Judy and Chris New, our
dear friends, South African family and previous owners of our farm gave us
some photographs.
Judy and Chris, with help
from the Cape Leopard Trust, installed a camera trap on their property, High
Slent, which is situated above our Slent property on Perdeberg
Mountain. Three days later, the leopard visited the site, and was captured by
the motion-sensitive camera. It returned on another two occasions, which the
camera faithfully recorded. We are delighted to have definite proof that this
handsome male leopard has selected="true"="true"="true"="true"="true" our small mountain as part of his territory.
Another camera, belonging to neighbors, has recorded the presence of a female
leopard with a half-grown cub. It seems that the leopards like it here!
Before the pioneering work
undertaken by the Cape Leopard Trust, very little was known about the behavior
and ecology of the Cape Mountain Leopard. Some general facts on Cape mountain
leopards, which are unique in many ways:
- Cape leopards live in
the mountainous regions of the Cape
- They like rocky slopes
or well vegetated riverine areas rather than open, flat areas
- Each leopard has
unique spot or rosette patterns, like our fingerprints
- They move mainly at
night but may also be active at dawn and sunset
- A leopard's
sounds like wood being sawn
- Leopards are solitary,
moving within a well-defined, sexually exclusive territory or home range
- They do not live in a
cave, as some believe, rather they find suitable places to sleep as they go
How big are Cape leopards' territories? They are massive – over 10 times the size of other
African leopards
Male home range in Fynbos
– average 250km2; Male home range in Karoo – average 600km2; Female home range
average 120km2. Within a male’s home
range there will be two or three females.
What do leopard tracks look
like?
No claw marks
(it’s a cat, with retractable claws)
Three bulges on back
of pad (it’s a cat)
Male length = 7,5cm –
8,5cm
Female length = 6cm –
6,5cm
What do Cape leopards eat?
Favourite foods are
klipspringer (an antelope) and dassie (rock hyrax) – almost 80% of their
diet. They also eat other antelope, porcupine and mice. Very few baboons are
eaten, as these group-living animals can be very dangerous
How much does a Cape
leopard weight?
Cape mountain leopards
are half the mass of the average African savanna leopards. Because of their
size, they are not considered a threat to humans. There are no records of
attack on people. Males average 35kg. Females average 21kg
What is the Cape Leopard’s
breeding behavior?
Mothers have 2 or 3
cubs (less than half survive)
The female moves them
to a new den site every 7 to 10 days for about 3 months
Cubs leave their
mother after 12 -18 months
How many Cape leopard are
there left?
A good guesstimate would
be that there are less than 1000 Cape leopards in total. About 35 resident
adult leopards live in the greater Cederberg area (from Pakhuis Pass to
Katbakkies in the Bokkeveld)
The Cape Leopard Trust is
an active predator conservation working group, using research as a tool for
conservation, finding solutions to human-wildlife conflict and inspiring
interest in the environment through an interactive and dynamic environmental
education programs. Since its inception, it has become an authority on predator
conservation in the Cape, and one of the leading authorities in SA.
Judy and Chris changed our
vision of what Nature is. They shared their knowledge and gave us key behavior
statements to protect Slent animals and plants. As Italians, we never thought we
would be looking at these pictures with such strong emotional happiness.
We would like to share this
with you, a gift from AYAMA to our friends, customers and fans.
Ayama will do everything possible to protect this Cape Leopard and all
the animals living on our Mountain.