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Two to three weeks after birth, baby leopards are able to walk on steady paws. If their mother is at home, the baby leopards may be allowed to walk out from the den for a while. Mother and cubs often greet each other by rubbing faces or bodies. When the cubs get a little older, they playfully tumble and fight whenever they get a chance. Baby leopards particularly enjoy pouncing on the tip of their mother’s tail.
During the first two to three months, the baby leopards stay in hiding while their mother goes out to hunt. While the baby leopards are still helpless in the first few weeks of life, the mother leopard has to leave her cubs unattended while she travels far from the birth den to find food. This is the period when the defenseless baby leopards are most vulnerable to predators; therefore, the choice of a site for a birth den is crucial to the cubs’ safety. If the mother leopard senses any danger, she may move the baby leopards from one den to another. A mother leopard carries the baby leopards by the scruff in her mouth, one at a time.
While still relying on milk from their mother, the baby leopards start to eat meat brought back by their mother at the age of six weeks. Leopard cubs are possessive about sharing food. They spit at or fight with each other. Gradually, meat becomes a greater part of leopard cubs’ diet as their mother’s milk dries up. The baby leopards are weaned around three to four months old.
Baby Leopard
