NATURE . WILDLIFE

THE LEOPARD ROCKS

50' (ENG, GER)

Leopards are solitary animals; but not in northwest India. In a remote, little-known region of Rajasthan these majestic big cats display astonishing behaviour.

Their habitat is the rocky hills of the Aravalli mountains, starkly beautiful relics of the oldest mountains on the Indian subcontinent. Here, the leopards live close together and use the caves as their sanctuaries. ‘The Leopard Rocks’ follows a female leopard, Neelam, as she fights to protect the lives of her three cubs in an area called Jagtala. The cubs are still dependent on their mother's milk but as they grow increasingly playful and curious, they sometimes leave the safety of the cave to explore their surroundings – always under the watchful eyes of their mother.

Danger lurks behind every rock: there are striped hyenas hunting for fresh meat for their own offspring; and adult male leopards on the lookout for new territory, and a female to mate with. Suddenly, Neelam’s young are in mortal danger, no longer safe in the caves and recesses of the Jagtala hills…