Jelani (LeoMaleAV01) - male leopard at Aged Violet

by AnLand moderator

I am not sure whether we will later attempt to match the leopards - and how hard that will be and what exactly to look for, but I think the videos from a big male found both by @aturtlestep this morning might show the same individual.

I tried to look whether the pattern is matching and think it does. But I am not sure how much of agreement there must be. Maybe the science team can - even if we don't do the matching - try to explain.

from ACP000eqwl

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from ACP000fhvu / ACP000fhvv / ACP000fhvx

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Posted October 23, 2016 4:46 PM

by MimiA scientist, moderator

Actually Jane has been working on this I think and already has read a lot of the literature about it - so i think she'd be best to reply!

Posted October 24, 2016 5:09 PM

by AnLand moderator

Hi @MimiA,

Yes, I looked into that too, as you mentioned some months ago (in November 2015) that we might eventually try to match the leopards (and that there is also an interest in the elephants). There wasn't much time to do that until now, I agree, but I take from several tags and collections that quite some people are interested.

I'm just thinking - as we talked about a posting about the Chimp&See cats and leopards behind the scenes - that there is apparently a wider interest and I would like to ask as I am looking into the Quiet Wood leopards since a while. And especially Aged Violet might be good start as we have clearly several different individuals.

Jane told me that she would be OK with taking that forward, but it would be good of course if she's answering here.

So, yes I made a start here with an official posting and can provide you with more ideas about how to take this forward if you want.

Cheers!

Posted October 24, 2016 9:23 PM

by AnLand moderator

To do a bit more than just posting some videos, I prepared with some help of a friend some better – and more visually explanatory – screenshots for a direct comparison of the pelage pattern – the pattern of the dark rosettes of leopards – of both individuals in question. We changed the mode to black and white (without enhancement) to compare the pattern better. We can see only the back view, but with some well agreement on the pattern of the upper tail. This is just a preliminary idea how this could work.

from ACP000eqwl

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from ACP000fhvu

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for direct comparison of the selected region

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In general, we need to think and agree with the science team how we will attempt and confirm the leopard matches and, together with @jwidness, we will prepare some more information about leopards and possibilities to approach this new potential identification feature for Chimp&See. If you have any suggestions or questions, you can answer to this thread.

Thank you!

Posted October 25, 2016 2:39 PM

by MimiA scientist, moderator

very cool!

Posted October 26, 2016 12:37 PM

by akalan scientist

Hi all,
I think this looks great and using black and white stills and zooming in onto the same part of the body is a great approach. After looking at the above stills I would be in agreement with you that its the same leopard. Potential workflow idea could be that whenever there is doubt matching just one place on the body, it would be great to compare another zoomed in picture from another part of the body that is visible and thereby add confidence to uncertain matches.

Places that are at times easy to view for pattern differences are above the tail and rump as you did here, the pattern on the backs of the legs right above the paw, and of course the face when we have it. I think this looks really promising and straightforward, well done!

Posted October 27, 2016 11:40 AM

by AnLand moderator

One way to start sorting the leopards for later matching would be to add tags for what we actually see from the individual as they do it for the Camera CATalogue on Zooniverse. The options are easy: left side of the body, right side of the body, frontal view, back view. For the few videos with more than one individual and multiple views, we just tag all the ones applicable. This way we could make tag groups for male/female with the respective views and the site name and start looking into that. Of course, finding a matching pattern on the left side for two individuals, does not exclude another matching leopard where we only see the right side of the body. So, naming might not always be possible until we can exclude a match with looking at another body part as @akalan suggested above.

Until now the hashtags: #left_side, #right_side, #frontal_view, #back_view are not used. Could we use them for the leopards?

Posted October 27, 2016 6:57 PM

by Boleyn moderator

That's so exciting, very good ideas here! Since leopards are highly endangered I'm sure there are many scientist out there who would love to get their hands on some material as proposed.

Posted October 28, 2016 12:13 PM

by AnLand moderator

As there is already a preliminary agreement about these sequences, I will add both sequences as LeoMaleAV01.

