4001-The Leopard Son

8/8/2019 4001-The Leopard Son

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The Leopard Son

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It didn’t take him long to get onto his new job.

The police are onto the robber’s plans.

I can't remember a time when I didn't love being with animals.

They were the most valuable part of my young life.

As soon as I could, I left for Africa to learn everything about

their world.

To be as close as possible to nature was what I always wanted.

It was a way of life that, in time, I chose for my family.

My son was raised in the wild, just the way I had dreamed of

when I was young.

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Here, over thirty-five years, many animals taught me many

things. But there was one story, a tale of coming of age and

exploration, I will never forget.

This is my Serengeti . http://74.125.153.132/search?

q=cache:s_LFwfvhL8MJ:en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serengeti+Serengeti&cd=3&hl=zh-TW&ct=clnk&gl=tw

In the beginning, like the majestic herds, I, too, was in search

of something. I know now what it was: life.

And in the midst of life, the knife-edge of dange r.

Wherever there is life there must also be death.

Arriving here from Europe I was stunned .

But even in this so rich a world (= such a rich world), there was

one animal always hovering on(at) the edge of my vision and

my dreams...

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http://74.125.153.132/search?q=cache:s_LFwfvhL8MJ:en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serengeti+Serengeti&cd=3&hl=zh-TW&ct=clnk&gl=tw






.. a trick of shadows and lights ...

...the unbelievably elusive leopard.

From that first day, I almost felt she'd single d me out

somehow.

It was as if she had a secret she wanted to share with me

alone.

I have always loved new moons, and dawns. They are both

about starting over , new beginnings. That's how it was one

bright dawn under a new moon when in the crook of an old

tree I discovered the future.

Woman standing in crook of tree

So comfortable in his world, he seemed to consider the entire3

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universe his playground, filled with wonders.

But there were dangers as well.

Watching her, I suddenly knew I was watching every mother,

my mother even, scanning the bush for any and every threat.

Still, I worried every time he left the safety of his tree to go out

into the wild world. But I could not teach him. That was his

mother's work.

Every day is a mixture of affection and learning.

This is not just play. It's learning to hunt. To survive, he must

become an athlete.

He must also learn patience. When it's time for his mother to

leave, he seeks out a safe hollow and stays there. Sometimes

she's gone all day.

……………………………………………

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Usually when his mother left, it was to hunt. But on this day, it

was to patrol her territory.

Tree marking announces her presence. These are serious

boundaries and with a new cub, they're especially important to

warn away competing females.

Her territory covers twenty-five square miles.

Some, however, take little notice of such boundaries.

Lions ruthlessly kill any competitors.

Sometimes a leopard's best defense is magic. One minute

there, and then.

Some animals never lack for company.

Others have more solitary childhoods.

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When I consider it, the cub's secluded life reminded me of my

son, who grew up with us in the wild. Like a cub, he played

alone. He shared his world with wild and sometimes

dangerous creatures, some more dangerous than others.

The snake eagle, like a wise sentinel, had seen it all before, the

quest for food, life amid danger, the return to the tree of life.

The white tip of his mother's tail was like a banner. It always

led to adventure.

While the cub grew up, the mother would have to be patient.

When you're small, you think the hard part of growing up is the

physical part, the effort it takes. But I remember as I got older,

the really hard part had to do with confidence. And that

always seemed impossibly out of reach.

In the Serengeti, time is a witness to all change, all progress.

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The snake eagle had witnessed most of the cub's growing up.

He'd been his companion from afar, a source of wonder. At a

year old, the cub had visited every part of his mother's world

and was familiar with all its creatures.

The snake eagle knew, however, that there was much more,

that there was a world beyond the mother's territory. Yes,

there was a great deal more. This is the plain where man first

walked.

The leopard son was older now, but was still not wise enough

in the ways of the world. He still needed his mother.

Like my son, he'd gone up the tree of life a child and come

down a man, but a young man.

For him, life was still a game.

The mother has not only her grown son to cope with, but his

bigger appetite as well. He eats as much as she does, but only

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she is skilled enough to hunt.

Even with all her stealth and experience, it's no sure thing.

This is a lesson of the wild. Thomson gazelles can only survive

as a species if they stay one step ahead of their predators.

