Leopards of Wilpattu

2nd February 2020 at 8.20am three leopards at Aalam Villu. N 08.40289, E 079.95450
We drove down to Aalam Villu and spotted an adult female Leopard lying down on a small sand patch across the water body. Two other young female leopards were seen to our right and were walking towards the female. Their walk would suddenly break in to a sprint, as one would playfully chase the other. Upon reaching their mother the two cubs started to rub their heads against her. After a few minutes the adult female stood up and moved in the direction of the forest followed by one cub. The other was still lying down on the sand patch. Having walked up to the forest edge the adult female turned and looked back at the cub still lying down. Almost instantly the cub walked up to her mother.  There after they all moved in to the forest. Later upon examination of their spot patterns I was able to identify the mother as the Panikkar Villu Female 2 (PVFC 2). I had photographed this female in January 2015 at Panikkar Villu sand patch when she was a cub of 5 months. In August 2017 I observed her with an adult male (Aalam Villu Male 2) at Aalam Villu. There after in November 2018 I was fortunate enough to see her two cubs for the first time at Panikkar Villu when they were about 4 months of age. I was only able to photograph one of them then and named it Panikkar Villu Female 3 (PVFC 3). Upon receiving images of the other cub from those who share their images with me I have listed it under Leopards of Wilpattu – Guest section as Panikkar Villu Leopard 3. I was thrilled with this sighting as this female is quite elusive.  Until now I was not able to determine the mother of these two cubs, as I had not received any images of them with their mother. The mother is 5 years and 4 months and the cubs a year and six months of age as at now. As this is my first sighting of the second cub I named it Panikkar Villu Female 4 (PVFC 4). (with guide Hashan Madushanka)

20th November 2018 at 9.45am 2 Leopard cubs at Panikkar villu. N 08.39854, E 079.95776

We drove from Nelum Wila and turned on to the Panikkar villu bungalow road. The two cubs were few feet off the road and moved quickly in to the forest. I managed to get a few images of one cub that was curious enough to look in our direction prior to moving in to the forest. I estimated their age to be around 3 - 4 months. This is my first sighting of this cub.  Even though I was not able to determine its sex during my sighting, this cub was photographed, on the 23rd November 2018, by Isuru Dayananda who kindly shared his images with me which enabled me to determine that it’s a female.  I named it Panikkar Villu Female 3 (PVFC 3). ( with guide Tissa Ratnayake)