Some of the most special stories that unfold from the bush arise from following the journey of a leopard from birth to adulthood. They start out as tiny, blind, helpless little fury bundles that are faced with many life-threatening encounters almost daily.
A tiny leopard cub, roughly only 6 weeks old. Cautiously emerging from the boulders where it and its sibling had been hidden by their mother, waiting for her to return to suckle them.
As the months go by, surviving each day, they slowly progress and transform into beautiful and powerful cats. All of which have a unique story behind them.
Few things have more influence on a young leopard’s journey to independence than its mother. Female leopards typically spend up to 80% of their adult lives raising cubs. Each stage of a cub’s life will require different demands or responsibilities from its mother.
For the first 6 weeks, they are well hidden by their mother in a few pre-selected den sites within the core area of her territory. These could be dense stands of vegetation or thicket, a narrow gully along a dry watercourse, within boulders or rock crevices or even inside old, inactive termite mounds.
A boulder rich stretch along the Sand River, a couple of kilometres to the west of the Londolozi camps. It is an area that we have seen the Nhlanguleni Female denning in over the years.
A mother will go to and from the den in the utmost secrecy, and avoid drawing any attention to the area. The greatest danger to leopard cubs is other males that assume no paternity over them. Although their father provides no direct parental care, he will defend his territory, within which the cubs’ mother’s territory is encompassed. He, therefore, provides a ‘safe zone’ from these rival males.
Leopards will often use the path of least resistance and while on a territorial patrol they will use a similar route to demarcate the outskirts of their territory with urine and other scent-based indicators.
Territories however are not set in stone. They will shift around and move from time to time as and when pressures from the surrounding environment or other leopards arise or subside. This will mean that a mother with cubs will need to remain within the presumed father’s territory in order to retain this protection from other males.
The Senegal Bush Male looks on from within a marula tree, being the dominant male in the area near to camp his role is vital in keeping other nomadic young male leopards out.
Recently we have observed that the Ximungwe Female and the Three Rivers Female have both shifted the core areas of their territories to mirror the recent territory shift of the males who are the presumed fathers of their cubs (Senegal Bush Male and Maxims Male respectively). If these females were not raising cubs, they would be less inclined to do so. I suspect that once their cubs have reached independence, they will gravitate back toward their known areas.
Forced into early independence as her mother was killed by the Southern Avoca Males.
Fairly skittish male that is presumed to have come from the Kruger National Park.
After a couple months, cubs are able to follow their mother for short periods. She will move them around a lot more and start taking them to kills in order to feed.
Once the cubs become a little more mobile, they will no longer make use of a familiar den. This marks a significant new stage in their lives. They now become exposed to dangers that even their mother is vulnerable to. Every day their mother will need to make crucial decisions regarding their safety. They will still need to be stashed or hidden somewhere safe when she is out hunting. Successfully raising leopard cubs involves a lot of strategising by their mother. Much like playing a dangerous game of chess with the bush – one wrong move could cost her the life of her cubs.
This may be conjecture, but less than 30% of leopard cubs make it to adulthood. This is counting known cubs that we have actually seen. The true figure could well be less. In the Sabi Sand Wildtuin, an area with high densities of other predators, this figure seems feasible. Highlighting the extreme vulnerability of these cats whilst in their infancy.
It isn’t long until they begin to gain confidence and attempt to stalk and hunt.
The weaning process begins at about three months when they begin eating meat and young leopards tend to develop a voracious appetite. They grow incredibly quickly during this stage in their lives and they place an enormous workload on their mothers. A mother will need to hunt for herself as well as her hungry dependents. It goes without saying that the bigger her cubs get, the more frequently she will need to make kills. Each step forward that young leopards take towards their independence tends to place increasing demand on their mothers.
The Ximungwe Female and her male cub. At this age, cubs will be safe if they see danger before it sees them. They are incredibly fast and agile and can escape most predators by fleeing to the tops of trees.
Once cubs reach about a year old, they are almost equally as mobile as their mothers. Their body proportions start to make them look like little adults. Still dependent on their mother for survival, she will however be far more confident in their ability to fend for themselves while she is out hunting. She will no longer need to hide them away. The cubs will be left in a general area where they might roam around and keep themselves occupied by either playing and exploring or practising hunting small prey.
The Picadilly Female’s young female cub is left in amongst some boulders while her mother is out hunting.