To succeed, she must get much closer.

He's supposed to be watching, but he's distracted by a termite

mound.

Out here, however, any lapse of attention can be fatal.

Unaware of the lioness, another Tommy herd approaches the

last remnant of water.

Reunions are the best time of day. This is what all social

animals live for.

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Hyenas, too, bond in great, affectionate clans.

With the lions far off, they need not fear them this evening.

Dawn. During the night, the hyenas have gone hunting,

leaving only a single female to guard the den.

I've never seen lions eat hyenas. They just kill any meat-

eaters to get rid of competition. It's sad. You'd like to

intervene. But invariably you make things worse. If too many

competitors survive, the lions starve.

Trees in the end are not just home. They're safety, for both

leopards and snake eagles.

I've seen leopards eat almost anything, fish, pythons,

porcupines and birds. I was certain that the leopard son would

kill the chick.

But no. Probably the cub wasn't hungry.

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Temperature here seventy-five feet above the Serengeti

regularly soars above a hundred degrees. Mother snake

eagles cope by mantling over their young.

Leopards stay cool by panting.

Others seek out patches of tree shade, protection that can be

deceptive.

Hyenas are used to the sounds of death and arrive instantly,

with larceny in their hearts.

In areas where there are no hyenas, leopards don't drag their

kills up trees.

Sometimes it seems the Serengeti is all about the next

generation. A cheetah and her cubs traveling in search of

prey.

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It's always this way. It's a mistake to underestimate the fierce

determination of a mother.

Early birds, even lovebirds, can murder sleep.

Age goes about the day's work, while youth rests.

But it's no good. He might as well try something else.

What was it about giraffes? Plainly, they were too big to hunt.

But it was fun to make them jump.

This looks like a game, but it's so much more.

It's about determination and persistence.

It's learning how the world works.

Evening was fast approaching. Even with Tommys in her

territory, the mother had been unsuccessful.

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An untimely thorn in his paw, unfortunately, exposes him.

The leopard seems safe for the moment at least, out of the

lion's reach.

Soon, however, the lion is on to more pressing business. He'd

recently taken over the lion pride. Lions need to assert

themselves to make sure everyone knows who's in charge.

Life can only return to normal when they move off.

At long last, his mother returns.

After his encounter with the lion, he's eager to be with her

again.

He's larger than she is, but he still craves a mother's affection.

It's as if he wants to cling to her with his tail, as if this will stop

her leaving again.

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If he's to survive, he needs independence. He has to succeed

on his own. Love and

independence is the same thing humans need. Too much or

too little of either, and no child prospers.

She's led him to a tree where she's stashed a kill.

To my surprise, however, she did not join him.

Little did I or the leopard son know this would be the last meal

she'd provide. He was on his own.

It's been a week since the son feasted. In the past, his mother

had been away that long only when prey was scarce. I felt he

was convinced she'd soon be back. This was normal. So he

was as playful as ever, toying with the skin of his last meal.

Just above, another of nature's dramas. Another generation

was learning to be self-sufficient.

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He's reduced to chewing the old hide. If he doesn't' make a kill

soon, he'll be too weak to hunt.

I'd hoped his first hunt would show promise.

I was wrong.

The sausage trees are again in bloom, attracting all manner of

creatures to their sweet profusion.

Surely, I felt, this would be a place where even he could hunt.

It's not long before the Tommys return, recklessly drawn to the

tree's fallen blossoms.

Finally he could eat.

With the grasses desiccated, the gazelles are reduced to

browsing the few struggling bushes. Was fate conspiring

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against him? Now he's learned to hunt, the Tommys are about

to migrate.

The landscape would soon be empty.

If he expected to eat again, he'd have to leave his mother's

territory.

He'd have to become a stranger in a strange land.

Along the way, he sees wonders he'd never dreamt of, a dry

lake, encrusted with salt as white as snow. But as always,

there is trouble.

This is predation with a huge risk. I've seen mud under the

crust reach down more than ten feet, deep enough to swallow

a Land Rover.

It's a fossil bed in the making.

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While the lions are occupied with eating, the leopard son has

the freedom to move about. A new herd of gazelles has

arrived.

