While the recent icy weather in the Cederberg would have most running indoors for a mug of steaming Leopard’s Leap gluwein, Quinton Martins and his hard-working team at the Cape Leopard Trust have done it again. Just a few weeks ago, their diligence was rewarded when they captured another male leopard, the elusive M2.This brings the total number of male leopards captured to eight since its inception in 2003.

Although the monitoring of the leopard cages call for qualities of patience and tenacity, this one was particularly long-in-the-tooth. Before being installed at its current site, it had to be carried a couple of kilometers over the rocky Mount Ceder terrain. It then took over a year and a half before luring and capturing its highly desirable treasure.

Weighing in at 44kg, an unusually large size for this species, M2, is affectionately known as “Oom Arrie”, after the manager of the Bakkrans game reserve, where the research base is located.
After being collared, he was released back at the cage, and will be monitored over the next 14 months.