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A Male Leopard Goes Down

24 Jun 2008
10:43 AM UTC
By Nakedi

Posted in:
Leopards


Comments:
9 Comments »

On Sunday May 22nd we received a call from Steve Faulconbridge, the conservationist from Singita Kruger National Park (SKNP). He had just found the carcass of a male leopard probably in his prime in the north of the concession.

Examining leopard carcass

Matthew Harding (SKNP’s head guide), Liky Gumede (Tracker), and I immediately went to the area to help Steve investigate the cause of death. Evidence suggested that the individual was killed while he was feeding on an impala that he had brought down. It is possible that the assailant was a nomad young male lion that took the opportunity when the leopard let down his guard. This can be expected because recently there were 49 lions spotted in the concession in one day. The concession is only 15 000 hectares suggesting that the lion density is very high.

Normally leopards place their kills high on the forks of trees. While this ensures that food will not be lost to other predators, it also protects the leopard from being attacked from the blind side while feeding. The dead leopard probably thought he was well hidden. A fatal mistake for a solitary animal! The rest of the animal was pretty much eaten by whatever killed him and other scavengers such as vultures and jackals. We were lucky to find the carcass ahead of the hyenas, or else there would have been no sign of the carcass.

Nakedi
Author: Nakedi
Nakedi W. Maputla has just finished a Master’s Degree on the systematics of pouched mice, Saccostomus campestris from southern Africa with the Department of Zoology and Entomology at the University of Pretoria. From February 2005 to September 2007 he worked at TuksSport Combined School in Pretoria where he was a Life Sciences, Natural Sciences, Technology and Physiology educator. He joined African Wildlife Foundation as a leopard researcher at the beginning of October 2007.

9 Responses to “A Male Leopard Goes Down”

  1. Babu Says:
    June 24th, 2008 at 6:04 pm

    Nakedi, what happens to a leopard carcass like this? Are you required to leave it as you found it out on the veld or can you take it back to the compound for an autopsy or to study?

  2. Nakedi Says:
    June 25th, 2008 at 2:44 am

    Hi Babu, Thanks for the question. The South African National Parks Board recommends that the carcass must be left as it was found. This is aimed at curbing the spread of diseases because most of the time it is not possible to determine the cause of death. In special cases however, if there is a veterinary scientist at the scene, samples can be taken to the laboratories to be tested. Sometimes the whole carcass is taken to the laboratories for an autopsy.

  3. erica shaw Says:
    September 26th, 2008 at 8:10 pm

    i love the way you guys made the paragraph interested to learn thank you for the information.

  4. Nakedi Says:
    October 1st, 2008 at 2:22 am

    Thank you Erica.

  5. catherine Says:
    October 4th, 2008 at 3:53 pm

    where was the carcass?

  6. Nakedi Says:
    October 7th, 2008 at 3:40 am

    Hi Catherine,
    It was in the northern section of the concession. Close to Xinkelengane drainage line.

  7. John Davison Says:
    October 28th, 2008 at 1:11 am

    Hi
    I am a full time wildlife photographic guide and carry out many tours in Kruger each year. For some time now I have been pondering what the major factors are in determining the day time activity pattern for leopards in the park which are always the absolute highlight sighting for most visitors. At one stage I believed that clear full moon periods meant less hunting success at night therefore more activity next day but speaking to people with loads of field experience like Kim Wolhuter (film maker) it seems that ambient temperature is the major determining factor- eg very cold July nights are followed by more activity after sun rise – I had six different leopard sightings in a week in July this year when it was very cold indeed at night but warm and sunny next morning.
    I hope it will be possible with the Satellite telemetry work you are about to commence for you to produce a correlation beteen ambient temperature and the amount of activity ( perhaps distance travelled between posn fixes) which should be interesting as well as useful for guide training?
    John Davison
    Wildlife Experiences
    Pinetown
    South Africa

  8. Nakedi Says:
    November 3rd, 2008 at 11:55 am

    Hi John,
    A very interesting observation! Thank you.

    We have had cameras in the field during winter and animals seemed to move around even when it was cold. Most of the images show individuals that were captured between 12:00 midnight and 10: 00 in the morning. However, with the limited number of cameras in the field it is difficult to say much with confidence.

    I hope once a few animals have been collared we will be able to extract information on the land use patterns during different seasons.

    Thank you,
    Nakedi

  9. John Power Says:
    November 4th, 2008 at 3:02 am

    Hi Nakedi,

    We met in JHb once, good luck with the project, and keep in touch.

    Cheers

    John Power

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