National Geographic: Eye of the Leopard Page #2

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Impala antelope are the

staple leopard diet here.

They gather in herds of hundreds,

but just before the rains,

they separate quietly

to find private places of the forest...

to give birth.

This glorious fragility

is a celebration of all life,

and under the constant gaze of over

a hundred baboons standing guard,

few predators can sneak in undetected.

Impala rely on this added help

and stay close to baboons.

Suddenly, all the rules of the bush

were turned upside down!

Baboons are mostly vegetarian,

adding a few insects or possibly birds

when they can get them,

but when the alpha male charged in,

sinking his teeth into her tender flesh,

it was a reminder that

there are no absolute rules here.

She couldn't resist.

The smell of blood,

the cries of anguish.

She was programmed to respond.

She left her cub

to feed her curiosity.

But the kill put everyone on high alert.

She had a cub in a new den,

exposed in a forest running wild

with baboons on the rampage,

and a quick choice to make.

Return to defend her cub,

or run and hide.

Her return,

led them straight back to the den!

If lions are her enemies,

hyenas a constant irritation,

it is the baboons

that are her nemesis!

The fortress of branches

from the fallen tree held up,

despite the baboons

attempts to dismantle it.

They survived this attack,

but for the young impressionable cub,

the rules of engagement

had been established.

Baboons would be

her most fearsome threat.

A hasty retreat up a tree

wouldn't be effective,

baboons can go anywhere leopards can,

and they do.

It is war between them,

a battle that the marauding baboons

will take up in a heartbeat.

Each experience makes up who she is,

and arms her for the future.

For the time being,

Legadema and her mother could settle,

as the tension dissipated,

mother and cub alone together,

Legadema safe in the soft folds

of her mother's embrace.

But it was only a temporary respite.

Now that the baboons had found them,

they would visit this spot regularly,

just to make sure.

The second den was no longer safe.

It was time to move on again.

That was nearly three years ago.

And yet,

as Legadema looks out across the forest,

the distant bark of a baboon

still send shivers across her skin.

Somewhere across the forest,

her mother is ready to move.

Legadema is aware of every movement.

Something is wrong.

Leopards usually live

under a cloak of invisibility.

Her rasping calls at midday

are a betrayal of her usual disguise.

Even with so much distance between them,

Legadema recognizes the call,

a sound that from her birth signified

the protective safety of her mother.

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