Wild Dogs - Leopard encounter

It was an exciting morning not only for us but also for the alpha pups and possibly the adults too.

The adults and alpha pups had left the den before dawn heading west. This time the alpha pups were really going hunting. Although they probably thought the outing was just another joy-ride.

We picked them up all milling around to the south east of Formadhunga, but 2 adults had bloodstained faces and huge bellies. The alpha pups were begging frantically from them but the adults weren’t about to give up their meals. Then suddenly they headed west into a ravine. There we found the alpha pups feeding on intestines from a fresh kill while the adults milled around. The grass in the area was stained red with blood.

Then to our surprise, right there in a huge Diospyros mespilliformis was a leopard feeding on the remains of an impala kill. The leopard was oblivious to our presence as it fed, its head obscured by the huge tree trunk. Suddenly when I started the vehicle to move around in order to see the leopard it was surprised and bolted out the tree with the adult dogs in hot pursuit. We didn’t see it again but heard it’s vicious growl in defence as the dogs probably caught up to it and nipped it before it was able to get up a tree.

The pups on hearing this growl in the distance took off terrified until the adults caught up with them.

This was the first kill they had been to and here they had to deal with an adult male leopard. With this all being new to them they probably thought it was the norm - leopards always get hand-outs from the dogs.

I think what had happened in this situation was the 3 adults (BB wasn’t there when we got there, but she was back at the den well fed) had killed the impala and fed well. The leopard had heard the kill and waited in the wings while the dogs fed.

Well fed the dogs moved off to locate the rest of the pack. At this time BB probably headed home to feed her pups. The rest of the pack joined up and were led back to the kill. In the meantime the leopard had annexed the kill and taken into the safety of the tree, well out of the reach of the dogs. Of course you can imagine how hacked off the dogs must have been.

Realising they had been outdone and cheated the dogs took off back home.
When we returned to the kill in the tree a few hours later, the leopard wasn’t there, although the kill had been fed and at the base of the tree a hyaena was hanging around waiting.

Back at the den, even though only 3 adults had fed, the pups were all well on their way to bursting out of their own skins. Presumably the adults had a successful hunt last night too.

But maybe just not enough for the adults as they headed off hunting again at dusk. The alpha pups followed but were soon distracted close to the den. The small herd of zebra they had attempted to stalk a few nights ago were again grazing in the area.

The pups resumed where they had taken off, approaching the stallion. He really wasn’t phased with these lightweights nor were the rest of the herd as they continued to graze happily. The pups milled around them for a while and getting no response moved on back to the den.

The decoy worked really well for the adults as they were able to go hunting in peace. No alpha pups to slow them down or botch things up.