As is so often the case, it was the alarm calls of impalas that brought us into the area.
For one impala alas, the alarm calls were too little, too late, for Tracker Advice Ngwenya spotted the unmistakeable dangling form of an impala leg hanging out of a Marula tree. Draped over the carcass, his massive bulk unmistakeable, was the Anderson male leopard. Above him, right up in the top branches of the tree, was another leopard, at first difficult to identify because of all the branches in the way.
The ID of the second male was suddenly unimportant when the Anderson male turned his head towards us, as with horror we realised that his left eye was gone. Not injured, not scraped, not shut, but gone. Eyeball out. I know that sounds pretty gory, but that’s the reality of it.
We could already see that there was something seriously wrong with the leopard’s left eye as we approached.
A closer look at his left eye socket.
Exactly what happened, we will never know. The Flat Rock male looks like he has recently been in a fight. Tracks of a male and female leopard were found on our western boundary, and the male tracks may well have belonged to the Anderson male, and then there was this sighting of the two leopards in the tree together. The second male was the much younger and much smaller Thamba male, who almost certainly made the kill, only to have the Anderson male rob him of it.
Any one of the three scenarios – encounter with the Flat Rock male, mating, or stealing a kill – could have resulted in the Anderson male losing an eye. An errant claw on the end of a vicious swipe could easily have hooked out his eyeball.
Nick Kleer, Advice Ngwenya and guests take in the scene. The Thamba male can be seen directly above the Anderson male hidden behind some branches.
To be honest I’m just surprised that more leopards don’t lose their eyes in fights. Even mother/cub play-fights, meant as training for the younger leopard(s), could result in serious injury if the leopards aren’t careful.
The question is, what happens to the Anderson male now?
There have been many cases of leopards blinded in one eye that have survived to old age. The 5:5 male is probably our most recent example, although he lost sight in his left eye quite late in life. But is losing an eye as serious as it sounds? Well, for a predator, maybe.
Incredibly, the 5:5 male was adopted as a cub by his grandmother, the 3:4 female, and raised by her to adulthood.
Predators have binocular vision, specifically so they can judge distance; a crucial ability when chasing down prey and timing a leap or lunge. For a leopard (that is almost exclusively an ambush predator) an inability to tell just how far away something is may well be thought to be a deal-breaker. Close one of your eyes right now and move your index finger towards and then away from your face. Touch a few objects around you. It’s suddenly not as simple.
Having said that, a large male leopard like this probably has less to worry about than smaller individuals. After an adjustment period he will most likely be able to hunt almost as effectively as before (although not quite), but, as evidenced from this sighting with the Thamba male, he can rely largely on his bulk to steal from other leopards, of which there are currently a surplus in his territory, with a number of recently independent young individuals in particular that it should be easy to kleptoparisitize off.
Unofficially the biggest leopard in the Sabi Sands, the Anderson male is an absolutely enormous individual in north western Londolozi.
Strangely, the Anderson male didn’t seem too distressed by his injury. The wound looked like it had been seeping for a good day or two, so the eye may well have been lost before the encounter with the Thamba male, and this stealing of the Thamba male’s kill, with absolutely zero intention of sharing (the Anderson male simply lay on it for the whole morning, not even feeding, which prevented the Thamba male from escaping), may well have been the first step in this enormous male’s adjustment to a new lifestyle, which relies less on hunting, and far more on take-what-he-can-get.
wow 4 years of tracking hope he is OK still on the list we hope to see him at New Year
Wow! It look terrible. Probably because it is a recent injury. What is the chance of getting infected? He will most likely lick his paw and rub the eye socket. The saliva does help to heal the wound. (That is what my vet tells me when my cats get an injury.)
I’m shocked! Having seen the huge Anderson male in his prime with those enormous luminous pale yellow eyes that were so distinctive – this is a terrible sight to see. I do hope he will adjust to his new restricted vision. Never a dull moment on a Londolozi game drive!
Wow!! A sighting with Thamba and Anderson is exciting enough but to see Anderson in that state – shocking. Hope you are right, James, and Anderson quickly adapts to his new one-eyed life without too much stress. He’s a brute of a male and the longer he has the ability to pass on his genes, the better! As always, just amazing photography!
I really hate to hear this. However, there have been many leopards who have done well with one eye. There are several females. Still, his eyes were mesmerizing…
Shocking but not surprising to see this. Perils of bush life….. hopefully he’ll recover and resume his powerful hunting regime. Great photos!!
I’m very sorry to see that this magnificent animal has suffered such an unfortunate injury.
Let’s hope it will not negatively affect him in the long term. Can anyone confirm the the Thamba male leopard is OK?
