How to translate text using browser tools
1 April 2013 Long-Distance Natal Dispersal in Leopard Reveals Potential for a Three-Country Metapopulation
Julien Fattebert, Tristan Dickerson, Guy Balme, Rob Slotow, Luke Hunter
Author Affiliations +
Abstract

Natal dispersal is a key spatially structuring demographic process for many species but is poorly known for wide-ranging carnivores, especially in cryptic, solitary species such as the leopard (Panthera pardus). We report a failed long-distance natal dispersal of a subadult male leopard (M67) in Maputaland, southern Africa, the longest reported for the species. M67 traversed three countries covering a minimum distance of 352.8 km, with a straight-line distance of 194.5 km between his natal range and the site of his death. His movements reveal potential linkages between leopard populations in southern Mozambique, Swaziland, northern KwaZulu-Natal and the Greater Kruger Ecosystem, which might represent a functioning leopard metapopulation currently regarded as separate conservation units.

Julien Fattebert, Tristan Dickerson, Guy Balme, Rob Slotow, and Luke Hunter "Long-Distance Natal Dispersal in Leopard Reveals Potential for a Three-Country Metapopulation," South African Journal of Wildlife Research 43(1), 61-67, (1 April 2013). https://doi.org/10.3957/056.043.0108
Received: 14 April 2013; Accepted: 1 April 2013; Published: 1 April 2013
KEYWORDS
leopard
Maputaland
natal dispersal
Panthera pardus
population linkage
RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS
Get copyright permission
Back to Top