Leopards are among the most adaptable creatures in the wild, using their stealth, strength, and solitary nature to survive. But even the most resilient predators face challenges, and the Nhlanguleni Female has recently been seen with a severe limp in her back left leg. How she sustained the injury remains a mystery—no one witnessed the event, and the limp was first noticed on her in a sighting at the end of September.
Initially skittish she spent a lot of time in the Sand River, now relaxed she makes up the majority of leopard viewing west of camp.
Life as a solitary leopard is already incredibly tough. They must hunt for themselves, defend their territory, and raise their young—all tasks that are challenging enough even without an injury. So when a leopard, like the Nhlanguleni female, becomes injured, everything suddenly gets a lot harder. Hunting, marking territory, and caring for cubs become more difficult, and survival is a daily struggle.
The Nhlanguleni Female pauses whilst dragging a partially eaten impala through a dry riverbed.
To better understand the current challenge she faces, it helps to look at where she is in her life’s journey. Female leopards typically become independent at around 18 months, starting with a small portion of their mother’s territory, which is ceded to them and gradually seeking to expand it. By three years old, they begin mating, and by four, they are usually raising their first cubs. It often takes a few failed attempts before they succeed in raising a cub to independence.
The Nhlanguleni Female herself has had her share of setbacks, managing to raise just two cubs as an intact litter, the Nkuwa Female and Finfoot Female, to independence in 2018. An impressive feat, yet many other litters since then have not survived.
The Nkuwa and Finfoot Females, her only successfully raised cubs, were quite an achievement.
One of two sisters born to the Nhlanguleni Female, both of whom made it to independence, the first intact litter to do so in 7 years.
A daughter of the Nhlanguleni female, born into a litter of two, both of which survived to independence.
Now, as she gets older, life’s challenges are only growing. Older leopards tend to have smaller litters, and injuries like this one don’t help. Still, wild animals are incredibly resilient, and I’m confident that she’ll bounce back from this limp. Leopards have an uncanny ability to recover and continue thriving despite setbacks.
The Nhlanguleni Female stares into the distance. Frequently been seen in and around the Sand River.
The exact cause of her injury remains a mystery, but we suspect it could have resulted from an attempted hunt or possibly a confrontation with another female leopard. The latter seems more likely, considering the dynamics in this area. As she ages, younger females are looking to expand their territories. Her range is adjacent with both her daughter, the Nkuwa Female, and the Ngungwe Female. Either one could have been involved in a clash. These younger leopards are in their prime and may have a slight advantage in strength, but they lack the years of experience she possesses. That counts for a lot in the leopard world.
Born in 2011, the Nhlanguleni Female is slowly approaching old age, but if there’s one thing you can never do, it’s count out a female leopard. She has weathered plenty of challenges over the years, and I have no doubt that this is just another obstacle she’ll overcome. I’ll be sure to keep you updated on how she’s doing.
I’m sorry to learn Nhlanguleni has been seen limping but given the injuries many of these animals have sustained, I’ve no doubt that she will recover. Given her age she has a wealth of experience and knows how to care for and compensate for that leg injury. I look at Mashaba at 16 years old, only successfully raising two cubs but still healthy and believe Nhlanguleni can also continue to thrive, after her leg heals, hopefully living a few more years as well. Thanks for the update.
Hi, I like her so much, she has a full muzzle like the Maxim male and a soft expression. She looks elegant and agile but also powerful like most leopards. I like her small spots and the way she passes her features onto her offspring. Her pink nose and golden coat are different from the Ndzanzeni female that looks the opposite, a narrower muzzle and a very dark nose, a different colour and rosettes but I like her so much too. Have you got any news about her daughters? I hope she will overcome her injury and hopefully have a litter of cubs… maybe in Londolozi older females are the opposite, as the Nkoveni, the Mashaba and others had three cubs in older ages… who knows the Nhlanguleni, as she’s a Golden Sunset female… thank you so much for fresh news on her and the fantastic pictures I look at again and again…
Hi Ross. We saw Nhlanguleni on the afternoon of Sept 11th under a big sausage tree with a hoisted kill. She was full bellied then. She then got up to climb and we could see that she didn’t want to bear weight on her left back leg/paw. No obvious injury at all but clearly very uncomfortable. We then watched her climb back up to feed but it took her awhile to find a way to scale the tree with the least amount of pressure on her back paw. Very inelegantly, she did finally manage to go back up and feed peacefully. Later she came back down again to rest and proceeded to saw several times while sitting there! She rotated her position over an 180 degree arc as if to broadcast her vocals as widely as possible! We were definitely transfixed and a bit puzzled as to why she would vocalize right next to her meal. No sign of (her supposed) new cubs and no sign of any rival predator and no audio of any replies. We finally left her as the sky went dark and hoped that she would be OK and heal and recover from her injury quickly.
It is fascinating to see the pictures and reread the story of her life so far. Thanks for the wonderful pictures, Ross.
She was pretty hard to find recently, only located after days and days of searching. Perhaps keeping herself scarce until she heals is how she’s coping with her injury.
Is her tail especially long? Sure seems longer than the average. She is a beauty. Hope she heals quickly!
Thanks, Ross, for thisblog on the Nhlanguleni Female. She had such bad luck with her last litter. It would be wonderful if she had another chance. I do hope that she will get better soon. Leopards, especially female ones are such great and tough animals. I love them.
Dear Ross, thank you for that update, and all the amazing pics.