While most predators are opportunists, leopards are generally accepted to be the most adaptable of the lot. Their solitary nature lends itself nicely to adaptability, and their wide distribution across Africa and Asia is testament to just how many habitat types they can make themselves at home in.
This ability to adjust to the situation means that leopards are rather adroit at getting food where other big cats might not be able to recognize an opportunity to do so.
The Nanga Young Female rests on a fallen log as the sun sets behind her. Photograph by Dave Dampier
While digging through the archives a few days ago, I came across this rather interesting footage of the Nanga Young Female leopard (now the Makomsava female). I had meant to publish it at the time but clearly overlooked it.
The Nanga female had killed an nyala ewe on the banks of the Manyelethi River. The Nanga female is a small leopard, and the nyala was large, so the kill wasn’t hoisted straight away (it was subsequently lost to hyenas that night).
The nyala must have had a calf hidden away somewhere, as she was lactating heavily, and it was this milk that the Nanga female’s cub was taking advantage of:
One can clearly see at around 0:15 in the footage above how the young leopard starts to lick up the milk that is coming out of the nyala’s udders.
As weird as this might seem to our human minds, there was nothing untoward in the young leopard’s behaviour. There was a source of nutrition readily available, so she took advantage of it. It’s really that simple. I don’t know whether she was just experimentally lapping up a fluid or actually recognized the nutritional advantage therein, but I’m fairly confident it was being viewed as something not to be wasted.
It just happened to be a unique situation that we were lucky enough to be there to film.
We’d love to know in the comment section below if anyone else has witnessed this type of behaviour in a big cat?
It is actually not strange as nothing in nature ever go to waste.
Now that is unusual, perhaps it recognised it as protein or was simply thirsyy.
This is a first for me, seeing a leopard take advantage of a lactating kill. That was a great video. I would guess that leopards are always watching out for their next opportunity and when one presents itself, they go all in – milk seeming to be the perfect appetizer!
Ok, that’s the first time I’ve heard of that happening!! These cats always surprise me!!
Regarding the Makomsava female lapping milk from the body of the nyala ewe, I have never seen anything to compare with that scene. I live in an urban setting in California. A few weeks ago I did notice a raptor (a hawk of what particular variety I am uncertain), gathering material for a nest in a small park close by. Today I witnessed this bird in the “raptor shielding its prey pose” on the lawn right outside my font door. As a family of neighbors approached the raptor flew off with its catch which appeared to be a mouse. Amazing! I know… I know, comparing a hawk with a mouse to a lion bringing down a zebra, two different things. However for us urbanites, we take Nature as we find it.
Stan Nature is Nature, and is fascinating in any shape or form!
Thanks for the comments!
Not a normal behavior from predators..But because they are cats, that kind of behavior can be exceptional….
Hello James. I somehow missed the naming of the Makpmsava female. When did this occur? She holds a special spot for me as I believe nick and I were among the first to see her and her brother emerge from the den.
Hi Al,
It wasn’t officially announced, so don’t worry, you didn’t miss it.
I remember you definitely being among the first! She’s alive and well and still roaming the Manyelethi.
When are you back in town?
I’m booked for 8 nights in second half of September. Not sure I can make it to SA before then. All the best.
What does Makomsava mean?
Hi Alessandra.
“Mother Earth”; it’s the name of a road in the north of the property that runs through a beautiful Leadwood forest where we regularly encounter this female…
It’s certainly a special thing to witness and since this leopard is a young leopard she might even have remembered what milk tastes like. But although I know that nature is hard I still feel for the nyala and for her calf. Because she was still lactating there’s probably a motherless calf out there which is likely not to survive.