Warick Wrede submitted this delightful short video to Latest Sightings. He filmed it while visiting Pilanesberg National Park in South Africa’s Northwest Province.
Sought-after sighting
Leopard sightings rank high on the wish list for most visitors to South Africa’s national parks. With their gorgeous spotted coats and enigmatic behaviour, they stir the imagination like few other animals.
And so it was that when Warick and his companions found a female leopard, they thought it was their lucky day. They had no idea their good fortune was about to be multiplied.
What has she found?
In the image below, we see the female leopard bending down to pick up an object slightly obscured by the vegetation.
In that leopards are predators, the first assumption is that she is retrieving her prey. But, as she turns to face the camera, we see that her prize is even more precious.
It’s a cub!
Lifting the object from the ground, it becomes clear that she is holding a tiny cub in her mouth. For concerned readers, this is nothing out of the ordinary.
As the following images show, leopards (and other cats) routinely carry their offspring this way.
It’s not that the cub can’t walk, it’s likely just tired and slowing her down.
Note how the cub automatically raises its hind legs and tail to avoid them snagging on obstacles as the mother carries it.
Mum and cub cooperate
And, don’t worry about her long canines doing damage. Being the caring mum she is, she only closes her mouth enough to hold the cub by the scruff of its neck without puncturing the skin.
To do this successfully requires a degree of cooperation from the cub. However, this seems to be more instinctual than learned behaviour.
That is to say that when the cub feels the mother’s jaws closing around its neck, it ‘automatically’ relaxes the upper body. Therefore, by staying still in her mouth, the cub avoids injury.
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Raising young leopards
As she carries her cub across the road, we hear Warick and his travelling companions gasp in amazement at the spectacle they are witnessing.
Already secretive animals, pregnant leopards will select a well-hidden den site in which to give birth, such as a cave. There, her helpless cubs will remain hidden, obediently staying put when she goes off to hunt.
If the den site becomes compromised, say, by nearby predators, she may choose to move her cubs to a safer location.
It is likely that this is what she was in the process of doing when Warick found her.
More to the story
But there is more to the story, according to him. The cub filmed was one of three cubs in the litter.
He said that the other two had walked unaided to the long grass on the right-hand side of the road, while the third lagged behind.
Consequently, the mother left them safely hidden, before returning to collect the third cub. As the video comes to an end, she is seen carrying her cub to be reunited with its siblings.