Death of a leopard

It was a normal morning research drive on ‘Tilo Focus’ for Team C, with Simon on telemetry guiding us in our search for the collared female leopard that had, thus far, eluded us. Not really expecting to find her, we homed in on a block of dense bush on Nyathi Farm in the north of the reserve. A strong bleep on the telemetry at 3 o’clock- we had found her, and she was close! Rene drove into the scrub, ducking thorns and spiders as we edged towards the bleeps and the holy grail of a minus five signal and a visual! Finally, after some time, we discovered a clearing of large boulders. This had to be the den! We sat and waited….and waited…..and waited….. Then a hint of movement in the bush, a glimpse of a feline silhouette, followed by the unmistakeable rosettes of a leopard’s coat… and Tilo presented herself! At first just a peep through the foliage, but then she emerged fully into the clearing, pacing between the boulders. We couldn’t believe what an amazing visual we were having! She continued to pace, and she stayed in full view for minute after minute, our camera shutters clicking away. She appeared to start eating something. Amazing- not only had we found her but we had found her still on a kill, and she was going to feed in front of us! She stayed crouching over something for a while. Then, as we watched, we realised she wasn’t eating anything, she was licking something repeatedly. Curious, we all strained our necks and shifted quietly in our seats to see. Rene gasped- It wasn’t a kill, she was sure she could see leopard skin on the floor! Crestfallen, binoculars and zoom lenses came out as we anxiously looked for evidence to the contrary, but our stomachs sank as we gazed upon a clear photograph of a dead leopard cub taken by Mark. Tilo’s one cub was dead, and she was gently licking it in a mournful attempt to revive it. We stayed for a little while longer until Tilo moved off and then, in a quiet and sombre mood, drove back to base, pausing briefly to note the lion tracks on the road adjacent to the block, heading in the direction of the den.

EM Kirsten Fenton, UK

Death of a leopard