Three-spot the leopard

Sandie and Gerry Smith made lovely portraits of Three-spot, a magnificent male leopard on the Djuma Game Reserve.

25 January 2000

At Djuma Game Reserve we regularly encounter seven different leopards, four females and three males. Each defend its own territory, although male and female territories may overlap. These magnificent predators are extremely secretive and are usually seldom seen - one of the main reasons this adaptable cat is still relatively widespread throughout Africa. Here at Djuma leopards have not been hunted for decades and have consequently become much more tolerant to our presence. Guests to Djuma, like Sandie and Gerry Smith, are always enthralled to see these beautiful animals absolutely relaxed as to the presence of the game drive vehicle. Sandie and Gerry Smith made these lovely photographs of one of these leopards we have named Three-spot, because he has three spots in his top row of spots at the base of his right set of whiskers.

The last picture below shows the identifying patterns of spots of the individual leopards found at Djuma Game Reserve.

Three-spot the leopard, note the rows of spots at his whiskers - we use these spots to identify the individual leopards on Djuma Game Reserve.

Three-spot the male leopard.

A very full-bellied Three-spot, he had just devoured an entire impala!

Three-spot sleeping after his huge meal, he sure looks comfortable in an awkward way!

The chart we use to identify the various individual leopards on Djuma Game Reserve. We use the top row of the spots found at the base of the whiskers. Note that Three-spot has two spots in his top row on his left whiskers, this can be clearly seen in the first photograph above.

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