Hi Abraham,
The Anderson male lay on the carcass all through the day and into the night, not letting the younger male down from the tree.
I know the Anderson male was found this morning quite far from the scene, but I haven’t hear any updates on the Thamba male. In all likelihood he’s fine. He seemed uninjured in the sighting itself.
Shame this poor guy certainly looks very sorry for himself, but nature has an amazing way of healing, but alas in his case he has no sight in that eye, but hope it won’t get infected! Thanks James
Being a medical person, my first reaction was regarding a possible infection. The photo of the empty socket was shocking. Hopefully he will be able to feed after adjusting to one eye, as you said James. Human or animal, a injury of that extent is extremely painful! We are all cheering him on and would appreciate updates when able.
James, What a sight! Very sad for such a handsome male leopard. Hope he recovers well and can still be the force that he is! We may have missed it, but who is the Thamba male?
Hi Michael,
We haven’t put anything out about him yet but he’s related to the Hosana male; also came in from the North.
We’ll run a feature on him soon if he sticks around.
The Thamba male leopard is a two year old dispersal leopard, who was born on the Djuma reserve in July of 2016. His mother is The Thandi female leopard, who who currently hold a territory on part of the Djuma reserve. They were the leopards featured in that very unusual sighting with the Eagle and the Black Mamba.
Thanks Abraham! I think it’s great the way that most of the surrounding lodges and ranger teams share data. It is so interesting to follow the lineage of these amazing creatures!
What a shocker – and the Anderson males’s eyes are such a striking, mesmerizing feature. I hope he can adjust and continue to hunt and maintain his dominance.
It’s seems particularly sad that this magnificent leopard should lose one of his truly distinctive eyes……I guess there will be no mistaking him for any other now. I’m guessing he’ll just get on with his life like all animals do.
Will he have to change his hunting methods? Will it inhibit his choice of prey?
Hi John,
Good question, and he may well. As you can imagine, losing an eye will impact his depth perception massively.
I suspect he will scavenge more than normal, but as to his actual hunting, I don’t know what specific adaptations he will make/be forced into.
We’ll have to wait and see…
Thanks James.
I guess more conflict with Hyaenas if that’s the case
My understanding is that the Anderson male is the dominant male leopard in Londolozi and surrounding areas. Got a brief glimpse of him in the Sand River (very elusive, stealth leopard). Should this injury end his reign, which male would be most likely to ascend to be the dominant male in the area?
Hi Phil.
There are 3 or four males dominant over the whole area, with the Anderson male controlling only the north-western parts of the reserve.
I don’t think this will end his reign, but if anything were to happen to him, I imagine the Flat Rock male would push up from the south and the Senegal Bush male from the East, but from the north and west, I’m not sure; I don’t know much about the males on the far side of his territory outside Londolozi.
Best regards
First time I saw a big cat one eye blinded was in 2012, in Pantanal Brazilian Wetlands: a male jaguar. Than I thought: “poor jaguar, we will not survive with this injury”. Sometime later I saw this in internet: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eu1by5-BpTA
It was him! He is now between 10-12 years old, and is still one the best hunters of the region. I got a picture of him last week, and he stills strong and health. So, yes, I believe this Leopard can adapt and still hunting.
It seems to me that the Anderson’s wounded eye remained there.
???
One of the most famous male Jaguars in the Pantanal only has one eye and has no problem thriving! This is an article but I have also seen photo’s of him with a caiman kill on a site I post my wildlife photo’s on. No reason to think Mr Anderson will not adapt just as well http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2719910/Incredible-moment-caiman-caught-one-eyed-jaguar-sneaking-water.html
Hi James. So happy to report that Anderson’s eye is still there despite being extremely traumatized! Will try and post pic.
Hi Colleen,
Great meeting you yesterday and thanks for the update. I’ll be sure to run something on the blog this week.
Hope you got to see the dogs!
Best regards
We did James! They were just awesome. Did you get the pic?
James,
I was there with Squiver when the Anderson male first appeared with an eye injury. My photos both in the tree and then the next day when he stole another kill suggested that he hadn’t lost the eye and that the injury was likely due to a kick. His right cheekbone looked like it had been pushed up and out and there was another relatively minor cut on his forehead. My guess was that he had been kicked by his potential meal. We didn’t see him after those two encounters. I would be very appreciative if you could relay any information on whether he did lose the eye or if he recovered. Thanks.
Rich
Hi Richard,
He thankfully still has the eye, is in good health and has pretty much made a full recovery.
See below:
http://blog.londolozi.com/2018/08/13/male-leopard-almost-blinded/
Thanks for the comments.
Best regards