Leopard

Animal Spotlight

July 2002

The radiant rays of the setting sun bring a golden sheen to the dry monsoon forests of Sri Lanka. In a quiet and isolated corner, a female leopard is suckling her 3 cubs in a den. The helpless and defenceless cubs were born only 2 weeks ago and are still totally dependent on their mother for milk and protection.

The female leopard usually hunts once in every 6-7 days. Her last hunt was 5 days ago. Now with 3 hungry mouths to feed, the female leopard must hunt this evening. She leaves the den and heads off for her usual hunting grounds, spraying her urine on the bushes along the way. The scent will not deter the resident male leopard but is more directed at the other female leopards who live nearby. The territory of a male leopard will often overlap those of several females and both sexes only meet when the females are in heat.

As the evening light slowly diminishes, the female leopard arrives at a group of wild rambutan trees. The Langur monkeys are still up in the trees, munching hurriedly at a few more of the ripe fruit before they settle in for the night. These monkeys are messy eaters and they often drop pieces of the partially eaten rambutans onto the ground below. Since lord knows when, the ground-dwelling/terrestrial forest animals like the chitals (Axis/Spotted deer) have learnt to gather below such fruiting trees to benefit from the rich pickings of ripe fruit wasted by the monkeys and birds.

This evening, a herd of about 20 chitals are busily foraging for rambutans on the ground. They have been at this since late afternoon. Being highly cautious animals, the chitals never fail to have at least a few members of the herd looking out for possible danger while they feast.

The female leopard crouches behind the bushes some 10m away and creeps slowly and silently forward. Leopards are usually very patient hunters who can stalk their prey for hours before they strike. But this evening, the female leopard's hunger gets better of her and she makes a glaring mistake. In her hastiness to approach, she is spotted by one of the sharp-eyed Langur monkeys in the trees. The monkey lets out a shrill alarm and immediately, the monkeys and chitals scatter. In that spilt-second, the forest is suddenly devoid of wildlife, except for the lone female leopard.

Despite being a skilled climber, the female leopard will not waste precious energy chasing after the monkeys unless she can take them by surprise, while the chitals are simply too fast for her to catch as she is no longer near enough to any of them. This is the price to pay for carelessness. Being a predator, the whole forest just seems to be against her and the forest animals shun her like a plague. She will try again later tonight in some other part of the forest. Perhaps she will have better luck when it is much darker. But for now she must go hungry and return to feed her demanding cubs.

Such is a few hours in the life of a wild female leopard. Tough luck!

To be continued......

The Sri Lankan Leopard

In conjunction with our upcoming posters about big cats to be put up at the Rangers' Station, Animal Spotlight shines upon the 'star' of the Leopard Trail.

Scientific Name: Panthera pardus

Range: Leopards in general, are found from Africa to Middle East, India, Sri Lanka, China, Indochina, Southeast Asia

Habitat: From semi-deserts to dense forests and open grasslands.

Diet: Larger and small mammals, birds and reptiles

Social structure: Solitary

Life Span: Wild - 12 years, Captivity - 20 years.

Leopard senses:

Do you know that the hearing range of the leopard is twice that of a human? In dim light, the leopard can see up to 6 times better than us!

Leopards also possess fantastic navigational abilities. A group of leopards found wandering in the suburb of Nairobi were rounded and released in a National Park some 320km away. Within a few weeks, they were back in Nairobi! The people involved must have been kicking themselves, they wasted their efforts!

Leopards and Man:

Humans have long admired the leopard for its beauty. For many years, people hunted the leopard not only for its fur, but also as a test of manhood. In the early 1960s, an estimated 50,000 leopards were poached in East Africa alone! Despite being a protected species today, the leopard is still shot and trapped in many parts of its range by herdsmen and poachers. Rapid habitat destruction is also another main threat.

Remarks:

Leopards have very strong jaw and neck muscles that enable them to carry large prey up the trees to protect from scavengers (especially in the African grasslands). Leopards of Asia generally hide their half-eaten prey in bushes where there are fewer rival predators and scavengers. In Sri Lanka, leopards are the largest predator so they have no one to fear except for man.

To read more about leopards and big cats in general, check out this fantastic website!

And now finally, the Leopard Saga continues