A Far Eastern leopard cub, his mother and possible father were caught on camera in the same area of the Kedrovaya Pad Nature Reserve for the first time. The mother is the unnamed Leo 120F, a daughter of the leopardess Pamela.

The video recorded from an observation point at the reserve shows the cub first. He examines a small hill, looks around and swiftly runs away. From the way the leaves rustle, it is clear that his mother is close by, but she appears in front of the camera only an hour later. She sniffs the ground and soon goes away. And, finally, the camera spots a male leopard. Land of the Leopard employees recognised him as Typhoon, the master of Kedrovaya Pad.

“Kedrovaya Pad is no larger than a male Far Eastern leopard’s home range. As of today, Typhoon is the only male leopard living here, while females’ home ranges can overlap, with three or four leopardesses living here, at the reserve. This time, we were lucky to find out that there is another cat family at Kedrovaya Pad: this is a truly joyful event!” said Yevgenia Bisikalova, deputy director for research at Land of the Leopard.

Since Typhoon is the only male leopard in the area, researchers believe he fathered Leo 120F’s cub. There is also another leopardess called Bary living in the nature reserve. She was seen with Typhoon several times; these encounters resulted in two cubs that were first recorded last spring.