Most of you familiar with the Leopards of Londolozi will have some idea about the naming process when a leopard becomes territorial.
I use the term “territorial” loosely as territorial behaviour does not necessarily mean that a leopard is actually controlling territory. The rasping calls and scent-marking that are usually involved in demarcating an area usually start long before a young leopard has actually established itself, so I guess the naming process takes place when we observe a certain amount of consistency in the latter two behaviours.
Territorial behaviour usually involves a fair amount of scent-marking.
Short version: we pick a territorial feature within the area that the leopard is spending the most time and allocate it to the individual, dropping the prefix “young” from the name altogether. The Xidulu female was often found along a road called Xidulu (meaning “termite mound” in Xitsonga, the local language), the Nanga female was first seen scent marking along Nanga Road, and the Camp Pan male was often found around the small waterbody of that same name during his salad days.
The Ndzanzeni young male has regularly been found mating with the Mashaba female over the past month or two, and as such, it was deemed an appropriate time to recognise the fact that he’s maturing well and ready to be allocated a name.
It’s usually before they are officially territorial that young male leopards are allocated a name, as is the case with the Ndzanzeni young male, who now becomes the Tortoise Pan male.
After a few different ideas were bandied about, the Tracker and Ranger team eventually settled on Tortoise Pan male. Tortoise Pan is a small waterhole in the south-eastern section of Londolozi where a number of sightings of this leopard have been recorded. He has mated with the Mashaba female there, and upon reflection it’s actually ironic that he killed her second-to-last litter last year only a hundred metres from the pan.
The Tortoise Pan male drinks from his namesake waterbody.
Born in 2016, this male spent his early years in the south-east of Londolozi, but began moving further afield in late 2019.
Young male leopards tend to be rather amusing animals to spend time with, as they are naturally curious, investigating every funny scent they come across; the roughly 3-year-old age bracket is one in which a young male is likely exploring new territory, having been placed under increasing pressure by his father to move out. Yet we haven’t observed that textbook behaviour from the dominant Inyathini male. Instead, we’ve seen him far more tolerant of his son the Tortoise Pan male, mating together with him. Shades of the Camp Pan and Tu-Tones males from a few years ago.
The father-son duo of the Camp Pan male (back) and Tu Tones male (middle) were found consorting with the Tamboti female on a number of occasions.
The dangers of having a young male around of course, is that they are exploratory. They move out, sniff out new parts of the reserve, and the end result – sadly – is that they may well run into young cubs to which they are not related, and kill them.
By far the biggest danger to a young leopard cub is a vagrant male, as the Mashaba female found out last year, and very recently, the male Ximungwe cub was killed by the Tortoise Pan male in a confrontation over a kill. We’ll run a post on this incident in the next week or two, but needless to say as exciting as it can be for us to have a young male leopard popping up all across Londolozi as he embraces his new-found independence, the females currently raising cubs would beg to differ.
The blue area is a rough indication of where we have been seeing the Tortoise Pan male. The red dot is Tortoise Pan itself (approximate) and the black dot is where this male killed one of the Ximungwe cubs recently. The green area is where the Tatowa female has been spending time with her cubs, would be in great danger from the Tortoise Pan male should they meet.
With the Tatowa female still raising a young litter, the Ximungwe female still raising her female cub (as far as we know) and the Nhlanguleni cubs not quite independent, let’s all hope that the Tortoise Pan male actually stays around Tortoise Pan, where he will do the least damage to Londolozi’s current cub population.
Beautiful photos of leopards! I think Tortoise Pan male is a perfect name for this leopard. Thanks for sharing the name creation process, James.
Sad news about the Ximungwe cub. It seems as if it always the male cub that get killed. Is it to eliminate competition from another potential male?
Nice that he has an official name now. I actually forgot how much damage he’s been doing to cubs in the area! And I didn’t think vagrant male leopards would be a bigger threat to cubs than lions or spotted hyena!
Love these stories of the evolution of territories and names. Excellent photo of your “new” addition by Alex! And we are very jealous of the pic of three leopards!
James, what a wonderful explanation of how you name the leopards. I love the photo of Tortoise Pan drinking. We were lucky enough to see leopard drinking on our last trip (2018)
Well hello Tortoise Pan male, are you ready to continue the Mother Leopard’s dynasty? Is there any news on his mother’s latest litter, James? – and would any cubs of hers be safe from him?
Hi Suzanne,
Yes her mother’s latest litter (single cub) is alive and well. I certainly hope it would be safe from this male should they meet, and genetically it would make sense, but with young male leopards one never can tell.
What a great way to identify the leopards for the guests who can’t quite the spots. Fingers crossed for all the cubs!! Victoria
The lead photo of the newly named Tortoise Dam leopard is stunning. Congratulations to whoever took it. I read this with such interest as this is the only male I spent time with last year – at the hippo mud wallow so to speak. I think I posted a couple in my blog but I went back to look again, and fell in love with him all over again. I know he’s not a fan of cubs, eliminating them when he can but perhaps this is how he will establish a significant territory like his father did. How ironic to father cubs by the leopardess who lost all her cubs to him. I’ll be keen to continue to learn more about him as time goes on. Hopefully I’ll see him again, larger and more stately, during my trip next March.
Dear James. I have taken both the photos of the newly named “Tortoise Pan Male” as screensavers! So interesting.
Good pics too. Thank you and Alex for them. Wendy M
We spent time with him last year and loved his hutzpah, snarling and growling at a hyena circling a tree in which his mother was feeding on an impala carcass. But he soon leapt into nearby marula and just posed for us in the morning sun. It’ll be fun n to watch his life line….
James, as you know we are avid leopard trackers and always enjoy your detailed updates. As always we pray for the little ones. It is wonderful that you can track the lineage so clearly, even though figuring out who is the father can be a challenge!