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Species Name: Zanzibar Leopard (Panthera pardus adersi)
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There are many stories on Zanzibar about leopards that take away the goats of farmers. Victoria Cox wrote a legend of a leopard that people would follow to where it was hiding a child it had taken from the village. After the villagers managed to shoot the leopard and take the child back, they villagers cited an elderly man who had used a kind of prayer to make the leopard get out of its cave and to make it let go of the child. An Islamic legend tells that the Prophet Muhammad had once seized a poisonous animal by the neck and left the mark of his fingers upon it, protecting all leopards from being killed by Muslims. Leopards were said to have the ability to understand human language and it was considered bad luck to point at a leopard. Both of these myths show the ways in which leopards were deeply ingrained in the society and culture of Zanzibar.
The Zanzibar Leopard (Panthera pardus adersi) is a subspecies of leopard which was native to Unguja, the main island of the Zanzibar archipelago. Because the last known Zanzibar leopard was shot in 1996, they are presumed to be extinct. The Zanzibar leopard, with a particularly large and broad skull, has been classified as being particularly close to the leopard populations of West Africa. Leopards in general are renowned for their ability to adapt to a wide range of habitats, which is reflected in the Zanzibar leopard’s ability to survive not only in the archipelago’s unsettled forests, but also in the more densely populated areas. Leopards are known to breed throughout the year, with a peak of activity during the wet season. The female’s estrus cycle lasts about 46 days and typically lasts 6-7 days. The gestation period is about 96 days. Usually, only 1-2 cubs are born.
The Zanzibar leopard is golden-yellow with large, widely spaced rosettes and small black spots. The coat is short and coarse. The bridged skull is heavily built. It has long legs, deep chest, and a powerful lower jaw. There is evidence of sexual dimorphism, where males are larger than females. There are a number of abnormalities reported from the field including a leopard with a mane measuring 20 cm long and 5 cm thick on the neck, a female without a tail like a cheetah, a black leopard with distinctive spots, and extra-limbed leopards. These are most likely caused by genetic mutation and inbreeding. A combination of the small size and abnormal tails in neonates led to the belief by some locals that there are ‘monkey leopards’ in the forest. This could indicate the presence of pseudo-melanistic leopards, a mutation which causes the background fur to be a dark color rather than the spots. Leopards are notoriously difficult to census. Thus, the most up-to-date figure on the population nowadays is a rough guesstimate between 25-35 individuals. The only one method shows potential in providing a plausible population density involves using camera traps and the spot pattern identification of each leopard to assess the degree of overlapping home ranges. This is being developed as part of the current research into a Persian leopard population in Iran. Without using this method, the population can only be guestimated from subjective opinions of locals and researchers who can differ their estimates greatly.
The Zanzibar leopard has four key adaptations that distinguish it from other leopards. Firstly, it is small in size. Leopard populations living on islands often tend to be smaller than their counterparts on the mainland. The trend in evolution among large mammals on islands is to become smaller to save energy. Second, the Zanzibar leopard has a repertoire of alarm calls to avoid humans, which is probably greater than any other leopard population. Interviews with eyewitnesses to the leopard have revealed that it is able to imitate the sounds of a number of small animals, and when people have been frightened by these sounds and investigated, the leopard has silently sneaked away. This is a learned behavior which is probably unique to the Zanzibar leopard and has been passed down through the generations. During the early 19th century, it is likely that living in proximity to the island’s Arabic rulers, the leopards learned how to keep humans at bay. Thirdly, the Zanzibar leopard feeds largely on small prey like duikers and monkeys, which are abundant in the forests of Zanzibar. Compared to the leopards of the African savannah, it has smaller, more gracile limbs, which are an adaptation to a life of climbing amongst trees where they are relatively safer. Finally, the Zanzibar leopard has a striking coat color. It is a golden yellow with large black rosettes. This is an adaptation to being a stealth predator. Large leopards living in open habitat need not be so colorful as camouflage is not so critical, and this is why the leopards of the Russian Far East are very pale with widely spaced rosettes. A Zanzibar leopard would have found it easier to catch prey under the cover of darkness or to silently stalk squirrels, small duikers, and suni antelope, which are active at dawn and dusk, on account of its cryptic coat.
Adaptations are critical factors in the ability of a species to survive. From this perspective, the leopard appears to be a specialist in over-exploited habitats. The usual habitat of the leopard is difficult to define because it is so widely adaptable. Typically, leopards are associated with savannah or rainforest, but this is mainly because these are the areas where there is less human conflict. In the presence of humans, leopards often take to living in seasonal moist forest, scrub, and shellbush thickets. In areas of intensive human activity, leopards are often forced to take up more nocturnal habits, and when persecuted, they become almost wholly nocturnal to avoid humans. This occurs because unlike many species of deer or goats, leopards are able to live alongside human populations in relative safety provided there is the cover of darkness.
The best place to see the leopard is in the exotic rainforest of Kinasi Pass near the south coast, although the chances are still slim. Leopards are nocturnal, solitary, and their territories are quite large, so the best way to increase the possibility of seeing one is to spend a night camping in the forest. Unfortunately, this isn’t recommended given the close proximity of the forest to isolated villages and a rather absurd fear that all campers are searching for the fabled Mngwa, which is somewhat of a giant leopard with the power to cross bi-dimensional membranes (seriously!). More practical and recommended ways are to follow a forest path at the beginning of dusk, noting any fresh tracks, scrapes on tree bark, or recent kills. It may be worth your while to hire a guide to increase your chances and to give you the assurance that you’re not being followed by something that has the intention of doing the same! With the ongoing development and the increase of non-native people settling in Zanzibar, the future of the Zanzibar leopard looks very uncertain.