116 



THE BEASTS OF PREY. 



At a cursory glance we might deem the spotted 

 fur of the Leopard much too bright for a successful 

 life of rapine, in which the prey must be overpowered 

 by stealthy, unperceived movements. But even a 

 superficial consideration of the native country of 

 the animal dispels these ideas. Whoever has seen 

 his haunts personally, finds it only natural that so 

 brightly clothed an animal should disappear in their 

 vegetation and their rocks. These animals are found 

 in large numbers wherever there are extensive forests 

 with a dense growth of underbrush. They do not 

 like grassy plains, although they are frequently met 

 in other open places and in the plantations and fields 

 surrounding settlements. Mountains are a favorite 

 resort for them, for high elevations abound in game 

 and furnish excellent places of concealment. 



The Leopard Notwithstanding his moderate size, the 

 a Terrible Leopard is a truly terrible foe to all an- 

 ^°^- imals and even to human beings, though 

 he avoids Man as long as possible. He is a master 

 in all athletic accomplishments, and craftier than 

 other Beasts of Prey; so that he catches even the 

 most wary or the fleetest of game. He climbs a 

 pole or tree as well as any Cat, and is quite as often 

 found on trees as on the level ground. In case of 

 necessity he can swim streams of considerable width. 

 It is only in movement that he shows his full beauty. 

 He is so full of lithe, easy gracefulness that one can 

 not fail to enjoy watching him, however one may hate 

 him for his cruelty. Nothing denotes the slightest 

 effort in his soft, rounded movements; his feet tread 

 as gently as if they carried the lightest of bodies, 

 and the Leopard delights the eye to an extent 

 equaled only by one other much smaller beast of 

 prey — the Genette. 



Unfortunately his intellectual gifts do not harmo- 

 nize with his extremal beauty; at least, not according 

 to our standard. The Leopard is crafty, ill-natured, 

 ferocious, vindictive and by no means cowardly. In 

 Africa he is, like the Jaguar in America, sometimes 

 called Tiger, for this name is thought to designate 

 the embodiment of cruelty, and no other Cat is as 

 worthy of the name as he. He kills all the creatures 

 he can, be they large or small, aggressive or defense- 

 less. His principal food is probably furnished by 

 Antelopes, Jackals, Sheep and Goats, but he also 

 climbs after Monkeys and catches birds of all kinds. 

 Anything in the animal world serves him for prey 

 although, according to Pechuel-Loesche's observa- 

 tion, he also devours the fruit of the oil-palm. The 

 Baboons always have him at their heels. He pre- 

 vents these animals from becoming too numerous, as 

 may be seen in the mountains where the Leopard 

 does not range, the Dog-headed Monkeys being 

 found there in much larger numbers than elsewhere. 



He is said to cause fearful slaughter in herds guarded 

 by enclosures, and will kill a dozen or more Sheep in 

 a single night. That is why the- herdsmen fear him 

 more than the other Carnivora, which stop with a 

 single victim. He is also an inveterate Chicken thief. 



Exciting En- The Leopard gave me a personal proof 

 counter with a of his intrepidity. One day we were 

 Leopard. riding on horseback through a part of 

 the Bogos mountains. Suddenly we heard the bark- 

 ing of Baboons over our heads and decided to try 

 our guns on them. The servants were left in the 

 valley with the Mules, while we climbed the mount- 

 ain and, having selected a convenient spot, fired at 

 the Baboons. They were perched at a great eleva- 

 tion, and most of our shots failed to reach them. 

 Some of them did, though, and the victims either 



fell or escaped wounded. A very old Baboon came 

 staggering down the mountain-wall, and we thought 

 we would surely find him dead in the valley. 



Suddenly there was a terrible uproar among the 

 Monkeys and then sounds of tumult reached us from 

 the valley. All the male Baboons advanced to the 

 edge of their roc1s:s, grunted, growled and roared, 

 and furiously beat the earth with their fists. All eyes 

 looked downward and a few of the strongest males 

 started to climb down. We thought they were going 

 to attack us and reloaded our guns with a little more 

 haste. The noise'from below grew greater, our Dogs 

 barked, and at last we heard the words: "Help! 

 help! a Leopard!" We looked down and saw a Leop- 

 ard making straight for our servants. He seemed 

 occupied with something else on the way, but his 

 body concealed the object from our view. Then two 

 shots followed and all became quiet, except for the 

 barking of the Dogs. 



Events had happened so quickly, that we did not 

 know what the matter could be. So we hurried down 

 at once, and found our servants staring at a bush in 

 every possible attitude. "There is the Leopard," 

 they cried. Cautiously I approached the bush, but 

 could see no trace of the beast. Then one of them 

 pointed to a particular spot, and I saw a dead Leop- 

 ard lying close before me. About ten paces farther 

 off lay a dead Baboon. 



Now we had an explanation of everything. In 

 mounting we had probably passed quite close to the 

 Leopard. Then we had fired about ten shots, whose 

 report had been re-echoed by the rocks. Upon this, 

 the Leopard had rushed on the wounded, descending 

 Monkey, in spite of the Men he had seen and heard, 

 undeterred by the loud reports of the guns which 

 had frightened all the other animals, and heedless of 

 the broad daylight. Sitting on the Baboon as on a 

 Horse, he rode down into the valley, nothing daunted 

 by the shouts of the servants. The cook said that 

 he then, being " frightened to death," had seized one 

 of my guns and shot at random, the bullet luckily 

 piercing the Leopard through the chest. Then he 

 had killed the Baboon without being quite clear why 

 he had done so. Investigation brought to light the 

 fact that the Leopard had put his claws into the 

 Monkey's face, tearing deep holes in it, while he had 

 in some places let his hind paws drag. 



Destruction In villages and cities lying • in the 



Caused woods, the Leopard makes frequent 



by Leopards, attacks upon dwellings. Before the 



.very eyes of people he seizes upon his prey and 



drags it away, paying no attention to the shouts and 



noises of the spectators. Every domestic animal is 



food for him. He is fond of Dogs, too, though they 



object strongly, and resist being carried away. In 



many localities the natives are compelled to build 



strong stables for their domestic animals, so as to 



protect them during the night. 



When the female Leopard thinks her cubs are in 

 danger, she rushes at her foes in a mad rage. There 

 are also instances on record, where Leopards have 

 attacked people without any reason. In Abyssinia 

 such things happen every year, especially to children. 

 In Western Africa they also become dangerous to the 

 inhabitants at times. 



Government statistics in India show that in the 

 decade from 1876 to 1886, 2,368 people were killed 

 by Panthers, the number killed in a single year 

 ranging frorn 194 to 300. It does not say how many 

 of these accidents were caused by wounded or irri- 

 tated beasts. Sanderson says that he knows of no 



