Amazing that you and others can be so close—in support of Leo and other magnificent big cats! (His ears did not seem to flatten when he snarled or growled toward you, did they?)
It's not ideal that Leo has such close proximity to people but circumstances led to that conditioning, I'll be monitoring his stress levels a lot from this point. No, the mock attack/growls are part of aggressive play as I mentioned in the post, however, I'll be monitoring this as well. Airplane ears don't always happen when under stress, these animals have complex codes, just like us, it's something I'm struggling to get across to people just how highly evolved and intricate leopard behaviour is. Important though this happens so that maybe there's a wake up call - I'm going to be putting a lot more emphasis on leopard characteristics in these posts. Thanks for your caring and support Barbara.
Also, how old is Leo? How old was Asa? Thanks for your commitment and service.
Leo is about a year old now, I was with Asa from when he was one month old to eighteen months when he became fully independent in the wild.
Being with Asa. What an astonishing experience!
Amazing that you and others can be so close—in support of Leo and other magnificent big cats! (His ears did not seem to flatten when he snarled or growled toward you, did they?)
It's not ideal that Leo has such close proximity to people but circumstances led to that conditioning, I'll be monitoring his stress levels a lot from this point. No, the mock attack/growls are part of aggressive play as I mentioned in the post, however, I'll be monitoring this as well. Airplane ears don't always happen when under stress, these animals have complex codes, just like us, it's something I'm struggling to get across to people just how highly evolved and intricate leopard behaviour is. Important though this happens so that maybe there's a wake up call - I'm going to be putting a lot more emphasis on leopard characteristics in these posts. Thanks for your caring and support Barbara.