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Senegal Bush 3:3 Male

Senegal Bush 3:3 Male

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Chris Taylor

Ranger

Chris was born and raised in the Kwa-Zulu/Natal Midlands where his family inspired his early passion for the natural world. Exploring Southern Africa as he grew up, this passion was allowed to develop and his curiosity to expand. After high school, Chris spent ...

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19 Comments

on Morning Patrol with the Senegal Bush Male

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What a beautiful animal… a unique experience! You shared the same territory and he didn’t acted aggressively any more. This is a great result to be proud of!

Handsome boy

sounds like a great morning!! wish I could have been there!! thank you! Victoria

He is very powerful looking with broad shoulders.

Isn’t this the one that is brother to Quarantine Male and was called Kunyuma? His name was changed then when he left the area (always confusing to me). He never liked vehicles from the time he was little. Always snarled! Qmale was never bothered. I loved watching them with mom Karula

Hi Mary,
Yes that’s correct, the Senegal Bush Male is also referred to as the Kunyuma male.

Fantastic Chris we are so excited to see the Senegal bush male. Looks as if he is more relaxed and excepts the Land Rover following him. He is such a majestic leopard and stays one of my favourite leopards. I wonder what happened to his ear, looks like a tear in his ear.

Hi Valmai. The majority of older leopards have quite tattered and torn margins to their ears purely from wear and tear over the years. Two of the main causes would be from fights with other males and swatting from females during mating bouts.

Hi Chris, what has happened to the Inyathini male – did the Senegal Bush male oust him completely from his territory? When I saw him on my last visit (Sept.’19) his territory was already diminishing as younger males were testing the boundaries, and we saw even his son Tortoise Pan dominating him over a kill.

Hi Suzanne. We haven’t had any recent sights of the Inyathini male. He was last seen on Londolozi about two months ago if I remember correctly. We did however hear from our neighbouring reserve that he has been seen there more recently.
He was forced out of his old territory by the Senegal Bush male from the east, the Nweti male from the south and even the Mawelawela male to certain degree from the west. Given his age (approx. 13 years) he will likely never hold a strong territory again and has entered a final nomadic phase of his life. I put together a blog post a while back detailing his fall from dominance which you can read here https://blog.londolozi.com/2020/01/07/could-we-be-witnessing-the-fall-of-the-inyathini-male/

Love seeing Kunyuma (Senegal Bush Male). We saw him in Aug 2019 stealing from Plaque Rock female and being his normal snarly self! Glad to hear that he has mellowed and settled a bit! We WildEarth devotees love seeing all of Karula’s descendants.

Hi Chris, great article on this character of a leopard! I recall that when he was still in his natal territory, he was always quick to let vehicles know when close was close enough, although he was habituated. His brother, Quarantine Male, is the polar opposite, not caring much about vehicles and rarely snarling at them. Interested to know if the SBM has managed to mate and sire any potential cubs since he has been on Londolozi and if there has been any sign of a litter from the Mashaba Female?

Hi Michael,
The Senegal Bush male has successfully mated with several females since establishing himself on Londolozi including the Ximungwe, Three Rivers, Mashaba, Nhlanguleni and Nkoveni females (that we know of). None of the sired cubs have reached maturity just yet but there is certainly a chance that the current, newly discovered cub of the Ximungwe Female will belong to him.
We have some small suspicions that the Mashaba female could have another litter on the way but nothing has been confirmed yet but if she is found to have cubs in the next few weeks, they will likely belong to him as well.

Well done, Chris! He is a lovely looking Leopard but his age is showing a little bit in the one ear we saw which looked as if it had been clipped by a bus conductor! Wendy M

What a fantastic sighting for you and your guest, accompanying the Senegal Bush male on his patrol. Any leopard sighting is thrilling but there’s something about the size of the current lords of the Londolozi reserve that takes one’s breath away for a moment, before pushing that shutter button. I know that seeing him on my first day set the tone for the rest of my stay!

What a great morning for your guests Chris ! The Senegal male certainly has a very determined, almost mean look to his face. Hope to see him one day soon 🙏🏻💕

He is quite magnificent. Great photos. Much appreciated.

Great photographs and story of a great leopard Chris!

Senior Digital Ranger

Fantastic photos of this magnificent male – huge paws, huge tummy too. That photo of him coming straight at you – chilling moment.

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