Leopard: The sharpest animal of Masai Mara | Animal Planet India

Leopards are beautiful and elusive cats. In the Mara region of Kenya, every chance encounter with a leopard is a treasured and remarkable one. Naturalist Jonathan Scott has been studying the big cats of the Mara for over 40 years. He and Mara experts Jackson Ole Luseya and Angela Scott have journeyed to the Masai Mara, a protected wildlife reserve, to reveal the secret life of the elusive leopard. Masai Mara is the heart of Kenya. There is no better place like this place we are standing right now. There is nothing as beautiful as Masai Mara. We always think of it as this little jewel that sits on top of the Serengeti because it is so rich, it's so abundant in so many different species. Masai Mara in Masai means spotted land. It's spotted like a leopard. Leopards are like shadows. They walk like a shadow. You don't see them. And it's exactly why I love leopards because it gives me that mystery. Can I find it? Can I see it? And the moment you see this powerful big cat, it just brings all the joy of searching for days and hours. Leopard are like gold, but boy, they're tough. So this is the Elaria rock lugger and the leopards love these. They'll walk down through the lugger itself or up amongst the bushes and they'll have their cubs tucked away sometimes in those bushes or in amongst the roots of a tree. And there's some beautiful big fig trees up here too, which the leopards love. And it can be incredibly frustrating. You know, you can go days sometimes without seeing a leopard, but I think, you know, you've got to work for the leopard. These are special creatures or certainly they're the creature that I most wanted to see when I came to Africa. I mean, you know, if you said to me, what's your favorite animal? I don't even have to think. Oh, is it a cheetah? Is it a land? No, leopard. The intensity of that look, eyes wide open, pupil just shut down to a pinhole. She's looking out there. Maybe she's seen prey. The creativity that has molded, shaped a creature like this, so as it is in perfect harmony with its environment. The leopard's camouflage spotted coat and talent for stealth help to prevent them from being hunted. They are extremely fast and agile, reaching speeds up to 58 kilometers an hour and leaping up to six meters. However, the explosion of the human population has reduced the leopard's historical range by 50%. Prized by hunters as trophies and for their beautiful spotted skins, leopards are under threat across the globe. Places like the Masai Mara Reserve and the adjacent wildlife conservancies protect leopards by defending their natural habitat. Here, they can live and raise their cubs in a safe environment. While the leopard is mostly a solitary creature, leopard cubs remain with their mother until they are a year and a half old. Fig is on the hunt. She's just been weaving along, and now she's got a position up in the tree where she can look out across the plains. She's definitely hunting. She's checking for prey. And of course, it's perfect for a leopard in a position like that with a good view high up for so far across the landscape. She can just wait for prey to move towards her so she doesn't have to continually be on the move searching. Sit, wait, opportunity comes your way, you're on. Here's Fig. She's hunting. She's come out of the tree. She's seen wildebeest with calves. That's the target. They must have spotted her. The fur of a leopard is dappled with spots and rosettes, unique to each individual. These beautiful coats work as camouflage, aiding their ability to hunt and hide from enemies. As leopards move through grass and thickets, they are nearly invisible to their unsuspecting prey. This is a constant game of cat and mouse between predator and prey, each trying to outwit the other. The prey trying to stay alive, the predator trying to get a meal. Leopards, along with the jaguar, are pound for pound the strongest of the big cats and are known to drag prey of the same weight high up into the trees. Mother leopards bring meals to their cubs and stash them in trees so they can eat safely away from dangers. We've been searching and searching looking for Larry and look what we've found. We've found Ndogo, one of our cubs. The good news is he's so well grown up. The last time we were with him, he was just a tiny little cub and now he is up a tree holding a meal that's quite big. It's a cub of a wildebeest. Did he kill that? I mean we filmed him when he was a small little cub. The chances of him to be able to kill and take kills up here by now is very remote. I would think the mother might have killed it. You see cubs successfully growing in a territory, especially here. We know there is so much competition, lions in particular. It's really, really exciting to see him. Leopards are some of the most intelligent and beautiful cats in the world and it is crucial we do everything we can to protect them. Protected areas like the Masai Mara and adjoining wildlife conservancies are hugely important to safeguarding the natural habitats of the region's big cats. There are no fences separating the Mara National Reserve 1500 square kilometres from the surrounding privately owned land, Masai land. And we call some of that area wildlife conservancies because the people, the Masai landowners, have made an agreement with the tour operators to create a model which is sustainable. So it's a win-win situation for the Masai and for wildlife. I think it's vitally important that we remember that these are wild creatures. They have evolved in these landscapes. We have to allow the cheetahs and the lions and the leopards to create their own balances and not to interfere. There is nowhere to compare with this place. There is nowhere with the abundance of wildlife, with the variety of landscape and with, of course, the tension brought to this scene by the big cats.