April 2013

Limpopo & KZN Hub

Male leopard as new focus animal

Leopards have always been regarded as one of the most unique and
special sightings to have out in the African bush. Due to their elusive and
nocturnal nature you need to be very lucky to come across one. Since the
middle of last year GVI Karongwe, in conjunction with the reserve
management, has been trying to find a suitable, dominant male leopard to
dart and implant for our research and the reserve. Due to Karongwes high
leopard population, darting a male leopard would give GVI an insight to
their feeding behavior and inter- and intra-specific interactions. Karongwe
currently has three dominant, male leopards, one of which whose territory
ranges across to other reserves. While multiple baitings and chance
sightings gave us opportunities we were still unsuccessful in getting a
leopard to stay on a kill long enough for a vet to come.
Tsavo, our new focus animal
th

On May 25 the GVI team found one of the male leopards, named Tsavo (see
blog about Tsavo), eating one of our baited impala. Tsavo, the offspring of a
previously collared leopard named Tilo, was born in June of 2008 has only
recently begun acquiring a large territory and competing with another dominant
male, Scar. Tsavo was quite relaxed with GVI at the baited impala and
determined to eat as much as possible. GVI volunteers were able to keep a
visual of him until Dr. Peter Rogers, the vet, could arrive. With the volunteers
watching, Dr. Rogers was able to successfully dart Tsavo and transport him a
kilometer to a nearby boma where the operation would occur. With a makeshift
operation table in place, the GVI team was able to help measure and
photograph Tsavo during the entire operation. Volunteers highlights included
being given the opportunity to touch and examine a live, wild leopard up close
and listening to Dr. Rogers explain the entire procedure from start to finish.

Rhi Craig, staff, posing

with Tsavo

Tsavo on the operation table

Tsavos operation was successful, and, after a few days in the boma to
recover, he is now roaming on the reserve again. This implant comes at a
crucial time in the development of a new study to be conducted at GVI during
the next year. GVI Karongwes own Science Coordinator, Jamie Sangster, is
currently starting up his Masters project, entitled Cost effective non-invasive
monitoring for advising management of meta-population leopards will
investigate the effectiveness and versatility of camera traps as a tool to
monitor leopard populations across small game reserves (see blog). An
implanted male leopard will help us understand individual spatial utilization
and will let us compare this to results in Jamies camera trap study. So far
GVI has been lucky to see Tsavo a few times as he has covered his territory,
and, on two different occasions, we have been able to see him on a kill. GVI
has not had a leopard as a focus animal since November of 2010 when Tilos
collar died. Visit our website to learn how you can get involved with the GVI
teams work on Karongwe!