WILD BREEDNG PHOTOS TAKEN TODAY...IN AFRICA

[DeanS]

A friend of mine emailed these from Africa...are they Gpb or Gpp?

 

[dmarcus]

Wow they are big and I like the darker spots they have everywhere..

 

[wellington]

I don't know, but I sure would like mine to get that size. Does anyone know if they get larger in the wild than the captive bred?

 

[Melly-n-shorty]

I like how the female looks like she is grazing while the guy is doing his thing. lol

 

[bigred]

I like how the female looks like she is grazing while the guy is doing his thing. lol

Thats exactly what I was thinking

 

[DeanS]

She's walking him in the first shot...and grazing in the second!

 

[l0velesly]

Wow, they're sulcata-sized! O_O

 

[Tom]

The last "scientific" paper I read said there are 11 "clades" of leopards in the wild. It was published in 2010 and said that there is only one species, no subspecies, and that these clades are made up of individuals with similar characteristics from various localities within the range. To complicate matters further, the humans on the African continent move them around quite a bit too.

So looking at the pic, I have no idea. While in South Africa, I saw one type of "South African Leopard" in the wild and captivity and a second type in captivity only. I also saw some captive ones of the type we call "babcocki here in the states. With the weathering, lack of size reference, dirty shells, and lack of clean plastron shots, I could only guess which one of the 11 types this is, and I'd probably be wrong. Those don't appear to have a lot of plastron markings and the South Africans that I've seen tend to have significant plastron markings. So its either a clade from South Africa that does not have significant plastron markings or its one of the types that we refer to as babcocki. OR, it could be one of the Ethiopians. The plastron photos that Richard Fife showed from his Ethiopian Leopard finding trip had no plastron markings.

Here in the states we have just the two types available, but even that is a mess due to "hybridization" and the fact that over the many years of importation, they came from all over the range and could be any of several of the 11 types.

Okay, now spill the beans. Where in Africa were these awesome pics taken? Those look like they could be in AZ or Santa Clarita with that scrub brush in the BG. Is this a trick question Dean?

 

[DesertGrandma]

Just looking at the shell, coloration and the eye's position on the head, I would say they more closely resemble the g.p.p. we have here in the states.

I am really curious about your observation of the eye position on the head. Will you describe what that means? Never realized you could tell a difference of the GPB and GPP by the head. Thanks.

 

[yagyujubei]

I will guess gpp as well . The male appears to me anyway to be in excess of 20" Judging by head size in relation to body size. I think I am seeing a plastron pattern on the male as well, although it looks mud covered. Also, the shell pattern is consistant with gpp.

 

[DeanS]

OK...he finally got back to me. They were on their way to Timbavati Reserve(to hopefully see the white lions). So, this romantic couple is South African, because Timbavati lies in the middle of Kruger National Park...

 

[Neal]

Check out the "flaring" of the front part of the carapace on both of them. That's a cool feature. Don't see that on a lot of them, mainly the ones in certain areas of the south.

 

[N2TORTS]

Check out the "flaring" of the front part of the carapace on both of them. That's a cool feature. Don't see that on a lot of them, mainly the ones in certain areas of the south.

No doubt Neal .... good eyes!... Dean thanks for posting very cool thread and cool friend to send you the pics ... thanks for sharing!
JD~

 

[dmarcus]

They also have less spikes on the front legs than what were use to seeing here..

 

[DesertGrandma]

Very cool pics. thanks for sharing these Dean.

 

[terryo]

Fantastic pictures.

 

[ALDABRAMAN]

Outstanding pictures.

 

[TortieLuver]

Great pics! Looks GPP to me