Illusive Leopard Spotted - 06:11 am
07 Jan 2010
The illusive leopard showed its face today.
It was almost impossible to spot, resting in the fork of a Mopane tree. A troop of Vervet Monkeys had already seen it and it was their alarm calls that gave away the leopards position.
This male has been so harassed by monkeys in the past that he has moved off very agitated, but this morning he was completely unfazed and mealy watched the monkeys between short cat-naps. The Vervets eventually moved on and left the leopard in peace.
His restful morning was not to last. A troop of Chacma Baboons were moving towards the tree he was in and as soon as they spotted him their pace increased. The baboons here do not seem to fear leopards and this male must have known this as he immediately dropped out the tree and moved off. The baboons followed closely, alarm calling and making threatening gestures. Everytime the leopard would try and stand his ground, he was surrounded by the baboons. There was nearly a full frontal assault by the baboons but the leopard quickly moved into thicker bush. This was the cover he needed as the baboons did not follow.
After losing the tailing baboons the leopard continued onto Dead Tree Island. There he was more relaxed and as he moved through the forest he scent marked and sniffed at the bushes. There is a resident female on the island and she could have been in the area recently. The leopard eventually found a shady spot under a Motsebe and went to sleep.
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1 posted at 07:43am on 07 January, 2010 by Andre Cavalcante
Cool!