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Nanga 4:3 Female

Nanga 4:3 Female

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James Tyrrell

Alumni

James had hardly touched a camera when he came to Londolozi, but his writing skills that complemented his Honours degree in Zoology meant that he was quickly snapped up by the Londolozi blog team. An environment rich in photographers helped him develop the ...

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24 Comments

on Nanga’s Cub: Gone But Not Forgotten

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It is so sad. He was the most beautiful little cub. So photogenic.

Lynn Rattray
Guest

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.

Alex
Guest

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

Alex
Guest

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.

Evette Hartig
Guest

It breaks my heart to hear the news.

Karin Mac
Guest

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.

barbara
Guest

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.

Brian C
Guest

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.

Jill Grady
Guest

I’m heartbroken to hear the news. He was such a beautiful little cub. Life in the bush is certainly very harsh at times.

barbara
Guest

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!

Uldri van der Merwe
Guest

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….

Lachlan
Guest

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?

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