Posted December 8, 2016 3:21 PM

by AnLand moderator

To emphasize the pattern, I used for the matching I post here another modified screenshot from ACP000eqwl. It is a combination of three unique rosettes, where the one in the lower left position looks like a lower case j.

enter image description here

Posted December 8, 2016 5:58 PM

by AnLand moderator

I also would like to add another video to this collection, found yesterday by @Snorticus. I tried to get two better screenshots from the video with the tail pattern well seen. Maybe that's I good start for a discussion. I think (and @Snorticus as well) the maleness is crystal clear here in the video. 😃

ACP000emv2

enter image description here

Posted December 8, 2016 6:02 PM

by AnLand moderator

I think we should move forward with this match and name this gorgeous big male leopard. It's our first at Aged Violet.

Because of the awesome activity level on Talk, the expert tagging of species (great learning curve!), and a recent leopard find, I would like to asked @Batfan to name this leopard.

@Batfan, what name should he get? As you know, you need to choose a new name, not used for any other animal - chimp or other - at any site. Here is the list of names already taken: master list of names.

Posted February 3, 2017 8:11 AM

by Batfan

Thank you so much for inviting me to name him. I would absolutely love to do so. What do you think about the name Jelani, which according to various websites is a male name meaning 'mighty' in Swahili ?

Posted February 3, 2017 5:09 PM

by AnLand moderator

Thanks a lot, @Batfan! That's a great name for this beautiful guy! I will tag during the weekend and move him in the leopard list from "prospective" to "known". We are making progress here!

Posted February 3, 2017 6:32 PM

by Boleyn moderator

That's a mighty fine name, @Batfan 😄

Posted February 4, 2017 3:17 PM

by Boleyn moderator

@AnLand I think you can add video ACP000fi4i to the Jelani taggroup as well.

Although the "j" is not well seen (upper right corner of red mark), we can see the typical 8 (middle of the mark) and the spot that looks like three balls of ice cream in a cup (lower left corner of the mark) on his left hindleg. Additionally right under the 8-shape is a relatively wide bright area.

First pic from a confirmed Jelani video for comparison
second pic from ACP000fi4i

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In video ACP000eexm we see the same two spots again but more from straight behin. But still I'm sure it's Jelani as well.

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The next two are b/w videos ACP000ei0u and ACP000ei0x also with Jelani:

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Posted February 4, 2017 3:57 PM

by AnLand moderator

Hi @Boleyn and all,

Thanks a lot for this additional suggestions to the Jelani match.

As not so many people are active in leopard matching right now, I will approve (or not approve) match proposals as they are suggested. Nevertheless, I want to emphasize that all discussions and matching proposals are always open to any new ideas, (dis)agreements or doubts. Please speak up at any time!

@Boleyn, it is great that you could identify another region on the left leg that will help us with the matching. So, in addition to a lower case j, we now also look for the number 8 and and an ice-cream with three scoops. 😃

I definitely agree with ACP000fi4i and ACP000ei0u / ACP000ei0x as I can see the pattern I identified earlier, so feel more confident here. I will tag as suggested. I want to look a bit more in ACP000eexm to be really sure here as well. (But I would support that match, too!)

Thanks again! He is such a gorgeous guy!

Posted February 5, 2017 7:49 AM

by puddock

Great name for a very handsome guy!

Posted February 7, 2017 3:08 PM

by AnLand moderator

I made up my mind about ACP000eexm - it's Jelani, I agree. Thanks, @Boleyn!

Posted February 8, 2017 6:41 AM

by Boleyn moderator

😄

Posted February 10, 2017 5:59 PM

by AnLand moderator

@NuriaM found this morning another leopard video and I am pretty sure that this is Jelani. ACP000fhui I see the "number 8" that we identified at his left hindlimb, as well as the "ice-cream cone". Testicles are not seen, but the big body size suggests male. Any other opinions about that?

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Posted May 4, 2017 4:47 PM

by squish5

Great match, pic from known leopards-Jelani i agree.

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Posted May 5, 2017 9:31 AM

by AnLand moderator

Yes, exactly, that's what I am seeing too! I will tag him then in ACP000fhui. Thank you!

Posted May 5, 2017 6:21 PM

by AnLand moderator

I think in the recently found video ACP000fggv (found by @jurassicpark and @Snorticus), we see again Jelani at his usual path. I highlighted the spot pattern "8" (in red) and the "icecream cone" (in blue)

enter image description here