Here is some very exciting news, even before the Kamonande Leopard Project research team arrive at Kamonande, the presence of leopards were witnessed.
Peter Odell and his wife Cheryl were on the Reserve the past weekend and they discovered the carcass of a young zebra, and they determined that it was a leopard kill.
Here is the story in Peter's own words:
Yesterday morning (27th) while cycling at about 9:30, up towards the Serengeti in the mist I heard distress yelping which I recognised as a zebra cry.
I continued cycling and returned home for breakfast. After breakfast Cheryl & I went out in our Terracan for a drive. On the circular drive past No 23 entrance I spotted a bird of prey circling. I said to Cheryl "perhaps there has been a kill because I heard the Zebra cries earlier.
We travelled on the road to the West (before the lapa) and after crossing the stone bed, came across signs of a scuffle and drag marks on the road. Cheryl looked out her window and saw blood on the ground. I got out of the vehicle and walked around to investigate. We saw the strange imprint on giraffe spoor on top of the scene, but there was definitly a few leopard prints. On returning to my side of the vehicle I then saw the young zebra lying dead on some rocks nearby. It had been dragged about 10m and some of its hind quarter was eaten.
I fetched my camera to record the scene. I were standing some 4m from the dead zebra we heard a faint grunt and rustle of grass coming from behind the scene. We returned to the car. I estimate that we discovered the scene at 10:45. We then drove past, turned round and observed the scene from a distance until 12:15 but no animals returned or came by.
Peter, thank you very much for this information. I will pass it on to the research team and I am sure they will also be very excited about this news.
If any of you come across signs of leopards or any other predators, on or near Kamonande, please send me your contributions and we will make it part of the research data for this project. Photos of the animals and/or their tracks are always an advantage, if you are so lucky to get any.
This is exciting stuff and I am really looking forward to the results of this project.
All the best until I post again!
2 comments:
Although it would appear that this is great for Kamonande and the leopard project, I would like to have some informed views on the safety of small kids walking around in the safe farm environment on their own.
Is there anyone out there that knows something about leopards' behavious towards human beings (especially small kids)? What should we be doing/not be doing?
Thanks
Johan,
Thank you for the comments and the questions.
I think you assume that the purpose of the project is to introduce leopards to Kamonande. That is an assumption indeed. Therefore, I would like to refer you the Research Project Charter (published on the blog under the Pages heading on the left). Please read it carefully, it will ensure that there are no misunderstandings and assumptions or presumptions.
The first aim of the project is to determine the status of the leopard population on the Kamonande Nature Reserve.
The concerns regarding the safety of small children visiting the reserve is relevant, valid and most appropriate. Indeed, every-one visiting any nature reserve must be cautious and be aware of the potential dangers that exist in the environment.
• All wild animals are potentially dangerous in the sense that they are likely to cause harm/injury. Obviously, some are more dangerous than others, e.g. an impala is less likely to cause serious injury than a kudu, which is probably less dangerous than a warthog, which is less dangerous than a lion. In principle, people must consider all wild animals to be potentially dangerous. It is not only the big 5 that are dangerous.
• There is no such thing as a completely ‘safe’ environment. Therefore, there is no fixed rule of thump based on age only; many factors must be considered before a parent allows his/her children to freely roam a nature reserve. It is not only the presence or absence of the large carnivores that should be the deciding factor.
• People must not think because they have not seen a specific predator, that the predator is not present. It might be unlikely, but the possibility always exists.
• I would be very hesitant to allow young children under the age of 12 to wonder and explore the bush on their own.
• Even teenagers should be warned not to walk alone on a nature reserve. There are potential dangers that they will not be able to handle and which can easily cause their death.
• Leopards are very clever predators. People think that leopards are not present in an area because they have not spotted them. This is usually a very presumptuous assumption to make. Leopards and tigers are the cleverest individual predators that exist. But that does not mean that leopards are necessarily man/human killers. More people are annually killed by hippos than by all the predator species collectively.
Keep an eye on the results and discoveries of this project and I ensure you that you will be amazed and probably surprised by what we discover over time.
Thank you for your comment and feel free to engage in more discussions as we make progress.
Regards
Ben
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