Introducing the Nottens 4:4 Male – Londolozi Blog

Over the last couple of months there have been a handful of sightings of a young male leopard in the southern most reaches of Londolozi. Rangers and trackers are quite excited about the prospects of yet another new young male leopard roaming the reserve. Albeit not originally from the Londolozi area, I’ll bring to light a little bit more information about his background and journey thus far.

He is officially known as the Nottens 4:4 Male. Those of you who know the leopards of Londolozi quite well might have even been able to guess who his father is after having seen him featured in my latest TWIP. This young male is a spitting image of his father, the Nweti Male. For his age, at almost 3 years old, he is also a relatively large individual. We suspect that because of this, he will not have any trouble in becoming a successful territorial male down the line. Other males such as the Misava Male have not been as fortunate.

The Nottens Male sits atop a termite mound after a missed attempt at a sounder of warthogs.

His mother is the Ntsumi Female, who we occasionally see from time to time. Mainly viewed when she’s on a territorial patrol, demarcating the most northern extent of her territory. The Nottens Male has spent most of his life thus far south of our southern boundary, so he was never viewed on Londolozi whilst growing up. As far as we know, the Nottens Male did have a female litter-mate, but unfortunately as is the case with most young leopards, she did not make it.

Father of the Nottens Male, the very impressive Nweti Male.

What’s quite interesting is that he was forced into a relatively early independence by his mother. Normally male leopards will stay with their mothers for about 2 years before starting to venture off on their own. The Ntsumi Female currently has 2 cubs that are about 7 months old already. This means that the Nottens Male would have had to learn to fend for himself a little earlier than most males.

We’ve seen the Ntomi Male staying within the Senegal Bush Male’s territory, his father, for an extra layer of safety. The Nottens Male who is only a little younger, is doing the same with his father, the Nweti Male. Young nomadic males will quite literally follow in the footsteps of their fathers, keeping ‘hot on their heels’ as it were. If he stays within the near vicinity of his father, he’s less likely to be in danger from another larger male.

The Nweti Male has a powerful presence throughout his enormous territory. As his rasps ripple through the landscape in the still of the night, other males who are foreign to the area will know to stay clear or else be faced with danger. This is what will allow the Nottens Male to venture beyond his mother’s territory that he knows so well, and become accustomed to a new, larger area where he can explore and expand his horizons. This means that we can expect to come across the Nottens Male anywhere within the Nweti Male’s territory, aside from its very outskirts.

The Nottens Male explores the area around Piva Pan.

Although the thought of him staying around long-term is very exciting, the density of male leopards is very high at the moment and we believe that he will disperse further afield. He is still too young to pose a challenge to any of the bigger males around the area. It’s always incredibly exciting nonetheless, and because this particular male is so beautiful and supremely relaxed like his father, he will certainly be providing some good leopard viewing down in the southern parts of Londolozi.

We will definitely put out some more updates on him if he does decide to stay around a little longer than we expect. Speaking of which, this has turned out to be the case with the Kangela Male. Stay tuned for an update coming up about him in the coming weeks.