We’ve written before about the Ndzanzeni young male leopard that has simply refused to become independent.
Every time we think he’s out on his own for good, he turns up at the spot where his mother has a kill, and despite her aggressive behaviour towards him, he remains unfazed, and still attempts to appropriate his share of the kill. Although you’ll often read in textbooks how leopards become independent at between 18 and 24 months, at Londolozi and in the Sabi Sand Reserve in general, independence seems to be attained at younger ages than that. 18 months is actually considerably longer than we have seen sub-adults staying with their mothers, and 15-16 months is more often the age at which they will properly start venturing out on their own. Yet this young male appears determined to buck this trend.
An adult male leopard patrolling territory is expected to scent mark every few bushes or so. A two year old male who is only just independent is not. The Ndzanzeni young male defies convention.
One might also read that young males become independent slightly later than their sisters, and I’m not going to go into the reasons behind this too much here, suffice it to say that this is something we have observed. The fact is though that of all the young leopards born and raised on Londolozi over the last decade or so, very few have been male. The Maxabene young males (2008), the Nyelethi young males (2009) and the Vomba young male (2012) have been the last males to be raised to independence by their mothers (the Vomba young male was forced into independence when his mother died). Since then, and in between, it has only been females that have successfully made the transition to sub-adulthood. So when one considers that the last young male to leave his mother did so over 4 years ago, it is no wonder that we might forget that they often cling on just that little bit longer.
Leopards will jump up to rub their faces in bushes, leaving a secretion from their pre-orbital gland as a marker. One of the theories behind this is the bigger the leopard, the higher it will be able to leave a scent, thus conveying it size through a simple olfactory signal.
The Ndzanzeni young male however, has been behaving in a way certainly not befitting a leopard of his age. Scent-marking and vocalising, he has been displaying behaviour more characteristic of a newly territorial male, which he certainly is not (he’s only two years old!). Young males are generally tolerated within their fathers’ territories until such time as they approach sexual maturity, but acting the way the young male is, it is unlikely that the Inyathini male – dominant in the area – will tolerate him for that long.
Fresh leopard scent-marking smells like buttered popcorn, and is easily detectable by human noses.
I think this may well be a case of “push until something pushes back”. The Inyathini male has not been in that part of the reserve for some days, and the young male may just be trying his luck. He is after all venturing into areas previously unexplored, most likely following his mother as she encroaches into the deceased Tamboti female’s territory from the south.
This female is a success story all in herself, being born as a single cub to the Riverbank 3:3 female in early 2012.
Young bull elephants go through a similar thing; going into musth until they encounter a bigger, older bull in musth which triggers them to fall out of the condition. I think the Ndzanzeni young male may simply be trying his luck, following new found independent urges, until an encounter with his father will most likely force him to take stock and curb the territorial behaviour.
One thing to be said for where this young male has been scent marking and calling is that most of it has been in arbitrary thickets and in areas where his father is unlikely to patrol regularly.
Following on from the earlier post this week in which we looked at the leopards likely to fill in the gaps left by the disappearance of the Tamboti female, it seems that the Nzandzeni female is doing her part to claim her share, and her son – behaving inappropriately and likely to come up short as a result – is simply going along for the ride…
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The young leopard is just behaving like all teenagers do. Is the Inyathini male his father?
Hi Marinda,
Almost certainly yes.
I think in modern parlance, it is called failure to launch
Haha. Agreed, Ian!
I have sent a copy of your blog to a friend, pointing out he has an inter-species problem???
Is it possible that Inyathini may be willing to cede some of his huge territory to his son, continuing to tolerate his presence? Didn’t Camp Pan do something similar with ones of his sins? In any case, I wish him the best as he’s a beautiful young leopard!
I love this guy! Mondzo stayed with his mother until well over 2 years old as well, and he would also cling to his dad Dayone. Dayone was very tolerant of him though. He is special, as is Mondzo.
Just like young males to push the limits. Lol. When the time comes, and it will, I hope Dad’s punishment isn’t too severe. A four year wait in Londolozi for the only male to be raised to independence was surprising. I have my fingers crossed!
In the US we call this behavior “testing “, kids including teens do it all of the time to determine how far they can go outside of their normal perimeters. This young male must feel comfortable, still hanging around mom, ready to enjoy a free meal- not so dumb eh, for now……. I hope he manages to stay on the good side of both parents.
Ndzanzeni young male reminds me of another young male in the north! Hosana is 2 1/2 yrs old now. We thought he had dispersed as he was seen on Londolozi for a while. Then 3 weeks ago he returned and has been entertaining us with his silly behavior. He lost his mother (Karula) at 13 mos. of age and did well surviving.. His father Tingana has been very tolerant of him and Hosana seeks out his father just to lay there and with him, more often than not Ting will steal Hosana’s kill, as will his much older sister Thandi. They too spend time together but she is not quite as tolerant of him as dad. He seems to be a very social cat and one day will move on to his own territory and hopefully where he chooses to settle will appreciate his social nature. Oh he also is scent marking, but not sure about the sawing. There is nothing quite like the leopards of the Sabi Sands! Thank you for the update of this wonderful young male.