I thoroughly enjoy browsing our archives to see what happened when, to see if predictions came true or not or simply to reflect on how quickly things change in the bush.
I like making the comparison between 6 months ago, this time last year and sometimes even further back, noting that the lineup of predators from half a decade ago is almost completely different to what it is today.
I recently checked back in to the February 2018 archives – only 12 months ago – and thought we could go through a few of the headlines from then and how they are relevant today:
Mhangeni Lioness Mates With Birmingham Male:
This was big news at the time. The Mhangeni females were leaving their pride territory individually, venturing towards the territory of their daughters the Ntsevu females in an attempt to mate with the dominant males, the Birmingham coalition.
It seems that their efforts were rewarded, as since then three lionesses have given birth (to my knowledge), and the pride seems to have accepted the Ottawa male lion into its ranks. That (the male) is a story all in itself, but suffice it to say the Mhangeni females are so far successfully raising their third round of cubs.
Tsalala Lioness Found Dead:
This was obviously a big one. The beginning of the end of an era. The first of the infamous Tsalala sisters to die, her remains were discovered to the south-east of Ximpalapala Koppie, on which she had denned multiple litters during her life. Her sister was to die only a few months later, leaving the young Tsalala female from 2013 as the only surviving member of their pride. One year on and that lioness is still being seen on her own. Mating attempts with the Birmingham males have so far been unsuccessful, but since we haven’t seen her in a while, and from our last look at her it appeared she may have been pregnant, who knows…?
The tailed female leads her 2013 litter (one of which is the current Tsalala lioness) through the summer grasses.
Missing Leopard Cub Found Alive:
The Three Rivers female is a name you will most likely be seeing more of on this platform. The daughter of the deceased Xidulu female leopard, this young female was left orphaned after the Avoca male lions killed her mother in 2017. After the male cub disappeared early on, we weren’t sustaining much hope for the female, but thankfully, she currently seems to be thriving. Operating in an area very similar to the Tamboti Young female – who was also thrust into independence upon the death of her mother – the Three Rivers female is now three years old, and I imagine establishing some prime territory for herself in the area formerly occupied by the Tamboti female.
The then Xidulu young female. Still alive and well today.
When a Leopard Cub Grows Up:
This post looked at the life of the Tatowa female, and it was so unbelievably close to being a completely happy ending. The female was raising two cubs at the time. The male is now independent and still seen regularly on the southern parts of Londolozi, but the female has not been seen in a long time and sadly has to be presumed to be deceased. The two were nearly the first intact litter to be raised successfully since the Nhlanguleni female and her brother (born early 2011).
Still, getting even one cub through to independence is no mean feat (we believe it was the Tatowa female’s second attempt, although her first litter was never seen).
The Tatowa young male.
Out of the four stories chosen from that month that are still relevant today, two are happy endings so far (Mhangeni and Three Rivers female), one is 50/50 (Tatowa female and cubs) and the Tsalala post I guess also breaks even, as the young lioness is still around. Let’s put that one slightly in the “Win” column.
Let’s hope in a year’s time we can look back and chalk up the same score if not better when looking at the posts from this month…
James I love this blog. It is interesting to look back and to see what is happening now and how the predator dynamics has changed. Would love to see more of this.
Thanks for the update James. Still amazing and never gets old. I almost need a scorecard to see who is still around and who is not. Such is the life. It seems like there has been really impressive numbers in the young leopard population. Is there something special about the Londolozi Preserve that allows this level of success or is this a normal reflection of year to year cubs (both leopard and lion) and growth to adulthood. Thanks again.
Fun blog, James. I’m especially happy to hear about the Three Rivers female. We spent hours with her and her brother just before Xidulu was killed and are glad to see she’s “made it!”
The Three Rivers female is awesome! What a survivor!
James, thank you for connecting the dots from a year ago. I began to follow the Londolozi Blog in 2017 and when I arrived this past November, was thrilled to finally see some of the lions, leopards and painted wolves I’d read about in various blogs. I hope that in another year, your blog will provide equally or improved news about these families.
Will be interesting to see what happens with the Tsalala female. Hopefully good news. Looking forward to reading more on the Ottawa male and maybe a Birmingham update too 😉
Thanks for the walk down memory lane James. Some sad and some happy memories, but guess that is simply life in the bush. All our beloved animals lead a very hard life in the bush don’t they. Thanks for sharing with us, a nice blog.
I loved this perspective and hope you’ll do it again! You pick the timeframe. Every single image you presented was perfection! What a array of superb images you must have gathered over the years!
Time for me to start sit ting sown with a diary/notebook so that I can sort out Who’s Who in the Londolozi family – who’s a leopard, who’s a lion, who’s had babies, who has this or that distinguish mark? And why ‘Tailed’ lioness. This looks like being an interesting exercise. Has an enterprising member of the Londolozi Team thought of writing a novel about the Main Characters? Thanks again for my ‘Daily Dose’!
So great to see the Birminghams! How I miss seeing them on Djuma and SL. Mfumo was the big mating male at the time and the other 3 were roaming the territory. Is that picture of Xidulu the same one that has mated with Hukumuri and has cubs?