It has been a difficult year for the female leopards of Londolozi. With the new blood in the form of the Piva, Robson’s and newly-named Nyamakunze males setting up shop in the central parts of the reserve, there has not been a lot of stability, which makes it tough to raise cubs. Although we are seldom sure of the exact fate of the cubs, the instability in the male population may certainly be a contributing factor.
The Tamboti female lost a litter of two, and the Tutlwa female in the north lost a litter of three, we think to the recently displaced Marthly male. She was seen in clear distress, calling for her cubs in the area we knew she had been denning, and that same afternoon the Marthly male was spied on the same rocky outcrop. He was not the father of the cubs, so would have killed them had he encountered them. The cubs were never seen again.
The latest loss is, sadly, the cub of the Nanga female.
Inquisitiveness defines young leopard cubs. Photo by Nick Kleer
This young male, just over four months old, was killed by another leopard.
Male leopards in the Sabi Sands have been found to be the single biggest contributor to leopard cub mortality, with roughly 35% of infant deaths being attributed to male leopards that aren’t the father. The next two biggest threats are spotted hyenas and lions.
What has not previously been recorded however, is female predation, ie. when a female leopard kills another’s cubs. Although it has most likely taken place in the past, it has not been properly documented, at least not in this area. Yet in the north of Londolozi, one of the female leopards, already mentioned in this post, seems to be turning into a cub killer.
The Tutlwa female, sadly, was responsible for the death of the Nanga female’s cub, and, we believe, the death of her litter last year. When viewed logically from a genetic standpoint, there is no reason why a female leopard should not wish to kill an unrelated female’s cub. They do not share the same genes and the cubs may grow up to be competition for her, so to kill them makes sense, as harsh as that sounds. What is interesting for me is that this behaviour hasn’t been properly documented in the past. Maybe it is unique in this instance.
The theory goes that while male leopards disperse far and wide, female leopards will attempt to set up territories adjacent to their mother, so that as more female cubs survive one finds a little related group of females, with the recognition between them reducing competition, or at least aggressiveness, which should increase the likelihood of cub survival. Again this makes sense from a genetic standpoint, but it falls short if these females are removed from each other by more than a generation. If they are not coming into contact with each other regularly and during their youth, there will be no recognition and conflict will likely ensue. The Mashaba and Tutlwa females are technically sisters and genetically very similar, born to the Vomba female and both fathered by the Camp Pan male. However, they are from different litters, so when they encountered one another a year or two ago, and the Mashaba female had her cub in the vicinity, they went at each other incredibly aggressively, as the following clip shows:
It seems clear that without the contact in youth, there is no recognition of relatedness.
I digress, in that this post was meant to purely be a short tribute to Nanga’s cub. I guess as one stays longer in the bush, the more hardened you get to sad events like the loss of a little cub, yet you are never immune to the emotion. What is particularly sad in this instance is the sorrow that was evident in the rest of the staff. Many camp managers and non-rangers had the privilege of viewing and spending time with the little leopard, and there was a general air of mourning for a few days after he was killed. He was everyone’s favourite.
A happy reunion between mother and cub.
The innocent blue eyes of youth. Photo by Simon Smit
But life continues in the bush. The Nanga female was found in the company of the Gowrie male this morning, and she will be coming into oestrus again before too long. The Mashaba female is lactating and denning a litter somewhere we believe, and the Tamboti female has been seen mating with the Piva male. Life will endure, and within six months I am confident I will be posting the happy announcement of the Nanga female’s new litter.
We would be interested to know if anyone has any knowledge of other instances in which a female leopard has killed another’s cub(s)…
The Nanga female was born to the Nyelethi 4:4 female in 2009 as part of a litter of three.
Written by James Tyrrell, Londolozi Photographer and Writer
Photographed by Nick Kleer and Simon Smit
Filmed by John Varty and Mike Sutherland
It is so sad. He was the most beautiful little cub. So photogenic.
So very sad. Just so sad. I love Nanga still….such a great mother and what a beauty she is. She seemed to truly enjoy this little cub with such a large personality! May he rest in peace.
Always sad to see young leopards die,but there is so much instability in the male leopard population at the moment that new litters are most likely going to fail as well.Are you still seeing the Anderson male?
Hi Alex,
He does drift in to the north western corners of the property from time to time but he has not become a regular visitor yet.
Having said that, there have been a number of occasions on which we have found tracks of male leopard when the Gowrie male (the area’s territorial male)’s whereabouts have been established, so it may be that the Anderson male is encroaching onto Marthly more than we realise.
James
Thank you for the information James,it would be good for the leopard population in Marthly if Anderson becomes dominant.Anderson is the one who has chased the Robson’s and Gowrie males from the north,so the threat from other males to the cubs would be greatly reduced.
It breaks my heart to hear the news.
We were fortunate to be among the first besotted guests to see the cub interacting with his mother. We were really very sad when Jess told us that he had been killed. Good luck to Nanga and her next litter.
