Collage from the programme
Photo Credit: Animal Planet
LIONS AND leopards have always fought to the death. They are contrary to each other. Rivals on the same hunting grounds, they are deadly enemies. In addition, they are complete opposites as their temperament, style of hunting, and the way they raise their young ones differ to a great extent. Just as we humans say that opposites attract, even the most bitter adversaries in the animal kingdom can forge bonds under certain circumstances. Animal Planet's The Lioness and the Leopard witnesses the unprecedented story of two wild queens of the savannah, and their most uncommon friendship.
They are both the feline assets of the wilderness- sleek and slinky predators that exude confidence and power. However, struggling for supremacy over the same territory and competing for a similar game has made their races warring enemies. Filmed over several years, The Lioness and the Leopard followed two orphans as they grew and developed against the normal course of nature in South Africa's Tshukudu Game Reserve (Hoedspruit).
Mandla was a young female leopard who lost her mother and, adopted by farmers, based in an area near the reserve. She was injured by a male leopard shortly after she was born. In Zulu, "Mandla" means "one who has the power". But she was not the only one who had attained the human association. A lioness called Tamu too was looked after by some residents at the same time, following a wonderful parallel. "Tamu", however, is a Swahili word that means "the sweet one". Quite unexpectedly, she was abandoned by her mother. These two felines eventually formed up a strong friendship as they grew up together. Picked up by farmers, the two played and grew up together, but were dropped back into the wild shortly after turning two. After being reintroduced into the wild domains, the two cubs realised not just their freedom but also the fears and solitary gains of being left to fend for themselves. After getting into adolescence, they were relocated to a part of the reserve.
According to their instinct, Mandla got much more familiar with the new territory with quick success. Tamu, by contrast, faced a lot more trouble in hunting. The close bondage between them got slimmer and slimmer as Tamu used to snatch Mandla's kills on a regular basis- just what a wild lion would do in the natural habitat. As cubs, their fates were closely linked and defied the laws of the savannah for the time being. Inevitably, hunger drove them apart as it brought out the innate nature of the different species: Mandla is resourceful while Tamu is nonchalant; Mandla hunted alone but Tamu badly needed her pride or at least a skilful company to hunt down. Ironically, Mandla guided while Tamu followed and observed. Mandla suffered a massive shock when a big pride of lions forcefully grabbed a reedbuck that was killed by her, prompting her to assume the ultimate reality of the lions.
A year later, Tamu had got a male lion on her tail, and they coupled up. It was quite a hostile predicament to both of them as they were living in the heart of a territory of a big lion pride. Meanwhile, Mandla was transformed into a solitary female leopard. In that year, Tamu turned out to be a proud mother of two male cubs. Being a lonely lioness, she could not have been accepted by other females in the customised structure of a lion pride. She was sharing the same affection and compassion that she once exchanged with her leopard friend. A wonderful sense of familial bonding was forming up. Her mate was still with her. So, she stood a better chance to hold her patch of ground profoundly. Mandla too had given birth to a litter of two cubs- a male and a female. Both of the cats eventually had transformed into an ordinary lifestyle. Their friendship, however, was an exception, caused by the human intervention in their early life. Nature herself justifies her universal rule by settling down them at their patches.
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