PREDATOR RESEARCH PROGRAM

Background & Objectives

The Northern Tuli Leopard Project was initiated during the latter part of 2003 and got underway in January 2004 with the formulation of a project proposal by Nature Conservation student Villiers Steyn as part of an M-Tech study through the Tswane University of Technology, Pretoria. The main objective of the study is to gain a better understanding of leopard movement patterns within the Northern Tuli Game Reserve, Botswana, looking at leopard home range sizes; home range overlap; and core areas of intensive use. This is a trans-boundary project and through the study we hope to get a better estimate of leopard densities for the area which will aid decision making when leopard hunting quotas has to be set for Botswana, Zimbabwe and South Africa. There is currently very little data available on leopard densities which make it difficult to determine whether the current off take is sustainable in the long run. In order to obtain the necessary data, a number of leopards have been collared and are being tracked on a regular basis, providing information on their movement patterns.

The study also aims to determine what risks there are for leopards and other large predators on and beyond the periphery of the reserve, focusing on farmers’ perceptions, management strategies, and problem animal control methods. The project is scheduled to run until end 2007. During the study period we hope to share knowledge with many other leopard researchers throughout the world, enabling us to gain a much better understanding of this magnificent cat. The leopard is a difficult subject to study because of their elusive nature, their fantastic camouflage, and their nocturnal, solitary behaviour. With sufficient time, effort, and passion, however, we believe that we can promote the conservation the species and spread awareness about the risks that threatens Africa’s most beautiful mammal.

Leopard Collaring

Currently there are three leopards collared in the Northern Tuli Game Reserve. None of the leopards obtained serious injuries during the capture and collaring processes and as far as the actual collar is concerned – it is impossible to know exactly what the leopard thinks about it. To the best of our judgment the collars have no negative effect on the leopards – it basically becomes part of their body. The collars are fitted in such a way that they are not so tight that they will suffocate the animal, and not too loose that it can get caught on branches. The collared individuals still hunt like leopards hunt, catch adult impalas, raise their young, and show all other aspects of natural leopard behaviour.

Collared Individuals:

Jwala Female
This is an old female that was collared on the 13th of February 2005 along the Jwala River near Naledi Camp. She is judged to be between 12 and 15 years old and has lost most of the teeth in her lower jaw. She is however still capable of killing adult impalas and can still hoist them up trees! She weighed in at 34.3kg and measured 190cm from nose to tail tip. She has covered a massive area since collaring amounting to nearly 80km². She is often found along the Majale River and tends to stay in specific areas of her home range for extended periods of time. She is most likely past her reproductive live and probably also near the end of her life. As her last few teeth are lost, effective hunting will get impossible. We hope she is around for the duration of the study.

White Cliffs Female
The White Cliffs Female was collared on the 25th of May 2005 along the Matabole River near Eagle’s Nest. She weighed in at 35.3kg and measured 193cm from nose to tail tip. This female has used an area south east of Mashatu Main Camp, called the White Cliffs, to raise her litters and she currently has two cubs that are believed to have been born in January 2005. She has not moved far from camp since the collaring, because of the presence of the cubs. This is an extremely relaxed female and has provided us with the most amazing visuals of her and her cubs. None of her teeth has been lost, but they have become slightly blunted and stained. She is probably between 6 and 8 years old and we believe that this is her second litter of cubs. Her previous litter consisted of three cubs – one male and two females – that are still seen near the White Cliffs from time to time.

Cocktail Female
This young female is believed to be around 3 years old (at the time of collaring) and has not had cubs before. All her teeth are intact and are sharp and shiny white. She was collared on the 27th of May 2005 along the Jwala River south of Naledi Camp and spent a lot of time near the Majale Cocktail Spot after the collaring - hence the name Cocktail Female. She weighed in at 36kg and measured 193cm from nose to tail tip. There is a possibility that she may be the youngster of the White Cliffs Female and we are currently waiting for DNA-testing to answer this question. She is a shy leopard that generally only allows one to view her after dark.

The three adult females that are currently collared have overlapping home ranges, making them ideal study individuals. As the study progresses, more leopards will be collared in the same area – the hope is to collar another two females and two or more males.

OTHER LARGE PREDATORS

The Northern Tuli Game Reserve is also home to other large predators, including lions, spotted hyaenas, and cheetahs. For some reason wild dogs and brown hyaenas have not settled within the reserve, although these two species occur in considerable numbers south of the Limpopo River on the South African farmlands between Alldays and Musina. There has been the odd wild dog and brown hyaena sighting in the reserve, but never for an extended period of time.

