African Safari: The silent killer.
Peter Philip
The silent killers, the night stalker, the versatile hunter... not forgetting 'master of deception' and other names, have been used to describe this cat.
As I promised you last season, this time we'll talk about, the most celebrated cat in any African safari. As I talk, Lynda and Roger are doing their final leg of their long awaited safari in Africa. They saw this cat on the third day in Kenya. I am talking about && the Leopard.
The Leopard is the smallest of the four big cats in the genus panthera. The other three are the lion, tiger and jaguar. In the savannahs of Kenya, this cat has been confused with the cheetah by first time visitors. At a second glance you miss the tear marks of the cheetah.
The leopard is larger and less lanky than the cheetah but smaller than the jaguar. Its black, irregular rosettes serve them camouflage and hence are missed often. They are circular in East Africa but tend to be square-shaped in southern Africa. These patterns of their body coat 'rosettes' are specific for each leopard, similar to no other. The coat varies in color from light tawny to brown-yellowish and the black spots help them to stay hidden under thickets.
The leopard has relatively short legs and long body, with a large skull. Physically, it most closely resembles the jaguar, although it is usually smaller and of slighter build. Early naturalists distinguished between leopards and panthers not by color (a frequent delusion), but by the length of the tail panthers having longer tails than leopards.
Leopard fur is marked with rosettes which lack internal spots, unlike those of jaguar. Leopards that are either completely black or very dark in coloration are one of the big cats known as black panthers. Being one of the many spotted cats, the leopard can easily be mistaken with cheetah or jaguar. Surprisingly there is no range overlap between the later two and the leopard.
The leopard is an agile and stealthy predator. Although smaller than the other members of the panthera genus, the leopard is able to take large prey given a massive skull that well utilizes powerful jaw muscles. Its body is comparatively long for a cat and its legs are short.
Head and body length is between 90 to 190 cm (35 and 75 inch), the tail reaches 60 to 110 cm (24 to 43 inches), and Shoulder height is 45 to 80 cm (18 to 31 inches). Males are considerable larger than females and weigh 37 to 91 kg (82 to 200 Ibs), compared to 28 to 60 kg (62 to 132 Ibs) for females
One of the dramatic event I have ever witness in African jungles was a challenge between the leopard and an Alfa male baboon. Both died yes! But I have to say I was amazed of the courage that this baboon had to challenge such a big strong cat as leopard. What more, the leopard is strong; I bet its the reason it died later.
The leopard is known for its ability in climbing trees. It has been observed resting on tree branches during the day and descending from trees headfirst. It's a powerful swimmer, although not as strong as some other big cats, such as the tiger. Due to availability of huge thickets in Kenya and Tanzania, their preference is in the bushes. This is because it provides all the food supply and keeps them hidden. Interestingly, leopards primarily depend on outwitting their prey, hence the title 'master of deception'. They can easily adapt to most environments as long as there is food availability. In most parts of Kenya, early morning hours are best time for looking out for them and late afternoon hours. These are the hours when the temperatures are low as they are more active like most of the big cats.
In many occasions their presence is noticed through carcasses on tree tops but the leopard is nowhere to be seen. Their tail is often what gives them away. When they rest on the trees their bodies are usually camouflaged but the dangling tail sells them off. In the nights they are usually heard and recognized through their 'sawing-like' sound.
The leopard can run over sixty kilometers an hour, leap over six meters and jump up to three meters vertically. The leopard is primarily a nocturnal creature, and many of its operations are done by done by night. However there have been recorded instances of leopards hunting during the light, especially when the sky is overcast. It spends much of its day resting and sleeping, up in the branches of trees, underneath rocks or in the grass.
Although most leopards will tend to avoid humans, people are occasionally targeted as prey. Most healthy leopards prefer wild prey to humans, but cats that are injured, sickly or struggling with a shortage of regular prey often turn to hunting people and may become habituated to it
Leopard was in 1996 found to have the largest distribution of any wild cat occurring most in certain parts of southern Asia and widely in eastern and central Africa. They mainly live in grasslands, woodlands and riverside forests.
The leopard has been primarily been studied in open savannahs of Africa such as Masai Mara in Kenya. Although it has widely been associated with savanna and rain forest, the leopard is exceptionally adaptable for instance, in Russia Far East; the animal inhabits temperate forests where winter temperatures reach as low as 25 ﾰC
In addition to their being silent killers, they are generally solitary cats. The only relationships noticed are the short-lived mating period and a female with her cubs. They produce between 2-4 cubs after a gestation period of between 80-100 days. Most of the times, it is only 1-2 cubs that survive. Lions and hyenas kill many of their cubs and because of that the mother has to move them quite often to avoid attracting too much attention. After 22-24 months the cubs leave their mother and start their solitary life. There exists an-ever ending fight between the olive baboons in some parts of Kenya. The baboons are heard screaming during the nights and it has been proofed beyond doubt that one of the reasons is the presence of the leopard.
The leopards in Kenya do attack the baboons and in turn the baboons attack them. In any case the baboons out number the leopard by far and relies on group protection. But the leopards have had their successes with having a baboon for a meal.
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