. Of course it was mostly bluff from the cheetah, but the young leopard wasn't to know that, and when she saw the leopard run, she turned and ran too, this time in the opposite direction and after her cubs.

Location: NORTHERN EYREFIELD/ SOUTH-CENTRAL MALA MALA (2 sightings of the female, 1 of these with her son)

These two leopards weren't seen much this month. The first encounter, however, was of the White Cloth Female confronting her sister, the Kapen Female, when the Kapen Female was taking her two-and-a-half-year-old daughter towards an impala carcass which she'd stashed inside what is considered to be the southerly part of the White Cloth Females' territory.

The leopards weren't seen to fight physically, but were definitely unhappy with each other. In the end a hyaena took the kill and all three leopards were left watching the carcass vanish. The only sighting of both mother and cub together occurred towards the very north of the reserve and on what must be the most northerly limit of the White Cloth Females' territory.

Location: SOUTH-CENTRAL EYREFIELD/ NORTH-CENTRAL MALA MALA
(5 sightings of the female, 4 of these with her son and 1 sighting of the cub on his own)

Both the White Cloth Female and her son with the crooked tail appear to be prospering. Towards the beginning of the month they were seen on two different duiker kills on successive days and several kilometres apart.

All sightings of the White Cloth Female were towards what is typically regarded as being the very southern and southwestern portion of her territory.

Location: CENTRAL & NE EYREFIELD
(2 sightings of the female, 1 of these with her son and 1 sighting of the cub on his own)

Both the White Cloth Female and her son appear to be prospering, finding enough food and staying out of harms way.

Rank vegetation in the area in which these two leopards reside, as well as wet conditions preventing regular access to the northeastern parts of the reserve have both contributed to the relatively few sightings of these two this month.

January 2004

Location: CENTRAL EASTERN EYREFIELD
(8 sightings of the female, 6 of these with her son and 2 sightings of the cub on his own)

The White Cloth Female started off this months report-period by killing five baby impalas within three days and only 200 metres of each other and then, together with her son, spending four days feeding from them. Four of the impala lambs were killed in one go and the fifth perhaps a day or two later - a great example of leopard opportunism. Part of one of the kills was lost to a hyaena.

Then, two days later, whilst out with her son, perhaps leading him to yet another meal, the two leopards chanced upon two sub adult Whitetailed Mongooses and the White Cloth Female stalked and caught both of them.

The young leopard was allowed to play with one of the mongoose before his mother finally dispatched it. After some half-hearted gnawing on one of the carcasses, the leopards left them and continued on their way. Mongooses of all description are usually ignored by leopards, probably having a bad taste or smell and also capable of delivering a nasty bite. However, for a young leopard, they represent a good 'training' animal, one which can be used as a tool to perfect the hunting skills of a youngster. The waste of life could perhaps be justified if the leopard learns to kill and hence others suffer less because of that - but that still doesn't make the mongooses feel any better!

This sort of behaviour, when a mother actively participates in the training of one of its youngsters to hunt, is not very common amongst leopards. What is more typical is for the youngster to practice on its own, exploring and experimenting during those hours when it's left by the mother whilst she is out trying to secure the next meal.

MalaMala Game Reserve, PO Box 55514, Northlands, 2116, South Africa.
Telephone: + 27 11 442 2267 or 0861 SAFARI.
Facsimile: + 27 11 442 2318
e-Mail: reservations@malamala.com