But hunting a herd is a far different matter. So many eyes.

How far he'd come. The land of youth was well behind him.

He'd made his farewells to all the old haunts.

How long I wondered before he arrived at the place he was

seeking? Then, a gang of five cheetahs.

They were creatures like him. It almost seemed he craved

their company. I knew it could never be.

Plainly the Tommys knew their reputation.

A determined hyena will always have his way on a cheetah kill.

A meal is just not worth the risk of injury, not with so many

plump Tommys about.

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There are other diversions, however.

Cheetahs love tormenting jackals, which they could easily run

down if they truly wanted to.

The game ends with the arrival of a spoilsport. Slender

cheetahs are no match for baboons.

Baboons and leopards are ancient enemies.

And the great males have huge, sharp teeth. I had no idea

how far the baboons would take this.

As with humans, a big mouth is important in intimidation and

dominance.

Noise earns its keep by making bloodshed unnecessary.

He's been taught a lesson and will be forever less likely to

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bother a baboon.

Leaving the tree too early before the baboons are completely

gone shows how inexperienced he still was.

There's only one defense: thick cover.

For the victorious baboons, life is doubly good. A bumper

harvest of acacia blossoms.

His journey had brought him to the land of the kopjes, rocky

outcrops that provide water and cover for all manner of

creatures.

And then this. The horizon loomed like a vast curtain of dust.

The world was becoming a desert.

Just when this wasteland seems about to suffocate...

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...all nature it seemed was trumpeting a season of change.

The wildebeest were returning to the short grass plains,

coming home for the tender shoots that had prompted them to

walk a thousand miles.

At last he'd arrived, only to be greeted by a presence he could

never shake.

Lions are a nightmare.

Why had he traveled all this way? Just for food? Like any

teenager, like my son or like me, in fact, maybe this was about

discovering new things.

Night had been a success for the leopard son. He now had the

skills he'd need for life.

Little did he know his greatest tests were yet to come.

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Why did he leave his tree? Hoping to make another kill?

Ordinarily, trees gave him confidence, superiority.

But there are still things he has to learn.

He's either wildly overconfident or totally unaware she's

climbed the tree, a reckless oversight.

Now, only the thinnest of branches atop of the tree can save

him.

She's distracted by the presence of elephants. Lions

sometimes kill small elephant cubs. But adults fiercely protect

their young.

he son's bad luck continues.

He's lost a meal. But he'll learn it's far better to lose a carcass

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than to be one.

This was the closest he'd come to losing his life.

Suddenly he looked to me so lonely. And in that instant, the

call of home was in the air.

It was the companion of his youth.

Once the world is grasped, we all return home one way or

another, home to the tree of life.

It was his mother. She'd given birth to twins.

She was a good mother. Even at eleven years old, she was in

prime condition and I felt she'd be able to raise her new son

and daughter successfully. But as always, the urge to hunt

meant leaving her cubs behind.

But for the son, the call of home had been much greater than I

thought. I was amazed. It's unknown for adult males to return

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to their mothers.

I was excited. No one has ever seen an adult brother confront

his younger siblings before. But would he accept the twins?

Lions kill cubs not related to them. But leopards?

My only hope was that he'd recognize his mother's scent.

Even if he did, would that protect his brother and sister?

For the first time in two years, I had no idea what he'd do.

The son had seen the lion and so stayed in the tall grass. His

mother's scent was all around. But where was she?

It sounded as if the lion had caught something. But he walked

away.

None of the rest of the pride seemed interested either.

But for some reason, he was.

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Some lessons are hard, others harder still. It was his mother,

killed by the lion.

It's those left behind who suffer most.

He had lost everything and he was alone.

Or was he?

No, he still had the land of his youth. This would be his

inheritance.

All was just as he remembered it.

At every turn, there were old, comforting sounds and sights.

All along, I knew my time with the leopard son would some day

come to a close. But for him this was no end. It was a new

beginning in an old place.

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As if by magic, there was a new voice in the land, a female

sawing.

It was a sweet song, a song that could pour honey into the

heart of any leopard son.

Would there ever be such another leopard son?

Tomorrow, I start looking all over again.

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*********

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4001-The Leopard Son

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