Monday, October 19, 2009

From Richard Reynolds


!cid_X_MA1_1255910581@aol, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.


Regarding the trainability of black leopards, this is from a blog of several years ago. The act was said to have 8 black leopards. It was presented by one Hanno Coldan on Circus Busch in 1965.

While it has been said that black leopards are much more difficult to train than the usual spotted ones, I find this hard to understand. After all, they are only color variations of the same animal. Ken Kawata once offered that the animals may detect a fear or caution on the part of trainers because of the black color. Jim Clubb has said that though he found the black leopards more difficult than spotted ones that neither Gerd Siemoneit nor Dick Chipperfield, Jr. agreed.

Alfred Court wrote about his difficulty with black leopards and black jaguars. In his book (USA ed, p.30) he said that of all the animals he trained only two came after him so savagely when he first in the cage with them, that he had to kill them to avoid serious injury or death himself. They were a polar bear (quite understandable) and a Great Dane dog (surprising).

Posted by Buckles at 10/19/2009 06:06:00 AM

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am wondering if Jim Clubb knows what Bailey Fossett's take on the training of black panthers was? I have seen photos of an amazing group he put together in the late 50s.
Erik Jaeger

19 October, 2009 10:38
Richard Reynolds said...

Jim Clubb sent me this message - -

Richard, I think you misunderstood me. Both Dickie Chipperfield and Gerd Siemonite agreed with me that the black leopard was far more difficult and dangerous to train than the spotted one.

The black ones are naturally not very well camouflaged in the wild and this is my theory for them being more dangerous. The males are even more dangerous than the females.

Bailey Fossett (Sir Robert Fossett’s Circus), who as you know trained a mixed group of small cats; also felt the black ones were far more unpredictable and dangerous. Even when they are fully trained they change for no reason at all. I had it happen to me on various occasions. Even animals that you could pick up and carry would sometimes change their character to the point where you could never touch them again, sometimes never work them again.

Gerd Siemonite theorized they were shortsighted, which I think is very plausible. I saw the act [Hanno]and although impressive, the animals worked aggressively and were slow. I knew Hanno quite well and he said the act was always a problem, and was only short-lived.

I saw a group of 12 black leopards at Monte Carlo in 1995. I had great sympathy for the trainers. The animals sulked, wouldn’t perform and the audience all but booed them. The public just didn’t understand how difficult it was, in fact, I think most of the circus people didn’t either.

The change of the environment can upset these animals so easily. When they get nervous they either freeze or lie on the floor or attack you just like if they’ve just been taken from the jungle. Often they do both.

I have been able to pick up a completely wild animal and carry it when it has been in this state of mind. As soon I put it down, if I hadn’t been quick it would have had me. I have had about 25 through my hands over the years.

The two males we have at present are probably the best we’ve ever had. The best female I had was from David Tetzlaaf, an excellent and superb leopard trainer, equal to any of us.

Dickie Chipperfield’s worst accident was with black leopards and so was mine.

19 October, 2009 14:11
Anonymous said...

I certainly have no experience with training black leopards, but the winter we worked for Baudy he had seperate breeding compounds for the spotted leopards and the black leopards. The spotted leopards were constantly in the "yard" entertaining themselves and generally being beautiful creatures, but you NEVER saw the black leopards out & about. The only other animals on the property that were that elusive were the wolves...
:-)
Cindy Potter

19 October, 2009 15:19
klsdad said...

Just a thought in look'in at the photo..

Try a black tux!!

Regards..

klsdad

19 October, 2009 15:33
Anonymous said...

Richard and Jim, thanks for the interesting information.
Erik Jaeger

19 October, 2009 16:15
Anonymous said...

I have always thought just the opposite although I had heard this over the years.
The spotted leopards were always the ones that were more aggressive. We worked Asian spotted leopards and black panthers. The spotted Asians were actually Amurs and rather laid back compared others that I have seen.
I was able to achieve more behaviors with the black leopards as well.
I did notice an extreme difference with the male from the five females especially during a heat cycle. They were also more aggressive with my late husband than myself anytime and figured leopards, both spotted and black to be more of a woman’s cat than for a man. The only 'injuries' that we ever had from the group of leopards was with the spotted ones and always during a heat cycle. This is just the opposite of anything I had ever heard comparing the two however the group was 2 black and 4 spotted. I currently have two black and one spotted and find it the same; the spotted being more aggressive than the blacks the two females seriously aggressive during their cycle.
I had never seen the act pictured and we were just discussing if there had ever been an all black leopard cat act in this country...I had said I hadn't known of one...I stand corrected.
-B

20 October, 2009 08:08
Anonymous said...

'The spotted leopards were constantly in the "yard" entertaining themselves and generally being beautiful creatures, but you NEVER saw the black leopards out & about.'

Cindy-Could this be because the color of the animal is black and trying to stay cool and out of the sun?
Black animals have a tendency to stay in the dark. I know Baudy's compound well and the all the cages seemed to be well shaded but being black and a leopard would make the animal want to stay in the den. Mine do both, depending on the weather conditions…I believe that temperature must also be considered.

Richard-I agree the leopards are sensitive to their surroundings and we always tried to control this before working them and the reason we were so sensitive about it. But we also attempted to acclimate the cats to people, sounds and situations as young cubs. This didn't seem as important to the tigers as it did with the leopards both spotted and black.

I also noticed when working open air, the black leopards did not want to come into the cage and were quick to return to the transport cage.
We worked to black cats one after the other in the beginning of the act so they would not have to stay out in the beating sun and would return them to the cage after their behavior. When working buildings we would usually return them to their seat depending on the prop crew.
If you have one of Davis Tezelaff's cats you are very lucky! Had always hoped to get animals from him but Robert Baudy gave us such a good price for the Amur Leopards we went in that direction. They were not as easy to train and very laid back, I don’t know if anyone else ever worked this subspecies of leopard; great for a neck carry I suppose, lol!

I believe Guilda preferred her black cats, parents of mine, and I also know that Lillianna did well with hers. He was one of the nicest and most beautiful black panthers I had ever seen.
I now fancy a rather large black female that I have that I believe is African. She had cubs last year that unfortunately they did not survive but she allowed me to help anyway I wanted as the spotted had done years ago. Hoping to put together a leopard act of my own once I'm finally settled.

Have you not noticed the difference in the black cat’s attitude with light and temperatures? Has Mr. Cubb. I have never seen you work and interested in your technique, traditional or contemporary? I can not imagine working leopards in a traditional fashion although I know it can and has been done!

I believe that if you watch them carefully you'll also notice the transition in their attitudes. Unlike the jag, there is a definite change of expression and body. Never worked any jag for a long period of time because there seems to be no expression when their attitude changes. Believe me, I knew seconds before I was nailed that I was in trouble and not in a position to do a thing about it.
-B

21 October, 2009 16:30

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