Survivor (6 images)

[michali]

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One of the female Leopards which we regularly encounter, gave birth to 2 male cubs in Sept. 2022. One of the cubs was extremely curious & adventurous, he kept straying from her. I could see that this stressed her. Observing his behaviour gave me a really uneasy feeling that this youngster was going to get himself into trouble at some point. 

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Unique facial spot-pattern below, which we use to ID Leopards, Lions & Cheetahs (please click on image for better res.)

 

Fast forward to Feb. 2023 & he bumps into 2 Lionesses who brutally attack him & in the process bite him in the spine. This is common behaviour, especially with Lions, as they want to eliminate other predators & the competition for the same food source.

He was really messed him up, but managed to drag himself up a tree.

 We don't normally intervene, unless it's an endangered species, e.g. one of the cats (Leopard, Lion, Cheetah), or Elephant, or Rhino. So I called in one of our wildlife vets, who darted the young Leopard & said his injuries, especially in the spinal area were severe & chances of survival were slim.

His advice: best to euthanise the youngster.

I convinced the vet to take a chance & see if we could try treat the injuries, nothing to lose at this stage. The vet drugged him, took  him away, stitched the Leopard up, treated the spinal injuries, kept him in an enclosure for 4 months & then released him back into the wild. 

The Leopard hadn't been seen since being released & we all feared the worst, until I came across a Leopard one night on an Impala kill. I immediately recognised him from his facial spot-pattern. 

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Now several months later, he's almost fully grown & established himself a territory on the SE side of the reserve & is seen regularly doing what leopards do best, hunting at night & spending the day snoozing high up in a tree.

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Edited January 7 by michali

[aesop]

      ...truly fascinating story, michali. I understand and accept there are rules but am personally glad you intervened on this occasion. Stunning photography - I had no idea the unique facial spot-pattern could come in so handy, especially at night. Super stuff, please let us know if you bump into the little rascal in future - hopefully he is wiser now. Thanks.

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[stuny]

A wonderful series and narrative.  Thank you.

[fotografr]

What a great story. I completely understand about not interfering but in this case there's no doubt you did the right thing. You gave him the gift of life and your reward is seeing him healthy and thriving. That's got to make you feel good. 

[Louis]

Lovely set.

[helged]

Fantastic! 

As a side note, the first tele-prime in L-mount apperas to be around the corner: Sigma 500mm f5.6, 1.5 kg, fast af. Clearly much less all-round than the long Sigma tele-zooms, but more friendly to hand-held for a long(er) time, and a possible substitutt for eg Canon 400mm f4 DO v2: https://www.l-rumors.com/new-leaks-and-more-info-about-the-upcoming-sigma-500mm-f-5-6-lens/