There’s no substitute for experience, but even 11 years of survival in the heart of one of the densest leopard populations in the world doesn’t prevent Londolozi’s oldest territorial female from making mistakes.
The Mashaba female was found recently with an impala ram kill high up in a Tamboti tree on the banks of the Maxabene riverbed.
Ranger Sean Zeedeberg was in the sighting as she tried to reposition it, and managed to capture this footage:
The Mashaba female is currently Londolozi’s best-known leopard. Her relaxed nature means she is comfortable around the vehicles.
As kills are consumed their position needs to be shifted by the leopard, both from a balance point of view and so that the leopard can still access the best bits of meat. It can be during this re-positioning that a kill will fall – sometimes it breaks and sometimes the leopard will slip and drop it – which is when any hyenas lurking below will have their opportunity to rush in and steal it. Cubs in particular are likely to drop kills as they lack both the experience and strength of their mothers. Often we’ll see hyenas not even bothering to approach when an adult feeds, but as soon as a cub is on the kill they will move in quickly, knowing food is more likely, and quite possibly also in an attempt to fluster the cub into a mistake.
The Mashaba female lunges after the duiker kill that her daughter – now the Ximungwe female – had just let slip.
Fortunately she managed to grab it by one claw. If she hadn’t she would almost certainly have lost it as two hyenas were waiting below. She quickly repositioned it in a place from which the cub was less likely to drop it
The Mashaba female in Sean’s sighting didn’t have to worry about sharing with a cub (although we believe she has given birth somewhere), or losing the kill to hyenas, but she was still fortunate that the kill didn’t fall all the way to the ground. She had to do a bit of awkward shifting of the impala carcass to be able to feed comfortably again, but all was well that ended well…
Wow! Great video. I did not think that she was going to get the kill of those thin branches.
Absolutely amazing. Leopards are so strong, powerful and agile. Way to go girl, fantastic save. ♥️👍
Lucky her, cause at that moment no hyena is around
Damn
That was quite a save! Good job on the video, Sean. Thanks for sharing, James!
Double wow…..what footage!! Who doesn’t love the now iconic Mashaba and who wouldn’t give her a pass on a rare slip. My thoughts ran together as: look at her power/strength, hope she doesn’t fall off that flimsy branch and there are no hyenas! Sigh and exhale. What footage! Oh, I said that already…..lol.
James, wonderful video. Glad it did not fall all the way to ground🤗
James, WOW, we didn’t know anyone got that video! We were on that sighting with Finn (at the ready!) to ready to move back quickly! We thought the kill would end up on the hood of our vehicle! Amazing to see the strength of our favorite – Mashaba – as she repositioned the Impala. Watching her strategically figuring out what to do had all of us (our friends were on the other vehicle) mesmerized! Great job Finn & Sean!
Incredible experience for us. We were with Sean & Joy directly under the tree limb when the carcass fell. It was truly amazing watching the Mashaba “doing the math” as she tried to figure out the best way to resecure her meal. She surveyed the scene from different vantage points in the tree and also when she was on the ground looking up. The final retrieval was an incredible feat of strength.
Thank heavens! Victoria
This was fascinating to read and the video was brilliant. From the sound, your guests really excited!! What a sight to witness!!
If the Mashaba has cubs, were the likely fathers the Tortoise Pan male, his father or someone else. I recall a blog reporting she had been seen mating with both father and son. Bravo if she has birthed another set of cubs.
We were totally excited–so close. Mashaba was brilliant as she strategized to reclaim her prize from an incredibly precarious position. We really thought the kill was going to land on our vehicle.
Wow! These are sightings our still cameras never quite capture. Thanks for sharing! She was very lucky the branches were there but she still had a tough job securing it without dropping it or falling through those thinner branches herself!
Smart and agile female!
My girl is nothing if not resourceful. #mashabarules
Interesting sighting, she’s lucky she as abe to retrieve it in the end!