The Leopard—A Secretive Cat
BY AWAKE! CORRESPONDENT IN KENYA
THE sun was setting. Our day had been spent watching and photographing the spectacular wildlife at Kenya’s Masai Mara Game Reserve. Before settling down for the night at the tented lodge, we were to experience one more thrilling spectacle. The stage was set when one of the lodge staff sauntered across a rope bridge over the Talek River, a haunch of goat meat slung over his shoulder. He tied the meat to a forked branch high in an acacia tree.
As the colors of the brief tropical twilight faded into darkness, a large male leopard glided silently up the tree and began to tug and tear at the meat. He was illuminated by spotlights from the viewing terrace. Intent on enjoying his meal, however, the leopard ignored us as we watched in awe and wonderment. We were later told that his visit to the baited tree was a nightly custom, one he had observed for some six years. So the following night we were treated to a repeat performance!
We could truly appreciate why the leopard has been described as “the most perfect of the big cats, beautiful in appearance and graceful in its movements.” Weighing 125 pounds [60 kg] or more, the leopard is one of the most powerfully muscled animals, averaging over two feet [60 cm] tall at the shoulder and seven feet [200 cm] long from nose to tail tip. Gazing at the characteristic black spots arranged in rosettes on its tawny coat, we are reminded of the question once asked by the prophet Jeremiah: “Can a Cushite change his skin? or a leopard its spots?”—Jeremiah 13:23.
Particularly striking are his luminous green eyes. They are equipped with a special layer of cells—the tapetum—that gives him extraordinary night vision. The leopard can see at a sixth of the light level needed by human eyes. This cell layer, reflecting light back through the retina, creates the shining effect seen when a beam of light catches his eyes at night.
Were you to observe the leopard at rest during the day, you would note that he pants as if he were on the brink of exhaustion. However, his rapid breathing is part of an efficient cooling system. By his panting up to 150 times a minute, moisture can evaporate from his tongue, mouth, and nasal passages.
The most adaptable of the big cats, leopards can be found in deserts and forests; in mountains and at sea level; in lands as diverse as China, India, and Kenya. Despite human encroachment on much of the leopard’s habitat, scientists estimate that there are nearly a million in Africa and Asia alone. Even so, for centuries the leopard eluded serious scientific study. Take, for example, the Sinai leopard. Until recently rediscovered in the wilderness of Judea, that leopard was long considered extinct!
The Solitary Cat
How does the leopard escape human notice? He does it by being primarily a nocturnal beast—and an exceedingly stealthy and secretive one at that. In areas where man presents a threat, the leopard is cautiously silent. Only when angered will he emit threatening lionlike growls and coughs. Under normal circumstances, his vocalization is far less intimidating: a harsh grating sound—much like the sound of a saw cutting wood. According to the book Animals of East Africa, by C. T. Astley Maberly, it sounds like “Grunt-ha! Grunt-ha! Grunt-ha! Grunt-ha!—usually ending in a harsh sighing note.” In keeping with his love for secrecy, the leopard also emits a variety of low-intensity sounds, most of which humans cannot hear.
Furthermore, unlike the gregarious lion, the leopard is not a social cat. Although pairs are seen from time to time, leopards are solitary hunters. To reduce unexpected or hostile encounters, the leopard stakes out a claim of personal territory that may cover from 10 to 15 square miles [25 to 65 sq km]. He sprays a secretion from special glands to delineate the boundaries of his home range. The scent marker may inform other leopards as to the sex, age, sexual status, and possibly even the identity of the “landlord.”
Hunting is carried on with the leopard’s characteristic stealth. In Bible times he was known to lie in wait near towns, ready to pounce upon domestic animals with deadly swiftness. (Jeremiah 5:6; Hosea 13:7; Habakkuk 1:8) To protect his bounty from scavengers, such as hyenas and jackals, he stores his larger kills in the fork of a tree some 30 or 40 feet [9 or 12 m] above the ground. But how does he manage to haul the carcass of an antelope or a five-foot-tall [1.5 m] baby giraffe to such heights? This is not a secret the leopard gives up easily. But patient observers claim that it is achieved by sheer brute force. Leopards prefer to dine at leisure, bodies draped lazily over tree branches, and in total secrecy, camouflaged by the branches and foliage.
Left unchallenged, the leopard tends to be shy and retiring and will avoid a confrontation with man. So while some leopards have lost their fear of humans and have become man-eaters, most pose little threat to humans. If injured or cornered, however, the leopard displays no fear whatsoever of his enemy. “An angry leopard,” writes Jonathan Scott in The Leopard’s Tale, “is the very incarnation of ferocity, . . . capable of concentrating all its considerable energy into a short range attack of lightning speed.”
Leopard Mothers
It is not surprising, then, that leopards also rear their cubs in relative secrecy. Newborn cubs are kept hidden, often in a cave, for the first two months of life. Though the father takes no part in rearing the cubs, the mother forms a close bond with them by feeding and cleaning them and keeping them warm. In time, the mother may move her litter of two or three cubs to a new home, carrying them in her mouth if they are still tiny or simply calling them to follow her if they are bigger.
A leopard mother also tries to keep her cubs out of the sight of enemies, such as baboons. But if baboons attack her cubs, she will charge them, endangering herself to give her cubs a chance to flee to safety. She also takes formidable risks to feed her cubs. The normally retiring cat will walk through a herd of trumpeting elephants in order to bring meat to her hungry offspring.
Interestingly, young leopards do not manifest their independent spirit for some time. Cubs are weaned at about six months but do not kill their own prey until they are a year old. Males do not become solitary adults until about two and a half years of age. Female cubs may continue sharing their mother’s home territory as adults.
The Leopard—Finally at Peace?
But those cuddly kittens grow up to be killers. It may thus seem difficult to believe that the words of the prophet Isaiah could ever come true: “The wolf will actually reside for a while with the male lamb, and with the kid the leopard itself will lie down.”—Isaiah 11:6.
Recent efforts to domesticate leopards have had only marginal success. Sieuwke Bisleti van der Laan and her husband raised a litter of cubs on their African farm. The cubs enjoyed “complete freedom” and were often hand-fed. But they were never truly domesticated. Writes Sieuwke Bisleti: “Once a leopard is fully grown, he goes his own way. A lion will always love and obey you; a leopard will always recognise you but makes up his own mind on how he will react at any given moment.”
Eventually it was deemed dangerous to allow the grown cubs to continue roaming free about the farm. The decision was made to return them to the wild. Had being raised among friendly humans spoiled the young leopards? Hardly. Within three days of their release, the male was seen sitting by a waterbuck he had killed.
Nevertheless, such limited success in taming leopards does not invalidate Isaiah’s inspired prophecy of peace between leopard and goat. This startling event will take place, not by human efforts, but by divine intervention. God’s rule will do more, though, than bring peace to the animal kingdom. “The earth will certainly be filled with the knowledge of Jehovah,” predicted Isaiah. (Isaiah 11:1-9) Even men will therefore abandon the animalistic behavior that has bred war and division. At the same time, mankind’s attitude toward the animal world will also change. No longer will any beasts be the victims of wanton slaughter. Nor will man despoil their habitat or endanger their existence, because Jehovah will have ‘brought to ruin those ruining the earth.’—Revelation 11:18.