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HOUTTHOO
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Hi, I'm George Page for Nature. Of all the big cats, the one least often seen on film is the leopard,
a shy nocturnal animal rarely out during the daylight hours. It's hard for cameramen to capture it.
This week we have what we believe is a first, a major film on the leopard,
and it's been shot by one of the world's finest wildlife cinematographers, Hugh Miles.
If you're a regular viewer of Nature, you're bound to know Hugh's work.
The Flight of the Condor, Osprey, On the Tracks of the Wild Otter, and most recently, Kingdom of the Ice Bear.
Now he's both producer and cameraman for this very special film set in Kenya's Maasai Mara Reserve.
Hugh first spotted the star of our show when he was there in 1981. Returning more than four years later,
and against all odds, he found her again, this time with a family of three cubs.
As luck would have it, intense competition from lions and hyenas had forced her to begin hunting during the day.
So here was a unique opportunity to capture behavior never before filmed.
The last 15 minutes of this film are very unusual.
Most nature programs are put together over a period of months or even years.
However, the startling events at the close of this film took place on one afternoon, exactly as you'll see them.
This is a very personal film by Hugh Miles, so we'll let him tell the story of how he filmed his leopard,
A Darkness in the Grass.
We've been to Africa many times before, but seen leopards on only one or two occasions.
But at dawn each day, the sense of anticipation is as great as ever.
Finding the leopard is not going to be easy, for leopards are shy, elusive and largely nocturnal.
In fact, really difficult animals to see.
But we found ourselves in a really favorable situation, because the particular female we'd been told about was very tolerant of vehicles.
This provided us with a chance to film, for the very first time, the day-to-day activities of an African leopard and her cubs.
Our female is about seven years old, and her cubs are very active.
Our female is about seven years old, and her cubs were born in about June, early July, so they're now about six months old.
She has three cubs.
The larger ones are male, and the two smaller ones are female.
Their mother is evidently a good parent, for raising more than one cub to this age is exceptional.
Their mother is evidently a good parent, for raising more than one cub to this age is exceptional.
The female is pretty much on her own, because the male takes absolutely no part in rearing the cubs.
And in fact, along with lions and hyenas, he might even try and kill them.
So once the sun came up, she'd lead the cubs off back to the safety of the lair.
This is right in the heart of her territory, in this absolutely classic leopard country,
grassland with a cacius scrub, interspersed with these wooded hills and ridges.
In this wood lay her lair.
The cubs were born here, and leaving them secure in the dense cover,
the female would go off hunting for hours at a time, even sometimes for a day or more.
On one amusing occasion, the cubs became really mischievous and started trying to catch starlings and doves.
Though they don't spend all that much time in trees, this climbing skill is extremely useful to them,
and sets the leopard apart from all other big cats.
Even at an early age, the skill is highly developed.
It's generally thought that leopards are only active at night,
and so we were very surprised when our female set off from the lair at about 8 o'clock one morning.
We hoped she'd be going out hunting, for it's most unusual to be able to film this behaviour.
She often proved really difficult to follow, for the home range covered at least 20 square kilometres,
and she was very well camouflaged in the grass.
Leopards hunt a wide range of animals, but it's the impala which she most favours,
for they share the same habitat, the areas where bush and grassland meet.
The marshall eagle is another powerful grassland predator, and one of the largest birds of prey in Africa,
capable of killing leopard cubs up to two months old.
Male impala are seldom on the menu of female leopards, for they're rather too large,
and the horn's potentially dangerous.
But female impala are often hunted, and this one, not knowing that the leopard was hidden in the grass,
was running straight towards it.
Finding a leopard in their midst, the impala initially ran in panic,
and warned all the others by this so-called spranking.
These high jumps could well confuse a hunting cat, but on this occasion they turned the display into a sort of ballet.
As the camp was about to start, large shoes of leopard cubs licked the ground,
In early December, the short rains are over and East Africa becomes hot and dry.
These periods are good time for leopards to wean their cubs from milk onto meat, because
now's the peak of impala births.
The pregnant females always isolate themselves from the herd.
No doubt this assists them in avoiding detection from predators.