Lions
There are currently two resident lion prides within the reserve – the Elephant Valley Pride and the Majale Island Pride. The Elephant Valley Pride has split up to a large extent since the reserve’s dominant adult males disappeared into the Tuli Circle hunting area in 2003. At this stage the pride consisted of 11 members – 6 sub-adult males and 5 females. In the beginning of 2004 the old Elephant Valley female and her latest litter (two males and one female) split from the rest of the pride. After mating with the two Majale Brothers in December 2004, she split from her three sub-adult cubs to give birth to her fourth litter on the 28th of April, 2005. Three cubs were born below the White Cliffs in the Majale River, a specific spot where she has used to give birth to all her previous litters. She is a fantastic mother and has not lost a single cub up to date! If the collared leopards come into contact with lions, it would most likely be members of the Elephant Valley Pride which utilise the central and western sections of the reserve.

Towards the south-east of the reserve roams the Majale Island Pride. In the beginning of 2004 they consisted of an old female and a younger adult female with her three youngsters – one female and two males known as the Majale Brothers. Since there were no dominant adult males to keep these young brothers subdued, they started to act like adults at the age of two and a half years, mating with the Elephant Valley female, as well as their mother, which gave birth to a litter of three cubs in May 2005. The brothers are currently moving in and out of the reserve as they search for suitable partners.

Spotted Hyaenas
There are very few spotted hyaenas in the area that is dominated by the Majale Island lion pride, but the western section of the reserve is home to several clans. Within the area over which the study leopards roam, there is one big clan of at least 13 spotted hyaenas. This clan moves den sites on a regular basis and definitely competes with leopards – directly by stealing leopard kills and indirectly by hunting impalas of their own.

Cheetahs
Cheetahs are highly mobile cats and move in and out of the reserve on a regular basis. To be honest, little is known about their movements outside the reserve, but they certainly move into areas of great risk when they leave the Northern Tuli Game Reserve. Some times a mother with cubs will settle within the reserve, providing regular sightings, whilst other times months pass without a single cheetah sighting.

IDENTIFICATION OF INDIVIDUAL PREDATORS

In order to promote sound monitoring of the reserve’s predator populations it is necessary to identify as many individual lions, leopards and cheetahs within the reserve. Identifying individuals is not as easy as it seems, even if you have clear photographs of the subjects. There are, however, certain characteristics that make it possible to identify individuals of specific species:

Lions
Lion identification is relatively easy – they often have easily recognizable scars on their bodies or faces, but one must remember that these scars often heal in a short period of time and can thus be misleading. The most reliable way to ID individual lions is to look at their whisker patterns. Where each whisker comes out through the facial hair, a little black spot is formed. Thus, each lion has a number of black spots on each side of its muzzle that is arranged in a particular fashion or pattern. This so-called whisker pattern is unique for each and every lion and can be used to identify individuals. The only drawback is that one has to obtain a close shot (photograph) of the face to confirm the pattern.

Leopards
Leopards are extremely difficult to photograph, because they are relatively skittish animals that are mostly active by night. Whisker patterns are not used to identify individual leopards – their whisker spots are often fused to form a dark black line, thus, no distinctive pattern is formed. One can however look at the spots between the leopard’s eyes and eyebrows, which often form characteristic patterns. Again, close-up photography will be needed. The easier way is to look at the so-called “collar” that is formed on the animal’s neck through the fusion of a number of large, elongated spots. These “collars”, if present, are easy to spot and also unique for each individual. These may, however, be difficult to photograph, because that area of the body is not often exposed in full. In the end one tries to identify individual leopards by looking at the facial spots, the collar region, and the overall body spots – use everything you can get, because they won’t give you a lot!

Cheetahs
Facial spots are not used to identify individual cheetahs – these spots are not obvious and in some cases the whisker spots can’t even been seen at all. One can compare body spots, providing that photographs were taken from the same angle. This is, however, much more difficult than one thinks. Luckily, cheetahs tend to move around in what is often referred to as “known groups”. A mother with her cubs will always stay close to each other and can be easily identified. A coalition of brothers may stay together for life and can be easily identified in the area that they actively defend. In the Northern Tuli, for instance, a mother cheetah and her three sub adult cubs move into the area from time to time. In the Mashatu-Charter area a pair of young cheetahs is often spotted – they are very skittish and without a mother.

OUR SPONSORS

Without our sponsors the Northern Tuli Leopard Project would never have been possible, so thank you to every organisation and person who has supported the project! Here follows a list of those organisations and people which have made it all possible, together with their contribution:

Limpopo Valley Horse Safaris

Adventure Mashatu