Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca)

[Tshokwane]

Credits to Mohammed Shujath‎.

Bandipur beast.

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[Tshokwane]

Credits to Rahul Jauhari‎.

"Black Magic at Kabini"

The morning sighting had been beautiful - we had a 20 minute plus sighting of the Tiger Tank female with three cubs.


On a supremely optimistic note, we set out on the evening safari saying we would find the Black Panther. 15 minutes into the safari, kid sister said there's something black on the tree.
It was so black, even our guide missed it. I frantically signalled the guide who in turn frantically signalled the driver to stop the jeep. The rest was mayhem.

Firstly, I had a very, very heavy lens set - that meant it was impossible to shoot handheld.

Secondly Sir Black was very black, very frisky and the light was behind him.

Thirdly the light was fading fast. All of which meant blurred (out of focus) images. On top of that, Sir Black was up there on the tree while I was in a jeep with nothing but a sandbag for support.

I had to squeeze down between the jeep seats on all fours, cramped, twisted body, severely twisted neck to balance the lens against the jeep door rim and get a usable angle. Last few months of yoga came handy as I did not effectively lose my neck forever :-)

Sir Black, it turned out, was in the middle of a mating ceremony, as we discovered his lady love perched on a separate branch. The first few shots produced nothing but a black blur. I had to switch to Live View on the camera, zoom in and then achieve focus. In the heat of the moment, everything was a blur.

Black Panthers are very, very, very, very rarely spotted. We managed to watch Sir Black wooing his lady love. This image was him on his way down the tree after which Sir Black and lady love indulged in some hectic love behind the bushes, No, we did not witness all that. Just heard the occasional grunts of happiness he made.

So now begins the wait to get back home and process the images. In the meantime, here's one for the road. That moment when his eyes locked on to mine. Un-frikking-forgettable.

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[Tshokwane]

Temple male, Kabini. Credits to Surendra Chouhan.

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[Ngala]

Photo and information credits: ShutterXpose Photography
My tryst with Torn Ears, the prince of Kabini. 
An unforgettable stare towards me and I praying for that last pose, before the beauty beast walking past my safari to the woods. He is popularly known as Torn Ears since his part of one ear got torn after a violent fight with another leopard. 
Kabini truly never disappoints. 

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Pin drop silence, the looks of prince Kabini "Torn Ears" 
Kabini truly never disappoints. 

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[Tshokwane]

Credits to Prasanna Gowda - Latest Sightings India.

Big boy, Kabini.

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[Ngala]

Photo and information credits: Ram Sundhar
"Let the picture speak for itself.." Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve

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[Tshokwane]

Credits to ClicknFrame.

Desperate to hunt - Bandipur National Forest.

A fine noon, When this majestic one was so desperate to make his move apart from resting, from no where emerged his prey leading to a a quest. Those eyes speaks how confident he is on spotting something approaching close.

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[Pckts]

Shaaz Jung Photography

Deep in the woods, you are never alone.

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This Followed
"I’ve been extremely busy off late setting up Camps in the Serengeti and its made me miss home! I decided to drop into Kabini over the weekend for 2 game drives. The forest felt empty without Euco, an eerie silence could be felt in his territory and i could have sworn his ghost was still walking the windy and desolate roads. Despite his absence, it was great to see one our favourite Leopards and Bella the tigress with her two cubs (Eucos cubs).
The beauty of being home is the ability to track these cats. Iv been gone a month and sightings have been poor over the past week but we knew where to look. Spotting the animal was a different story but we were sure they were in certain areas and with just six hours of safari to go on (before i went back to Africa to lead our last group), i had to make them count.
Torn Ears was our best chance of seeing a leopard in August’s thick foliage. Just like Scarface, as Torn Ears gets older, he prefers to stay on the ground and not climb as many trees as he once did. As they get larger and heavier, they prefer to rest on larger and more concrete places where their body weight is spread more evenly. Fortunately for torn ears he has an old chola temple and a number of tribal strictures and abandoned houses with large flat surfaces where he now loves to rest on. His territory over the past year has shrunk by almost 30% and he isn’t hard to find.
The first hour was silent. We covered most of his territory including the Temple and a few of his favourite spots. Halfway through our game drive we decided to take a turn towards a small stream where tribals often washed their clothes and used the water to supply their homes. The stream always had a calming affect on me and the flow of water through the dense forests was as tranquil as it gets. We enjoyed the serenity before a langur sparked chaos. The monkey cackled as he looked at a small cement structure which roomed a water pump that was used to siphon water from the stream. On it sat an enormous leopard, none other than Mr Torn Ears.
The next few minutes were as scary as they were magical. For the first time in six years, this leopard looked frighteningly angry and he wasn't shy in letting us know. He sat with us for a while, snarling away before we reversed our car and allowed him to descend.
After the sighting i sat and wondered why Torn Ears was unusually angry. The next morning the nearby tribals had informed us of a deer kill behind the Pump House and how they were afraid to collect water that day as they would hear sounds from the lantana if they went close. Unfortunately i left the next morning but i learnt never to go near a leopard when he’s on his kill."

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[Tshokwane]

Credits to Praveen Siddannavar.

Date: 3rd November 2015

Place: Nagarahole Tiger Reserve, Kabini, Karnataka, India

A window to a stealth predator!


The leopard is the smallest of the “big cats” (the other 3 are the tiger, lion and jaguar). They are the best tree climbers in the cat family; they have strong muscular limbs and retractable claws that allow them to climb up & down the trees. 

These cats are best known to adapt to the widest range of habitats of all the big cats. This adaptability has allowed them to survive in various different geographic areas across Asia and Africa.
During this sighting we spotted the leopard resting on tree adjacent to this fallen tree. This young sub adult female posed for us for while and later when she heard noise of an oncoming safari vehicle, she decided to climb down. It was a typical behavior of these leopards that I observed, while descending from the fallen tree she paused and posed with direct eye contact, next move was so natural to crouch and hide under this twigs with few leaves and last move bang, she took off like a bullet and disappeared in the under growth. I am simply fascinated by this leopard behavior.

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[Vinay]

Wild sex from the Mr and Mrs George of the Jungle. (I think leopards mating on tree is very very rare in Africa and elsewhere!)
Leopard ( Panthera pardus) Nov -2016 

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I HEREBY DECLARE THIS MY TERRITORY
Male Leopard Scent Marking
Bandipur Tiger Reserve
November 2016

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[Vinay]

wow  wow  wow wow  wow wow wow  wow wowow 'Lionesses' in Mumbai!!  

Finally we found the best solution for all the FERAL animals problem (Cats/Dogs/Pigs etc) 
 

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Watch full at ...    http://solarmovie.sc/movie/planet-earth-...ching.html Reply

[Ngala]

Photo and information credits: Sourabh Bharti Photography
Some says timasur some says prince but nowdays he is the tiger of jhalana.
Showing Anger to treepies.
Jhalana Forest Area, Jaipur

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[Tshokwane]

Credits to Surendra Chouhan.

Temple male from Kabini.

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[Tshokwane]

Credits to Praveen Siddannavar.

I have won the war but not the battle yet...


This Black Panther seems settling down well in this forest, however he has a long way to go. He is gradually taking one step at time in this large density tiger and spotted leopard country. He has successfully made his territory large enough that overlap his mates. He recently was seen in courtship too, fingers crossed by April- May 2017 we should see his cubs and one black for sure:)...
June 2016

Nagarahole Tiger Reserve, Kabini, Karnataka, India 

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[Tshokwane]

Credits to Vinit Arora.

" The Special One "


One of the Finest Leopards i have ever seen..From the woods of central India Landscape, India.

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