Such a vulnerable moment.
The calf was just 20 minutes old when for the first time it staggered to its feet.
The calf was just 20 minutes old when for the first time it staggered to its feet.
After only 40 minutes, the calf was mobile, a speed of development essential in a world
of many predators.
And we soon learned that our leopards singled out impala calves as her favourite prey.
Many plains gain breed at this time of year, including the warthog, whose piglets are leopard
Leopards are stalkers, not runners.
She always seemed to try to creep so close that all she had to do was pounce from just
in front of her.
When we saw the warthog family just in front of her, we thought she must make a kill.
We thought she was just about to charge when the piglet took off so fast that the leopard
didn't even attempt to chase.
These little piglets were so fast we christened them streaky bacon.
We never did see our leopard waste her energy in futile chases, but there's another spotted
cat that is built for running, the cheetah.
During our filming, several cheetahs were living on the edge of our leopard's territory,
particularly this female with two large cubs.
Cheetahs are recognisable by the solid spots on their lithe bodies, by their smaller heads
and necks, longer legs, lighter, less powerful frames.
They're built for speed, for hunting on the open plains.
Their favourite prey are these little Thomson's gazelle, nicknamed Tommy's, and recognisable
by the black line along the body.
Unlike leopards, cheetahs travel and hunt together as a family, and do so exclusively
in daylight.
Even though the Tommies were aware of the cheetah and ran away, this was exactly her
intention, for by moving them on, she could select one that was vulnerable, such as young
or injured.
We thought she'd ruined her chances when she set off so slowly, but when she finally
pinned her ears back and really took off, we could believe the calculations that cheetahs
are capable of running at 100 kilometres per hour.
We used a slow motion camera to show you the manoeuvre.
Moving at this speed, it's difficult for her to jump on the prey, so she trips it up.
It seemed a sad end for a young Tommy, but there was a surprise in store for us, and
the two young cheetahs.
Their mother was evidently teaching them to hunt, and though to us this might seem cruel,
cheetahs must learn how to catch their prey if they're to survive to raise young of their
own.
By midday, the temperature was nearly 100 degrees, and our cheetahs rested in the shade
of an acacia tree, but digesting such a small meal would only take an hour or two.
Our leopard was also trying to keep cool.
Apart from seeking shade, panting is the only way for animals and birds to cool themselves,
especially if they wish to remain active.
In intense heat, our leopard might pant up to 160 times a minute.
These bee eaters were taking advantage of the tetsy flies that buzzed annoyingly around
the leopard, and us by the way.
Perhaps because she needed to feed the cubs regularly, our leopard hunted nearly all day
every day, interspersing periods of an hour or two's rest with moves to pastures new.
She was a great walker.
She had an uncanny knack of choosing a place of shade, which also provided her with a view
of any game that might carelessly wander by, unaware of the danger.
Leopards are constantly alert, and even in the heat of mid-afternoon, when a herd of
tommies drifted towards her, our female, spotting a youngster amongst them, appeared to sense
the chance of a meal.
We suddenly realised that the young tommy had also been spotted by the cheetah family.
The small one they'd eaten earlier in the day was apparently insufficient.
Because of the long grass, neither big cat had seen the other, and as the leopard moved
stealthily in from the left, the cheetah approached from the right.
Using its superior speed, the cheetah ran in for the kill.
The commotion had not gone unnoticed by the leopard.
Big cats generally hunt at different times of day and in different habitat, so this chance
encounter was an extremely rare occurrence, and we had no idea what might happen, for
leopards are strong enough to kill cheetahs.
Though both cats weigh much the same, the cheetah wasn't prepared to defend its kill.
Leopards are so much more powerful and aggressive that there'd be no contest, but at least one
family of cats would be well fed.
Aware of the likelihood of other scavengers, such as lions or hyenas arriving on the scene,
our female immediately tried to make the stolen kill safe by hiding it in dense scrub.
The savannas of East Africa are a hostile environment, even for large spotted cats.
The lair wasn't far away, and within minutes of hiding the carcass, the female set off
back home to collect the cums.
