Leopard's Remarkable Recovery Virtual Safari #290

Hopefully you can see me. It's afternoon. Shimungwe female and the Mkbeni young male have a visitor. So this week's virtual safari is pretty much entirely centered around the Shimungwe female. It's great to see her thriving once again. She caught an impala, hoisted it into a marula tree and then spent three days feeding on it. So with these marula trees having no leaves through the winter and only just starting to bud now, the views we had of her were simply amazing. With her eating pretty much everything except for a bit of the rib cage and two of the legs which toppled down out of the tree, she made a very graceful and slow descent. Before trying to reach up and grab the two legs, they were actually stuck at the top of a small kambritum tree. before then marching off, constantly calling, very clearly having something else on her mind, finding a male to mate with. In this area, quite likely the Maxim's male, but also possibly the Marwelewele male. Last time we saw the two of them together, presumed carcass around which the cub was killed. It's about 300 meters that way, so if she meets up with a male, fantastic. We were then graced with the most spectacular view of her marching through these clearings, constantly calling, stopping every now and then, looking around trying to see if there were any leopards that had heard her calls and were responding to it, as well as I guess keeping a good lookout for any danger because any other predators in this area that are hearing her calling might come across here to investigate as well. Thankfully after us wishing for it to happen, she climbed up to the top of a termite mound, settled down there before vocalizing a couple of times. On the mark. The sad reality of her losing her cub is one that we won't forget, but the doubts in our mind that she might survive a few months ago are now just a distant memory. That leg looks as though it is almost healed 100%, although it's a little bit swollen. It's not inhibiting her in any way, shape or form. That she's successfully hunting and hoisting, remaining or evading danger is all brilliant news in the story of the Chimungua female and hopefully she's able to now survive and live to raise another litter of cubs in the next couple of months, but obviously that's getting far ahead of ourselves just yet. She needs to find a male to mate with. And now the last little view we've had is her dropping off into a pretty thick steep drainage line. I'm not going to try and follow through You'll never believe, after we left her this morning, she was then found in the middle of the day by the tracker academy, about a kilometre away, having already caught and hoisted another young impala. We arrived on the scene the following morning to find her lying out in the grass and the Nkwveni young male now up in this gosha tree feeding on the carcass. So we think he must have smelt this over the course of the evening and come across here to steal it from her and now he's claiming it for his own, lying on top of the carcass up there, probably not wanting to share it. In case it seems all very dismal for the Chimungua female right now having her kill stolen, she ended up getting everything she needed because the Chimungua female and the Nkwveni young male then had a visitor. The Maxim's male popped up very close by. So this is everything that the Chimungua female is needing. It wasn't long before the two met up and this was my very first time to see the actual beginning process of two leopards meeting up to start mating. So this process is extensive. Essentially she's having to move around flirting, enticing him, trying to convince him that she is in heat and that they need to start mating. So I would love to have mapped out her movements because he'd pretty much lay in the same spot for most of the time and then get up and move a little bit, but she would range a little bit further away from him and over time getting closer and closer, sort of honing in on him, trying to entice him and he was having none of it. Eventually he got up, sniffed her urine or scent mark. That phlegm and grimace is allowing him to then process what reproductive state she's in. He was a little bit more receptive after that, but every now and then there was a bit of a bout of aggression where as she would get close you see he was constantly shying away from her before eventually it erupted into a little spat between young male was. So after some time eventually he got up and started walking in that direction. The Nkoveni young male not willing to share the carcass with his father, even though his father is double his size, and just hearing the contact calls and the vocalizations of both of them, obviously very well aware of exactly who each other are. But I was astounded as to why the Maxim's male didn't go charging up into the tree, claim the carcass for himself. Possibly because he doesn't want to have an altercation or inflict any harm to his son. He wants his genes to continue on in perfect health. Maybe male leopards are less nimble or sure-footed in the tree and he didn't want to get up there and essentially have an altercation in the smaller branches which could lead to him falling out or becoming injured. Maybe he is just tolerant of his son and wants him to thrive. At the end of the day we know how conflict-averse leopards can be. And I think maybe if the Maxim's male was a little bit hungrier his whole reaction might have been different. But we do know how aggressive the Nkoveni young male can be chasing his mother off of carcasses and being completely unwilling to share. He was sharing that right here right now with his father. At the end of the day I don't know why that happened, but it was just a very interesting dynamic. As soon as he hopped down the Chamungwe female came to try and mate with him. And he's having absolutely none of it. So my camera is now maxed out at the highest ISO I can give. And we are only just capturing a slight glimpse. I'm recording this on my phone because the other cameras aren't going to be working in this light. What an epic way to end off this afternoon. In the morning they were in fact mating properly and this is what some of the rangers saw. Thanks for joining me on this virtual safari following the journey of the Chamungwe female. Subscribe to our YouTube channel if you're enjoying this sort of content. It really helps our channel grow and for our videos to reach more people out there that are interested. So thanks for watching. I'll see you back here again next weekend. Bye for now.