Welmalkema 4:4 female is a well-known leopard among the safari community, due to her coolness towards jeeps. This behavior is the polar opposite of her mother, the Welmalkema 4:3 female.
This female has been the most seen and most photographed leopard between 2018 and 2019, around the South of Yāla block 1. She was first seen around the Ūraniya area in May 2017. Then her mother took her to the Welmalkema area. By December 2019, the Rathmal Wala 4:4 female and Welamlkema 4:4 female started sharing the same territory and living in harmony around Ūraniya road (Considering the territorial nature of leopards, this is an unprecedented behavior). In January 2020, we were able to observe the same sighting, again!
In 2020, she was seen several times with the Kaluwara Bōkkuwa 2:3 male, around Welmalkema and adjacent areas.
In August 2021 she was seen and photographed with her first litter cub of female Maliththan-Kotu Wala 3:3 female.
Meantime in October 2021, her mother Welmalkema 4:3 female was found dead around Uraniya plain.
This female continued to make sightings with her cub in her territory in late 2021 and early 2022.
She was observed and photographed around the same area with her second litter of three cubs, in August 2022. Only one of them survived to adulthood, which is Idhdha Gala 4:4 Feamale. Quite the interesting observation of her having fewer time gaps between successive litters compared to the general understanding we have about overall leopard behavior.
Proving the above-mentioned fact, she was seen with her third litter of three cubs in February 2024 in the Welmalkema area.
Yala Leopard Diary database – https://yalaleoparddiary.com/identified-leopard-result/YF32 https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=oa.145201726169350&type=3
