A little leopard, out on the edge of the desert

TheLastGreen

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For those interested, my grandparents went on a trip to the Kgalagadi transfrontier park. They were a few kilometres past the border when they spot this fellaIMG-20220428-WA0001.jpgIMG-20220428-WA0000.jpg
I never knew they lived in that area? Some maps show they go far North into Africa, but miss this area. The park does say this is a tort hotspot, so do they live in a semi desert area? Recent rains have caused the park to go from sparse desert with a few grass spots to thisIMG-20220422-WA0009.jpg
All of that should be sand, but now it's fields. It thus seems that our little leopard friend has taken advantage of the circumstances and ventured into this area
Here's a map showing where the image was taken, near the Nossob checkpointScreenshot_20220428-205441_Maps.jpg
 

Thomas tortoise

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For those interested, my grandparents went on a trip to the Kgalagadi park. They were a few kilometres past the border when they spot this fellaView attachment 343913View attachment 343912
I never knew they lived in that area? Some maps show they go far North into Africa, but miss this area. The oark does say this is a tort hotspot, so do they live in a semi desert area? Recent rains have caused the park to go from sparse desert with a few grass spots to thisView attachment 343914
All of that should be sand, but now it's fields. It thus seems that our little leopard friend has taken advantage of the circumstances and ventured into this area
Here's a map showing where the image was taken, near the Nossob checkpointView attachment 343915
Interesting...
 

Tom

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That's pretty cool. Thanks for posting.

Any closer pics of the tortoise? I'm trying to zoom in and I can't tell if that is a leopard tortoise or not.
 

TheLastGreen

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That's pretty cool. Thanks for posting.

Any closer pics of the tortoise? I'm trying to zoom in and I can't tell if that is a leopard tortoise or not.
I'll check, my grandfather said when the tort noticed him he bolted, but I'll checkScreenshot_20220428-211644_Samsung Internet.jpgIt's a bit pixelated, but I see little drops or splodges on every scute, that's what made me think it was a leopard, do you think it could be a padloper?
 

zovick

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I'll check, my grandfather said when the tort noticed him he bolted, but I'll checkView attachment 343916It's a bit pixelated, but I see little drops or splodges on every scute, that's what made me think it was a leopard, do you think it could be a padloper?
Shell shape doesn't seem highly domed enough for a Leopard to me.

How about a Chersina angulata? If they occur in that area, that would be my first guess due to the shape of the shell that I can make out from the photos. Color is not 100% right for that species, but the colors do vary a bit.

Padloper is not impossible, either, though.
 

Tom

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Shell shape doesn't seem highly domed enough for a Leopard to me.

How about a Chersina angulata? If they occur in that area, that would be my first guess due to the shape of the shell that I can make out from the photos. Color is not 100% right for that species, but the colors do vary a bit.

Padloper is not impossible, either, though.
I have Chersina on the brain at the moment, so I thought my mind might be filling in "blanks" that weren't really there. Glad I'm not the only one.

Another thought I had, though certainly not native, was a little sulcata. The park calls that area a "tortoise hot spot" so is it possible that sulcata were introduced at some point?

I wish we had a better picture... But still super cool to see a wild tortoise. So rare to see babies like this, and that makes me think you might be right about the padloper. If that were the case, we are not looking at baby exposed to the world. It would be an adult.
 

MaNaAk

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I think it's a baby Sulcata because of the patterns on the shell and you can just about make out the beginnings of the spurs.

MaNaAk
 
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