We noticed several times that in this situation she raised her tail like a white flag, as
if to inform the other animals that she wasn't hunting.
On the ridge below the lair, a large dead tree acts as one of her territorial marker
posts, and she often sprinted on this as she passed by.
The pungent smell lasts for days, even weeks, and has a social function, allowing leopards
to avoid each other and avoid excessive exploitation of the area's food resources.
She doesn't defend this territory as such, it's a sort of home range, the edges of which
would be shared by other females, and overlapped by just one territorial male, the father of
the cubs.
Despite December to February being the dry season in East Africa, the oppressive heat
of mid-afternoon encourages violent thunderstorms.
Whilst weathering the storm, our female spotted a juvenile Tommy and male Impala, and being
the eternal opportunist, dropped into the grass and started a stalk.
The ground was very flat, and in patches where the grass was thin, she had to keep a very
low profile.
Leopards have an exceptionally good sense of smell, and either because of this, or their
desire to avoid their prey smelling like them, they usually stalk upwind.
In this way, even when their field of view is masked by long grass, they're still able
to remain aware of the position of their intended victim.
Being so close to her lair, she no doubt knew this terrain very well, and seemed to have
a strategy which entailed her reaching a termite mound.
She suspected she might launch her attack from there.
She certainly had her headed for the termite mound, and now she was in position.
We thought she should make a kill, but she seemed undecided about which prey to try for.
First, she sneaked round to hide from the Impala, but she seemed a bit reluctant to
have a go at the Impala, perhaps because of the sharp horns.
With three dependent cubs, she couldn't risk getting injured.
And though we thought, well, she's just a few yards away now, she's bound to have a
chance.
She suddenly started to double back, so as we'd already suspected, it was really the
tommy she was after.
The tommy started getting nervous, but the leopard remained undetected.
Then we thought, this must be it, the Impala walked within just a few meters of her.
Then, then this warthog wandered in and got the scent.
Warthogs have such good noses that unfortunately the leopard was discovered and was not at
all pleased.
After spending three-quarters of an hour making the stalk, it had failed.
We couldn't understand her reluctance to go and collect the cubs.
After all, she had the stolen kill hidden in the bushes.
But perhaps it was because it was evening, and she considered it too risky to move the
cubs when it was nearly dark.
There are so many lions and hyenas about these parts.
So she wandered off and left Africa to the creatures of the night.
As dawn breaks, the frogs start calling.
Elephants and crown cranes stirred as darkness departed.
Though we're only 200 miles south of the equator, the Maasai Mara is actually 4,000
feet above sea level, and the nights are cold.
Mist hangs in the valleys as the sun rises.
We soon found the leopard family at an acacia tree between the lair and the spot where our
female ambushed the cheetah.
Below the tree was the partially eaten carcass.
The female seemed unusually alert, and then we discovered why.
A pack of hyenas had smelt the meat and were closing in, threatening to steal the kill
that she herself had stolen.
Worse still, they might even attempt to kill the cubs.
We told her to not independence.'
She went into the mountain to hide.
Hienas have a strong influence on leopards, as they are the most numerous predator in
the Mara.
There were five in this particular pack, and when surrounded, our female resorted to one
of the leopard's major specialisations, tree climbing, though she didn't abandon the meat
there.
As soon as the worst of the danger was over, the cubs fled into the long grass.
This was a surprise for us, because we thought they'd be safer up the tree.
With the danger gone, she started to call the cubs back.
Leopards are more vocal than other big cats, possibly because of the dense cover they tend
to favour.
Once the threat of the hyenas was over, the highly competitive business of feeding continued.
Sharing is not tolerated without a fight.
Unlike the sociable lions, leopards are normally such solitary animals, that even as cubs they
find it very difficult to eat together.
But on this occasion, as the first cub became satisfied, others were allowed their turn
on the carcass.
Their mother still kept watch in case the hyenas returned, but we noticed she always
allowed the cubs a good feed before she had a share.
A carcass of this size could last the family several days.
Nothing is wasted, and if anything is left, the remains of course are safely stored in
the tree.
As each cub became satisfied, they climbed down and waited for their mother at the base
of the tree.
