Leopards everywhere
Category: Hyena, Leopards | Date: Aug 08 2008 | By: limpopocarnivores
Our call-ups on Mapungubwe National Park took place over two very cold nights and, while we were chilled to the bone, they were a great success. We had good responses from Spotted Hyaenas at all sites, and on the second night we were lucky enough to see Brown Hyaena, Porcupine, 3 Bat-Eared foxes and a number of Black-backed Jackals. The big excitement for the evening, however, was seeing first one, then two leopards coming out of the bush and carry out an elaborate courtship ritual in front of us in the moonlight. The male was large and the female was a small one, perhaps breeding for the first time. As if this were not enough, we were treated to another female leopard appearing later on in the night as well, this time a much larger one than the first.
Overall it seems the Hyaena population may be picking up, possibly from migration from over the river in Botswana where the density is very high indeed. When this area was all farmland on the South African side, Spotted Hyaenas were visciously persectued as stock thieves, but they are making a slow but steady comeback.
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Limpopo-Shase Transfrontier Park
Rox Brummer of the Endangered Wildlife Trust, and her dogs Snoopy and Barclay report on carnivore research that is helping to conserve one of Africa's greatest cross border protected areas the great Limpopo-Shase Transfrontier conservation area, a peace park linking South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe
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2 Responses to “Leopards everywhere”
Paula, on 08 Aug 2008
This is exciting. Isn’t there an ecological succession when it comes to predators? Lions kill wild dogs, leopards and cheetah - so clearly they view these species as competition. What does it mean when hyenas and wild dog populations are recovering - could it mean lions are declining?
limpopocarnivores, on 08 Aug 2008
This system is still recovering from outright rule by the most dominant predator of all - man. Spotted Hyeanas suffer dreadfully from poisoning as they readily come to bait, and are very vocal so people are aware of their presence. Wild Dogs tend to be seen alot as they are diurnal and move in large numbers. Both are susceptible to extermination by humans, and were effectively wiped out on much of this area when it was still farmland. I think the population increases are most probably due to the reduction in human pressure now that the land is protected.
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