IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group - Digital Cat Library |
|
||||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
|
| Hunter, L.; Balme, G. | |
| The leopard: the world's most persecuted big cat | |
| Conservation in Action: 88-94 | |
For 18 months, we followed him, recording his every move and sharing the ordeals faced by a young leopard in an environment wrought with obstacles and dangers. We saw him first as a timid sub-adult, furtive and unsure of his social status, watching him as he grew into a confident territory holder, master of his home range and the females that resided within. We experienced his first bungling attempts at hunting, hopelessly challenging giraffes and rhinos, through the transition to ultimate killer, capable of pulling down a fully-grown wildebeest bull many times his own weight. We witnessed the colossal battle in which he toppled the local resident male, crushing cervical vertebrae in the fatal bite, leaving his rival crippled and bleeding to die under African stars. We observed as he sired his first progeny, mating dozens of times with an experienced old female whose range overlapped his, and four months later we enjoyed a rare glimpse of the result: three spotted bundles, completely defenceless with eyes tightly shut. And then, in a second, he was gone. Shot for straying onto a nearby game farm where the landowner viewed all predators as vermin. A threat to the farmer's antelope, natural prey to the leopard. The carcass buried and his tanned skin mounted on a bed of felt for someone's floor. A lifeless, fading testimony to the epic odyssey endured by a big cat in a world prejudiced against his existence. |
|
 |
PDF files are only accessible to Friends of the Cat Group. Joining Friends of the Cat Group gives you unlimited access and downloads in the Cat SG Library for one year, and allows you to receive our newsletter Cat News (2 regular issues per year plus special issues). More information how to join here |
(c) IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group ( IUCN - The World Conservation Union) |