This is nature, I know, but how sad!! He was not just beautiful, but so spunky!! I can imagine the loss the staff felt when they heard this news. Do you have any more details? Where was his mom? (I assume away from the den)….Sorry to hear of this, but hopeful and looking forward to her next litter!
I am crushed, so sad, grieving for the little guy and for his Mom. After watching them for hours with Nick and Mike, focusing on them through my camera lens, I’d begun to feel like I knew them both. This little cub gave such joy to so many that it’s hard not to grieve. I know nature must take its course but my human nature needs time to mourn his loss. Thanks for the tribute blog James – well done.
The circle of life.
I was on my way to Londolozi and was very excited at the possibility of seeing a leopard cub. I had fallen in love with Simon’s pic of her coming down a tree trunk. The first thing I said to Simon when he picked us up at the air strip was “I can’t wait to see the cub”. I had no idea she had been killed just 3 days before. I can’t imagine what Simon thought at that moment, no doubt wondering how he was going to tell me that she was no more. I can believe that she was a favorite because out of many leopard cub photos I had seen there was something ineffable about that blue gaze, in that exact moment in time. I was transfixed. Perhaps it is just as well that I was not able to see her as in that image she remains forever young and forever full of possibility.
Another well written blog James. Leopard infanticide is part of the harsh reality of nature. Its so difficult when one of your favorite animals kills another of your favorites (Hello Styx pride!). Its important to be objective, but hard to be objective !00% of the time. I hope Tutlwa is soon distracted by her own litter.
There was an incident a few months ago, northeast of Londo. where the Thandi female’s cub was killed. The potential culprits in the area that I heard named were the Karula female leopard, Inkanyeni female leopard and 2 of the Styx lionesses. Now the interesting thing is that the Karula female is Thandi’s mother! So I don’t believe it was Karula for a minute! My money is on the Styx Pride lionesses, who have killed a number of leopard cubs/young leopards over the years. However, if Tutlwa can kill the Nanga cubs on two occasions, it does make one wonder……
Hi Brian,
Interesting to hear that. In our case the Tutlwa female was seen with the carcass of the cub in both instances which almost certainly proves she was the culprit.
The reality is that unless the actual kill is witnessed, it’s very difficult to establish exact cause of death.
James
I am heartbroken, but know that Nanga will be an incredible mother once again.
Sad news but good too hear that Mashaba is got new cubs hope she can raise them. Hope Tutlwa is successful again soon aswell. Nanga is a beautiful leopard I hope she will be successful soon aswell.
I’m heartbroken to hear the news. He was such a beautiful little cub. Life in the bush is certainly very harsh at times.
Correction: I just realized that I kept referring to the cub as female, I can’t imagine why I had that impression. Either way the beauty remains just as true.
HI JAMES,
SAD NEWS INDEED! IT IS SADLY THE WAY THINGS ARE IN THE WILD AND AS HUMANS WE FIND THIS SO HARD TO ACCEPT, BUT THAT IS THE WAY NATURE IS.
I AM PARTICULARLY SAD AS WE FOUND THE CUBS VERY SOON AFTER BIRTH AND I WAS HOPING TO SEE THE CUB AGAIN DURING MY VISIT IN JULY.
WHO KNOWS, MAYBE I MAY SEE THE NEW MASHABA CUBS.
KEEP WELL, AND PLEASE PASS ON MY REGARDS TO SIMON.
KIND REGARDS,
TED.
Hi Ted,
Hopefully Mashaba’s cubs are viewable by then, but no one has seen them yet and we are not 100% sure where she is keeping them. They are probably little more than a week old at the most.
Looking forward to having you back!!
James
It’s so heartbreaking that another leopard is gone so soon. I am shocked to learn that a female killed him, I always thought they avoided each other but now I know better.
My sympathies to all at Londolozi who mourn him 🙁 Rest in peace little beauty.
I am so sad to hear about Nanga’s cub. I have so many pictures that I took when we were there in April and May of the cub. Such a beautiful and happy little creature!
This is a very sad occurence indeed. I have heard about domestic female cats killing off other mom’s litters and I know there is an immense difference between domestic cats and wild cats but this could be a course of nature that we as humans just have not noticed although it has always been happening. Our lack of investigation of infanticides in wild cats will obviously further complicate our understanding of these situations.
James, very sad news indeed. We were so fortunate to be able to view this adorable cub very early — and our photos of this very cub just arrived from Londolozi! 🙁 Thank you for sharing James, its so great that you keep us Londoz Lovers in the know….even when its sad, sad news….
Sad indeed! How do you that the Tutlwa female was responsible for the death of the Nanga female’s cub? More details please !
Also what happened to the Mashaba cub in that video?
‘The Mashaba and Tutlwa females are technically sisters’…what do you mean by that? They are the exact definition of sisters aren’t they?