Not that the job is quite done yet, but a little after a year a mother leopard will begin to assume that her once-tiny bundles of fur will soon be fully-fledged young adults. Although the cubs might have developed a great deal of prowess and physicality, they definitely lack the experience of their mother. It will only be a matter of time until they reach independence and go off on their own. The females will generally leave their mothers at roughly a year and a half, and males closer to the two-year mark.
The Nkoveni Female and her two female cubs. Born in February 2021, these youngsters are approaching independence. She has yielded much experience through the loss of a few litters over the years.
These cubs will begin to spend less and less time with their mother and they will begin to do more of their own hunting. Their deeply ingrained instinct to set up their own territory and one day have cubs of their own, draws them away from the comfort zone of being with their mother. In the case of young males, it’s the instinctual urge to leave a familiar area and finally set sail. An enormous new and unexplored wilderness awaits them, where they will look to grow and mature. And one day carve out and maintain a territory of their own.
Such a sighting is very easily the rarest and most special. It is a great privilege for us as Rangers and Guests to view these beautiful and elusive animals in the way that we do.
And within as little as a few months for the successful mother leopard, the cycle will start again.
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Excellent details of the journey of the leopard cubs. What is their success rate? Thank you Susan
Super article, lovely photos
Funny how the female cubs leave their mum much earlier than the males. Any reasons known?
Intereting that the presumed fathers play a safegurd role for the young cubs.
These pictures of such special animals always leave me in awe. Mothers must be very clever, besides having great luck, to be able to bring cubs to adulthood. Have you got any news on the Mashaba female?
Hi Francesca. We believe that the Mashaba Female still has both of her cubs but she has been moving them around a lot and so it has been difficult to follow where she has gone with them.
When laid out in writing Matt it certainly brings home just how amazing the mother leopard is if she manages to rear a cub to adulthood!!! The Nkoveni female has certainly learnt from bad experiences just how to do that and I am in awe that her two cubs continue to do so well. A fabulous article with THE most gorgeous photos to match. Thanks Matt.
Matt your story of the leopard cubs and mother’s is a heart warming story, but also alarming as the cubs are always in danger. Mother leopards have there work cut out for then protecting the cubs. Precious little fur balls growing into adult leopards is all we hope to see.
Great post Matt, it is a tough job raising cubs in such a predator-rich environment like the Sabi Sands! Just an idea, but would it be possible to have a post spinning off of this one about the success of Londolozi’s various females?
Thanks @Michael Fleetwood, I’m glad you enjoyed my blog post! It will be interesting to note the successes of each female leopard, and have all the info condensed into one concise post. Thank you for the idea!
Thanks for the article, Matt.
It makes one understand the many dangers a mother leopard and her cubs have to face and fight.
There is nothing more gorgeous than young leopards (and lions and cheetahs), they are just such cute and beautiful animals. I could watch them for hours.
Hi @Christa Blessing, they honestly are the most beautiful animals. I’m glad I was able to shed a bit of light on this for you. Most people don’t quite realise the extent of difficulties in the process of raising cubs, and also how few actually survive.
Well timed story in view of all the leopard cubs born this past year. Raising any animal in the wild is difficult, but more so for the leopards and cheetahs. Both solitary animals with no pride, herd, crash to offer assistance with hunting or caregiving, it is no wonder the mortality rate is so high for these big cats. I’m amazed that both the Ximungwe and Nkoveni females have done such an impressive job of raising their cubs to the one plus year point. They’re not independent yet but they certainly have a good chance! Fingers crossed for both the new leopard mothers!
@Denise Vouri, yes it is quite incredible considering both those females have only raised one cub each into independence. Fingers crossed!
Matt, great lesson for me on how mother leopards raise their cubs. Thanks!
Thanks Matt, lovely blog. Wouldn’t the mother walk away rather than the cubs? – Nkoveni must be exhausted hunting for her 2 daughters as well as herself , while they’re having a wonderful time playing. They must be close to the age when Nhlanguleni left Finfoot and Nkuwa to fend for themselves.
Hi @Suzanne Gibson, yes that’s correct. I suppose it’s more a mutual acceptance of eachother’s stage in their lives. It is a transition phase where they spend less and less time together. This eventually ensures that the young leopards find comfort in their own ability to look after themselves.