It seems things really do happen in three's and this is exactly what happened with recent leopard sightings here at the ILP. Those who follow the blog will know that last week we witnessed a young female leopard lying on the tar road. Never expecting to see this again we were amazed the following day when we saw her sitting in almost the exact same location on the side of the tar road seemingly relaxed, and what is more surprising this sighting was not dawn or dusk but 2pm in the afternoon. Only 2 hours later, Anton (ILP Researcher) was lucky enough to spend an hour and 15mins with one of the leopards in the research area. After following Kudu alarm calls Anton and his guests found the leopard at a watering hole (see below). He then watched as the young leopard relaxed in the grass only meters from the vehicle before starting to stalk impala using a small drainage line as cover. Unfortunately a flighty Waterbuck spooked the impala so the hunt was unsuccessful and the leopard moved off. An amazing sighting and an excellent sign to see such a relaxed animal in an area were leopard previously known for being extremely elusive due to previous persecution by humans.
But now for the quick quiz, can you tell the sex of the leopard shown here? Have a guess and let us know why you think before we let you know!
Written by Emma Loader, ILP Researcher
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