Just over two years ago we ran a post on the Sunset Bend female lineage. A beautiful leopard with a rich golden coat, the Sunset Bend Female was one of the iconic leopards of Londolozi in years gone by, and many of her progeny are still around, occupying territories all around the reserve.
Two young leopards in particular, neither quite old enough to properly establish and defend their own territories, are nevertheless holding their own in a corner of Londolozi, and delighting guests and rangers alike with their high-spirited antics. The leopards I am referring to are the Tamboti Young female and Mashaba Young female, the grand and great-granddaughters of the Sunset Bend female respectively. These two young leopards, both independent, have found themselves boxed in between their mothers to the west and south, and the Sand River to the north and east. Both are thriving, both are hunting successfully, yet both are coexisting in the same small area.
Pink: Mashaba Female’s territory. Purple: Tamboti female’s territory. Red: Area inhabited by their two young daughters.
The Mashaba Young female is the older of the two, being born in August 2012, while the Tamboti Young female was born in early 2013. Female leopards will often, upon gaining independence, establish themselves in territories adjacent to their mothers. Should the mother produce multiple female offspring and should they survive, a situation would likely develop whereby the mother’s territory shrinks and shrinks as she approaches old age and partitions off corners of her territory to her daughters, with the territory eventually being filled in by these female offspring once she dies. Male leopards do not compete with female leopards for territory, it is only female on female and male on male.
The above map shows the area in which the Mashaba and Tamboti young females have been viewed over the last couple of months (red section). They have been seen in close proximity to each other, although so far no aggressive interaction has been recorded. Too be fair, although significant overlap has been recorded in their areas of movement, the Tamboti Young Female has generally kept to the southern parts of the red area, while the Mashaba Young Female has been staying in the northern section.
Although not even two-and-a-half years old, the Mashaba Young female has been seen acting in a territorial manner, marking territory in the fashion of a fully mature female.
What could complicate the issue for us is the the fact that the two leopards, being of a similar age, could potentially be confused with each other. The two leopards are not too different in size, and in order to tell them apart it is often necessary to refer to their spot patterns. Have a look at the two photos below:
Tamboti Young female.
Mashaba Young female.
The photo of the Tamboti Young Female was from just under a year ago so it is not a true reflection of her current size. What these photos do show, however, is the spot patterns of the two leopard that we can use to easily tell them apart. If you look just behind the nose of the Tamboti Young Female you will see a collection of five small spots above her top whisker line (it looks like six but one of the spots is caused by a fold in her skin). The Mashaba Young Female only has two spots in this area. Mix-ups have definitely occurred in the past, but sticking to the spot pattern formula makes it hard to go wrong.
The question we are asking is which of the two leopards will be the one who stays?
It is highly improbably that the state of co-existence can continue. The area is just too small for two females who will both be looking to mate within the next two years and one of them will certainly have to move.
Will the six month advantage in age that the Mashaba Young female has be enough to give her the edge over the Tamboti Young female? Although I have observed the Mashaba Young Female scent-marking, I have yet to hear her give a territorial call, whereas I have observed this behaviour in the Tamboti Young Female. Either that or she was already looking for a male (unlikely at her age). Either way, both females have displayed territorial behaviour usually only seen in older animals.
Mashaba Young female
A younger Tamboti Young female
Which leopard do you think will will emerge to dominate the area of eastern Londolozi, along the prime territory of the Sand River?
Written and Photographed by James Tyrrell.
Interesting blog. Both beautiful leopards.
I look forward every morning to your posts, the leopards are fantastic, as well as the wild dogs (my personal favorite) you make my day every day!
Thanks James. As always, beautiful photos, sound research, and interesting insights. Thanks from one who has to join you vicariously from about 16,000 km away.
TYF!!!!!! But admittedly, I am biased, saw her this past August. Kill in tree and playing on an embankment with a hoof from it. The landy was positioned do I was back right and right at the bottom of the embankment. She came flipping down the hill, playing with the hoof and skidded to a halt right in front of me. Yea TYF!!!
Ps – thanks JT!!
In a different part of the Sabi Sands live the leopard Karula.. She had a territory next to her mother Safari.. Karula actually had her first set of cubs at about 2 1/2 yrs.. She has raised her past 4 litters 2 females, 2 males, male & female and 2 males to majority.. This year she was know to have one cub which was taken by hyenas.. Karula will be 11 this March.. I love that the Sabi Sands can follow their leopards and know the genealogy for generations.. Thank you for the update.. Both Mashaba and Tamboti are beautiful ladies.
To your point, Karula is the only leopardess in Sabi Sands recent times (that I know) that raised more cubs to independence than Sunset Bend, 8 to 7 (not that its a competition).
Very interesting James, and the map is helpful to see the size of each territory. Is it possible that the Tamboti Young female will move more into her mother’s territory, which is quite large, as her mother ages…or is it too soon to be able to do that? I saw the Tamboti Young female back in Sept. 2013 when she was a young cub — she was very sweet and full of mischief and now she has grown into such a beauty, as has the Mashaba Young female as well. It’s good to see them both doing so well.
Hi Jill,
It is certainly possible.
The Tamboti female’s large territory can be partly explained by the fact that the leopards she inherited it from/pushed out were the Nottens female (deceased) and the Dudley Riverbank female (old and frail). Two females who were not really any competition for her. Should the Tamboti female raise more female offspring, it is likely that they will snatch up corners of their mother’s territory.
And the Tamboti Young female is STILL full of mischief!!
James
Hi James, it’s great to hear that the Tamboti Young female can still stir things up!! I love hearing how she and Young Mashaba are both thriving and doing so well on their own. Thanks for the great update and the beautiful images James!
Jill
Wonderful blog about 2 of my favorite up and coming young female leopards. I hope they both stick around. Maybe their mothers will relinquish some more territory and they can split the red area, with Mashaba Young female in the north and Tamboti Young female to the south.