[Rathmal = Jungle geranium (Ixora coccinea) , Wala = waterhole]
Rathmal Wala 4:4 female was the sister of the famous Rathmal Wala 4:5 male (Harak Hora/Cattle Thief). They were first photographed together in 2014. There have been three cubs in their litter but only these two survived to adulthood. Their mother was the legendary Siyambalagas Wala 3:3 female.
Since 2017, Rathmal Wala Female started to maintain a territory that highly overlaps with her mother’s territory. She was seen around Gōnagala Road, Rathmal Wala, Karawgas Wala, Siyambalagas Wala, Ūraniya, Buthawa, and Buthawa Spill Road.
In June 2017, she was seen with the secretive Meynert Wewa 4:4 female at Spill Road, which was quite an interesting behavior to observe.
She gave birth to two cubs in 2019 as her first litter. Only one of the cubs survived by the end of 2020. That cub is the Palugas Wala 4:2 Female.
In December 2019 and January 2020, the Rathmal Wala 4:4 female and Welmalkema 4:4 female were seen sharing the same territory and living in harmony around Ūraniya Road (Not every day you get to see something like this as leopards are territorial creatures). Making the behavior even more interesting, Rathmal Wala female was seen sharing a drinking space with Welmalkema female and Kaluwara Bokkuwa male at Rathmalwala water hole in November 2020.
In February 2021, Rathmal Wala Female’s second litter of two cubs was seen and photographed. They were seen around Ūraniya and Karawgas Wala in the following months. Since mid-2021, the Rathmal Wala female was missing in action. The apparent cause of her disappearance was not clear to us. The two orphaned male cubs were seen interacting with Lolugaswala 3:4 female (which is a close relative – check the family tree) in August 2021. Then the two cubs decided to move to two opposite directions of their mother’s territory.
[Out of the two cubs, the Karawgas Wala 3:4 male moved south towards Wilapalawa, while the Karawgas Wala 3:3 male moved north, towards Ruk Vila. The former went missing after November 2021. The latter was seen interacting with the Ruk Vila 3:4 female and her 2021 litter of two cubs since October 2021]
Yala Leopard Diary database – https://yalaleoparddiary.com/identified-leopard-result/YF02 https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=oa.131699660852890&type=3
