2nd Leopard Still in Icrisat, Suspected to be Pregnant

The forest department had been keeping a close watch on the campus’ vast grounds for the second leopard but have not found any conclusive evidence that the female was still inside Icrisat premises. The suspected presence of two leopards was reported from Icrisat on April 14.

“The forest department is continuing its monitoring with the installed camera traps and still has two trap cages with bait, in case the female leopard is still there. The monitoring will continue until it is certain the animal is no longer in the campus,” a forest department official said.

On the likelihood of the female being pregnant, the official said, “they were definitely mating and there is some drone imagery that showed this activity,” the official said.

Leopards do not have a specific breeding season, and can mate at any time during the year. They are known to mate frequently, up to four times an hour. Typically, this phase can last up to five days.

Though not every mating results in pregnancy, it cannot be ruled out either. If the female leopard has indeed conceived, then this raises the prospect of a pregnant leopard, getting increasingly restless, and possible growing short on patience as the days go by, inside the Icrisat campus, or roaming in that part of the city.

Once a leopard is pregnant and as this phase progresses, its behaviour will begin to change. It becomes restless and can be irritable from around the 50-60 day period into the pregnancy. Since hunting becomes harder for a pregnant leopard, they will start looking for easier prey like dogs, especially in an urban setting.

One thing to watch out is if there are rabid dogs in the area as if the leopard feeds on one, then it can catch the disease and will die from rabies, said Dr Satyaprakash Arun, wildlife veterinarian from the Sri Venkateswara Zoological Park in Tirupati, who has years of experience in catching leopards from the forests in Tirumala Hills and their surrounding areas.

That pregnant leopards can get restive was also agreed to by Dr M.A. Hakeem, deputy director and chief veterinarian at the Nehru Zoological Park. “Pregnant leopards tend to get restless, and restive, and do not like to be disturbed. In the zoo, when a leopard is found to be pregnant, we increase its feed by 25 per cent, and also give some additional calcium,” he said.

Typically, leopards have a gestation period of 105 to 110 days, and give birth to a litter of two or three cubs. At this stage, leopards tend to become extremely protective and consequently aggressive and not tolerate any disturbance.