Seeing a leopard is an incredibly special event in the bush considering the secretive nature of this big cat. Seeing a female leopard with her cub playing together, drinking and marking her territory would be labeled a rare sighting but to spend a morning with these two playful females and have the father of the cub spending time with them pushing the numbers up to three is almost unheard of!
Having said that, we have recently been seeing a certain three leopards together more and more. The Tamboti female and her cub have been providing some great viewing, as they always have, and the Camp Pan male has been the third leopard to join them. Don’t believe me…just take a look at this astonishing footage captured a few days ago:
There are one or two different ideas as to why they are spending this time together. The one I believe is the most likely at the moment, is what drives everything out here, the will to mate and to ensure the passing on of genes. The Tamboti female’s cub, a female that has just passed one year of age, has been seen making kills of her own and is growing in confidence day after day. Confidence and the basic skill of catching her own food are all very necessary tools for her survival as an independent leopard. Female leopards’ force their cubs into independence at different ages, some as early as nine months old and some a little longer (up to about 36 months). I feel sooner rather than later this young female will find herself out there to face the challenges the bush has to offer a solitary animal. Once this has taken place it would free her mother up to have another litter of cubs.
Although the Tamboti Female and her cub are currently playful, in the next few months this innocence will turn to aggression and the mother will ultimately force the young cub to move off and lead a more independent lifestyle. – Lucien Beaumont
Until then, the Tamboti female spends almost all of her time with this young sub-adult, teaching her valuable skills and techniques for survival. – Lucien Beaumont
All of the extra interest from the Camp Pan male is in anticipation of her coming back into estrous. He was seen performing the Flehmen grimace and testing the Tamboti female’s urine on multiple occasions. Should the tamboti young female leave her mother and begin moving around the south eastern reaches of Londolozi, there could be the potential mating between Camp Pan male and the Tamboti female.
All the speculation aside the time I spent with these three striking cats was some of the most incredible leopard viewing I have ever had. The tolerance of the Camp Pan male of the playful cub was something I did not expect, he dwarfs the young female but was very controlled in how he handled her. As you would have seen in the above video, the young cubs boisterous stalking and pouncing did little to bother the Camp Pan male, who only offered a half-hearted snarl. The Tamboti female on the other hand had very little time for the male’s advances and let him know in no uncertain terms when he was pushing his luck.
There are not many dominant predators who are this tolerant of their offspring. The Tamboti Young Cub playfully jumps onto the Camp Pan Male – Lucien Beaumont
Tamboti, Cub and Camp Pan Male Leopard – Lucien Beaumont
The Tamboti female has always been renowned for her beautiful, dark eyes, something which can also be seen in her cub. – Simon Smit
The Tamboti Female and her cub drink from a watering hole, shortly after the Camp Pan male had finished drinking. – Simon Smit
The King of Londolozi in his day; an enormous male whose offspring still inhabit the reserve.
The Tamboti female inhabited the south-eastern sections of Londolozi, having a large part of her territory along the Maxabene Riverbed.
I’m very interested to see if we will have the fortunate opportunity to witness more of this ‘family’ unit together, owing to the current dynamics. The Camp Pan male, although getting on in age, is still a hugely dominant force in the south eastern regions of Londolozi and as such will be keeping a careful watch on the progression of this cub and the Tamboti female. Have you ever witnessed three leopards together in the same sighting? I would love to hear your stories, let me know in the comment section below…
Written by: Simon Smit
Photographed by: Simon Smit and Lucien Beaumont
Filmed by: John Varty
Nice sighting Si! Had 4 together on numerous occasions in the reaches of the northern sands! Rad sighting though!
Incredible stuff – ive been lucky enough to see three together with the Maxabeni young males and their mother, the Maxabeni female together a number of times.
That’s awesome Rich, can you recall what they were doing?
They were with their mother most of the time, however I recall them catching a duiker and hoisting it up a tree whilst it was still alive- http://blog.londolozi.com/2009/09/young-mxabene-leopard-attempts-first-hunt/
Outstanding!!
In September we viewed the Camp Pan male with a mother and cub…male, I believe. I’m not sure which one. He had stolen their kill, but was hanging out with them and was very tolerant of the cub pouncing on him. The cub played with both Dad and Mom. It was an amazing sighting. Miss it all!
Human families should get along as good as these beautiful leopards. So good to see the Camp Pan Male doing his job as all good men should be doing. Fantastic footage. Thank you so much.
In May 2010, also with JV, we saw the Nyelethi female and her 3 youngsters – but only in close proximity, not interacting. This sighting was so, so special! We saw this cub with her little brother last May, so tiny – and now so grown up!
thank you, will share!
A rare sighting. I once had a sighting of five leopards in one area. A female leopard with two cubs about 6 months old, another leopard with them, most probably a sibling from the previous litter. There was an impala carcass stashed low on the fork of a tree not far from them and below, down in the dry riverbed was a male leopard walking a few paces then crouching and staring into the reeds. Looked like he was intimidated by something. After a while he made his way up the riverbank and settled beneath the tree with the carcass. This was in the Kruger, about 2km from Lower Sabie. I saw all of this in half a meter of space between two vehicles. The previous day I saw a mother leopard with two cubs around a similar age, probably a month older in the Timbavati region of the park. I hope I will be fortunate to enjoy more sightings similar to these ones.
We spent some time early last September with these three together. I have some great shots of the Tamboti Cub attacking Camp Pans tail and pouncing on his head. Since the three of them had been feeding on an impala the two adults wanted to rest more than run around, but the cub wanted to play, it was a touching sight! We were lucky on that sighting to also see Camp Pan hoist the impala into a tree. Never a dull moment at Londolozi!
W ow? He is one tolerant male ! They are so beautiful !
I remember the family gatherings between Karula, Yambilu Jordaan and cubs.. Karula even left the cubs in the care of thier father while she went hunting.. It is amazing how little we really know about these secretive cats.
MJ that’s incredible. It would be interesting to see more of this behavior and if it ever got to the point where Camp Pan would be left with the cub. Did you witness any other extraordinary behavior with those cats? You are so right, we are continuously learning about these cats everyday.
Leopard eyes…….beautiful. Thanks for the new posts daily….and with video and sound I can feel like I’m in the vehicle with you. Mahalo.
There was a sighting at Londolozi of 4 leopards, which was featured on a recent episode of Nat Geo Caught in the Act. Actually I just saw that episode yesterday. It was two males fighting to mate with a female who was watching the fight and then a 3rd male appeared and just sat down and started watching too.
Fabulous!! I do miss Londos and its leopards! Hope I get to see Camp Pan again!! Can’t wait to get back in the bush!
What happened to the second cub? On our last drive in May, 2013, Enoch found Camp Pan with a kill. When we moved closer, Tamboti was there with two cubs. Camp Pan tolerated them within limits. The cubs antics in trying to follow their mother up to the kill were happily recorded. Four leopards together was astonishing. Good to know he is even more tolerant now.
brilliant footage thankyou