EYE OF THE LEOPARD (2006) 4 of 9

All rights belong to NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

"Eye of the Leopard" provides an intimate view into the life of Legadema, a young leopard growing up in Mombo, Botswana.

Filmmakers Dereck and Beverly Joubert started documenting Legadema's life when she was just eight days old. For the next three years, they captured every step of her life in high definition, watching as Legadema transformed from cub to leopardess.

The film is not a typical nature documentary, but a series of flashbacks to Legadema's youth. As Legadema positions herself to ambush a group of vervet monkeys, for example, the film takes us back to when she first learned this behavior by observing her mother hunting monkeys 60 feet up in the forest. Through this observation, Legadema learns a key behavior: gain the high ground first and hunt down.

We meet Legadema's father, who kills a buffalo. And we spend time with her mother as she teaches her young cub about baboons, lions, hyenas and other leopards.

Nearing adulthood, Legadema makes a desperate mistake when she snatches her mother's kill but drops the carcass to hyenas waiting below. Her mother spats and hisses at her and chases her away.

Ultimately, we see Legadema make her first large kill by herself, making the final rite of passage in her journey from cub to leopardess. But it is bittersweet, for just then she hears her mother's cub call and follows. But this time the call is not meant for her. Mother has new cubs. Now Legadema is ready to go out on her own, armed with the instinct and training to create her own legacy as a leopard.




AMUR LEOPARD CONSERVATION
With 30 in the wild, it is the most endangered big cat species on Earth. ALTA is implementing a wide series of projects to save the species. Support at: http://www.amur-leopard.org

BIOSPHERE EXPEDITIONS
Their philosophy is based on a voluntarism principle, where you will spend your holidays helping scientists on a conservation project, see : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_VTteMmrJ4
Here is their leopard conservation project in Namibia http://www.biosphere-expeditions.org/2-week-expeditions/wildlife-volunteering...
And this is their Arabian leopard conservation project in Oman:
http://www.biosphere-expeditions.org/oman


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LEOPARD CONSERVATION STATUS (IUCN)

Near Threatened
AFRICAN LEOPARD, occurs across most of sub-Saharan Africa
INDIAN LEOPARD, is widely distributed on the Indian subcontinent
INDO-CHINESE LEOPARD, mainland Southeast Asia & southern China
All increasingly rare outside protected areas. Populations are decreasing

Endangered
PERSIAN LEOPARD, fewer than 871-1,290 mature ind., declining pop.
SRI LANKAN LEOPARD, Sri Lanka
NORTH CHINESE LEOPARD, Northern China

Critically Endangered
JAVAN LEOPARD, from 350-700 to 250 or even 100 mature individuals.
ARABIAN LEOPARD, less than 200 in 2006, pop. decreasing.
AMUR LEOPARD, 30 in the wild, most endangered big cat on Earth.
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HUMAN THREAT
Mainly habitat loss. But leopards are also:
killed for commercial reasons (fur, others), leopard-human conflict, hunted for fun. Kept unfree (zoos..., in small cages without vegetation + exhibited all day to another species). Used as tourist attractions. Petted. And surely others.
.

Category:

Pets & Animals

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[CheshireMara]

Omg that lion! How silent does a cat have to be to sneak up on another cat? O.o

[LOLMAN22]

tough life

[TheCarvingman]

I LOVE AFRICA =-D

[MsAKSfan]

Ah... beautiful Leopard... this must be the Vampire of the Wild... LOL I love um....

[MrNaziShadow]

@marcdaddy33 500+ pounds of saggy balls cant climb shit XD

[yasowaso]

Hyenas can tell him apart from other leopards! He must be a living nightmare.

[marcdaddy33]

too bad lions can't climb trees

[quiggc1]

@cultusdeus, I picture leopards growling like mountain lions.

[cultusdeus]

I love the snarl at 1: 26 from the leopard.

[InkDropFalls]

his the ninja of cats ...stealth kills like a ninja limbs like a wll running ninja