The Piva young male and his focus on the south eastern stretches of Londolozi grow more and more day by day. The promising territory offered by the steep drainage lines of the Maxabene and Tugwaan systems provide great cover while the large open clearings hold many impala to tempt even the most well fed leopard. These factors and the allure of access to prominent females continue to draw him in.
The Dudley Riverbank female pays the new comer some attention.
There are a few females in this area that he would potentially come into contact with. The most prevalent and sexually receptive female at the moment would be the Tamboti female. She has just forced the Tamboti young female (her daughter) into independence and has recently been seen mating with the male in question. The Mashaba young female is slowly heading toward sexually maturity as is the Dudley Riverbank young female and these along with one or two other females would be a very tempting prospect if the Piva male could manage to find his way around the large dominant males in the area.
The two males that are in area that potentially would cause a threat other than the male discussed in the last update on the Piva male would be the Marthly male and the Tu Tones male. At present though these two males seem to be more concentrated on one another than anything else. With a recent fight over a warthog kill and then not even a week later another set of blows they seem to be taking care of the Piva male’s problem of competitors in the area for him. If push came to shove the Piva male’s impressive size and youth would weigh heavily in his favour.
The brilliant genes passed on by his large, and in his time, very dominant father the Mhangeni male and the Piva female (distant descendant of the Mother Leopard) he has good backing and should hang onto the territory he has in his sight for many years to come. We will continue to watch with huge anticipation as this young male settles into his prime.
A lengthy bout of mating with the Tamboti female towards the end of wither will hopefully bare some results shortly.
The Piva male glances up at his latest impala kill.
Focused and intent on hanging onto his new piece of territory.
Directly descended from the original mother leopard and therefore part of the royal lineage of Londolozi.
What do you think about this new male’s entrance and do you think the older males will peacefully bow out?
Written and photographed by Simon Smit
Interesting times ahead, what was the outcome of the fight between the tu tones and marthly males?
Great blog Simon very interesting since you gave him a mention I have to ask is camp pan still holding on and will there be an update blog on him anytime soon? Also who won the second encounter between tu tones and marthly? Awesome blog and very exicted for the coming months.
Great blog Simon since you mentioned him does that mean camp pan is still holding on to his territory any update blog for him comingsoon? Also who won the second confrontation between tu tones and marthly? Exciting times ahead.
Thanks for the comments everyone. Camp Pan seems to be spending more and more time to the east of our boundary. He was last seen about 10 days ago. It will be very interesting to see what unfolds in terms of territory claiming in the next few weeks. Marthly male definitely came off best during the fight with Tu Tones male who is still licking his wounds. In fact, he is not looking all too well at the moment and we are all hoping that with a good meal and some rest, he will pick up again.
Thank you Andrea hope Tu tones just lays low until he is fully healed from that lion encounter. What kind of condition is Camp Pan in? He is getting very old now.
Hi Blair. Camp Pan seems to be doing okay but there is no denying that he is old and that does come with some changes. He is much skinnier than he used to be due to some atrophy especially on the back legs. He is in his 15th year now! Camp Pan has always been an incredibly successful leopard, so we are all hoping that we will continue seeing him for some time to come.
Great updates! Piva Male seems like a force to be reckoned with. Awesome to hear news about Camp Pan and about these battles between Tu Tones and Marthly male. The Marthly male always seemed like biggest, toughest male around and I guess he still he is (but he is getting old for a dominant male). Tu Tones seems nearly as big, but maybe not as experienced. Would like to see Tu Tones get his own territory.
In his prime camp pan was bigger