As some of you may have noticed from posts in the last couple of weeks, the Mashaba Young female leopard is no longer being referred to as that. She is now known as the Ximungwe female.
Having been viewed by vehicles from an early age, this leopard is supremely relaxed around Land Rovers.
How or why we assign names to the individual leopards can potentially be a contentious issue, so I’ll give a brief outline.
The leopards are the only animals we assign individual names to. They are solitary, territorial creatures whose lives we attempt to make sense out of through extensive record keeping. These records can only be relevant or accurate if we know which leopard did what and when, so being able to identify individuals is important. Read Rich Laburn’s post on how to identify different leopards by clicking here.
Because assigning a name to a wild animal has the potential to detract from its wildness, we try as hard as possible to restrict the use of names to conversations between rangers. Out in the bush a female leopard is simply that.
Reclining in a knobthorn tree in which she had just stashed a vervet monkey she had killed.
To actually come up with the names, we look at the area in which the leopard has been spending the most time and is displaying signs of territorial behaviour. This will generally involve scent marking and vocalisations when the leopard reaches a certain age. The leopard formerly known as the Mashaba Young female (had to reference Prince there) has been seen mating, or at least attempting to mate with both the Inyathini and Flat Rock males, and whilst she has not yet been actively scent marking – at least not that I’ve seen – we felt that at almost three years of age, with the signs good that she will remain in the area, or at least nearby, it was time to assign her a name.
Sightings of this young female are irregular at best. Without an established territory, it is difficult to get a grasp on the pattern of her movements, if there even is one… Photograph by Pete Thorpe
Ximungwe is the local name for the beautiful Bateleur eagle, although the eagle itself has nothing to do with the naming of this leopard. Instead, we derived her name from Ximungwe road, which lies to the south-west of camp, and which was named for the old nest of a pair of Bateleurs that used to breed there. This road is relatively obscure, but is quite central in the area in which the Ximungwe female has been seen the most.
Given the density of territorial females in that part of Londolozi, whether or not her namesake road ultimately does fall into her territory may actually not be the Ximungwe female’s choice. She will simply have to take what she can get…
Time flies. Can’t believe she is nearly 3 years old. A beautiful name for a beautiful leopard. Bateleur eagles are my favourite. It will now be easy to remember their Shangaan name.
Too late. She will always be the Mashaba Young Female to me.
I always find the explanations of the how, where, or why so interesting. Thanks, James, for the information involved in the naming.
James, Thanks for the update! We have been waiting patiently for Mashaba’s daughter to get her official name. Now we just have to figure out how to pronounce it! 😉
Look forward to reading more about her over the next few years
Great news James. I’m so glad she has a reference name now, and by the way, she is beautiful. I hope she is able to successfully mate and produce cubs, sooner rather than later. Seems life is good in Londolozi!!
Thanks James. Having viewed her since she was 3 months old, I’ve been waiting for this post for a long time!
The Mashable young female holds a special place in my heart as she was the very first Londolozi leopard I was able to photograph on our very first game drive when she was just maybe 10 months old! Hoping she does well as the Ximungwe female! Thanks James !
Nice to see that she has her own name now, and a really beautiful one too!
So has she started to settle into an area then?
I am so glad to hear of an update of my very favorite leopard! I’ve been following her for the past few years and am glad she is finally named. Now, how do you pronounce it? Lol…