When the meal was complete, the mother checked the surroundings for danger, before leading
the cubs back to the lair.
One greedy youngster nearly got left behind, but all the cubs certainly looked very fat.
Like all predators, they're capable of stocking up during the good times to tide them over
the bad.
The replaced the Cubs since they via chamber played by the maids.
As was often the case, the female returned to the lair via the spring tree, just to check
if other big cats had passed by.
The advantages of moving the cubs during the day became clear.
Cubs and hyenas would be sleeping, and the threat of an ambush reduced.
Encouraged by almost daily rain showers, the grass in the leopard's territory grew longer
and longer, and this attracted a new range of creatures.
For a moment or two we thought this black object was mud being kicked up by a warthog
as it dug its hole.
But we soon realised it was a bird, and when finally identified, it went by the name of
Jackson's widowbird, a long grass specialist.
The bizarre behaviour is centred on this display ring, worn bare by the trampoline jumping,
and is placed in the centre of each male's territory.
The display is designed to attract females for breeding, and our slow motion camera revealed
the vertically spread tail and stumpy wings, flapped to assist each vertical take-off.
We found the display highly entertaining, but had to return our attention to the leopard,
who, as on most days, was out and about again.
As usual, she seemed undeterred by the midday heat.
Others could only rest in the shade, flapping ears or panting to keep cool.
–
Woken by red-breasted rhineck,
our female became aware of a herd of impala.
And though the family had already eaten, theirs is a life of feast or famine,
and a leopard with cubs must take advantage of this seasonal glut.
She had an uncanny memory for detail, and time after time she'd returned to an area
where a female impala wandered on its own.
She'd learned to recognize the significance of an isolated impala,
for this meant the possibility of a calf.
When her suspicions were aroused, she was relentless.
Once the calf was located, success was certainly not a foregone conclusion,
for impalas with calves were always extremely alert,
and were constantly on the move.
A leopard must stalk very close to make a kill,
and our female spent hours of each day creeping with infinite care,
but still failing to catch a meal for her cubs.
She'd now stalked within a few meters, but evidently had a problem.
The wind carried her scent to the impala, which became suspicious.
They moved away once again, so the leopard decided to double back
and try from the opposite direction.
When the calf sat down, she saw her chance.
Gill or
She killed successfully an average of once every three days or so.
She particularly favored impala calves because they were easily transported back to the lair.
But on this occasion she found her route back to the cubs barred by a herd of elephants
which took offense.
But much to our amazement she pressed on right through the herd.
It was clear she was prepared to take risks for the cubs and continued her journey back
to the lair.
Once she was back she gathered the cubs up and led them to the carcass for their second
meal of the day.
Eating twice in a day was very unusual but their noisy feeding did not go unnoticed.
Lions view leopards as competitors and will kill them if given half the chance.
She feared a sad end for our family and could only watch and wait.
With cats flying in all directions we weren't sure if all three cubs had survived but a
quick head count in the two trees revealed that their climbing ability had once again
saved the day.
The female appeared to be just as concerned for the carcass as for the cubs but a meal
lost to lions seemed to make up for the one she'd stolen off the cheetah.
Life is full of ups and downs even for big cats and as they were now surrounded by whole
pride the leopards settled into their respective trees to sit out the siege but one lioness
seemed particularly determined.
Now's the time when most leopard cubs are killed for they lose their nerve and try to
escape from the tree.
It's not actually all that unusual for lions to kill leopards but in this instance the
lioness did at least seem discouraged by the thorns.
Losing their resolve the pride wandered off and the female seemed to suggest that she'd
seen it all before.
She didn't risk calling the cubs down until nightfall and her judgement's been proved
right many times before.
The fact that she'd raised three cubs to this age was quite remarkable and when we saw her
for the last time on March the 10th all three cubs were still living with her.
One of them was the challenge of independence.
We heard in August that the male cub had gone off on its own and the two female cubs were
with their mother.
All were still alive and if they grow up to be as successful and confiding as their mother
then we know we'll not be the last two people who'll enjoy following a family of leopards
in Africa.
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