HARVEY WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHY

African Wildlife: Leopards

Leopards are solitary animals. They are broader than cheetahs, but smaller than lions. Leopards ingeniously take their kill up a tree to eat to ensure that larger cats don't get the "lion's share".

Of all the animal pictures on my website, leopards are some of my favourite cats photos. Their coats are beautiful and their cubs are especially adorable.

These leopards were photographed in South Africa.

This huge male leopard is actually just a young guy and is still with his mommy. When he is on his own, he will be big and strong enough to have a large territory. Only the biggest leopards will have the nerve to challenge him.
   
This photograph is of a mother and cub leopard living wild in South Africa. Mom insists that it is bath time, so much to her son's dismay, she grabbed his head and groomed him.
   
We saw this leopard with her son heading towards a water hole, so our guide positioned the jeep on the other side of the water hoping that she would come for a drink and luckily she did.
     
  
This is the first leopard that I saw in the wild.
  
This leopard is a large male who at the time this picture was taken was still with his mommy. When he went on his own, due to his size, he would own a large territory.
   
A six month old male leopard in South Africa.
     
  
This black leopard is a captive cat in Montana.
   
We spotted this leopard on safari just before it got dark. I only managed to get a couple pictures of him before we lost the light.
   
Female leopard in South Africa.
     
  
This big male leopard walks by a pond in South Africa.
   
This male black leopard is a captive cat in Montana.
   
You never forget your first leopard sighting. We spent about 15 minutes with this young guy and it was amazing.
     
  
Mother and son leopards grooming.
   
Female leopard grooming her son in South Africa, 2008.
   
This is a captive black leopard living in Montana.
     
  
We saw this male leopard strutting his stuff on a safari road in Mala Mala, South Africa.
   
This black leopard is a captive leopard living in Montana. He didn't like me very much and tried to intimidate me. He jumped toward me and roared. He was inside four feet when he landed and roared. His intimidation tactic worked, scared me half to death, but I still managed to get the picture.
   
On our first game drive we hadn't seen a leopard until the end of the drive. The sun was setting. I only managed to get a few pictures of her and of those few pictures, I lucked out with this one in the soft evening light.
     
  
   
We positioned ourselves to see this leopard (Tamboti female) through the weeds. We didn't realize she had a kill in the tree directly above us. Insult to injury she had a gaping wound on her hip, so she was not in a good mood and certainly didn't want to share her hard earned meal. Insult to insult to injury, we got stuck beneath that tree so we had to call for help to get us towed out twenty feet from an angry leopard.
  
     
  
   
  
     
  
   
  
     
  
   
  
This is the big guy on the playground.
     
  
   
This big male is named after the area of his territory. He is the Bicycle crossing male.
   
This female (taboti female) had a huge gaping gash on her hip, but she still managed to kill a bush buck baby and stash it high up in a tree.
     
  
   
  
Leopards have an intense look in their eyes. I didn't quite get the picture I was looking for, but I'll be back to try again.
     
  
We positioned ourselves to see this leopard (Tamboti female) through the weeds. We didn't realize she had a kill in the tree directly above us. Insult to injury she had a gaping wound on her hip, so she was not in a good mood and certainly didn't want to share her hard earned meal. Insult to insult to injury, we got stuck beneath that tree so we had to call for help to get us towed out twenty feet from an angry leopard.
  
On our first game drive in South Africa we saw this leopard just before the sun started to set. I've always wanted to get a leopard silhouette picture and this was my first reasonable crack at it.