Leopard Predation Thread

[Ngala]

Photo and information credits: Praveen Siddannavar Photography
Leopard – The Ambush hunter!
It was just about 8am, when we spotted this young male leopard resting on the bund, after a while he decided to move, however he stood tall on the bund and saw a group of spotted deers (Chital) at distance, until now the chital were completely unaware of his presence. The leopard walked casually in the open and later disappeared into the thick lantana bushes. In the meantime we saw a large group of deers walking in the same direction where the leopard entered the bushes, believe me there were easily over a 100 deers. I anticipated some action if the deers would get closer to the bushes. However for few minutes nothing happened, I pulled out my iphone to make a video and few still images of these herbivores grazing the lush green grass. However due to an oncoming vehicle we had to move our safari van a little further. But I kept my eye towards the bushes and the deers. And boy the leopard popped out in a flash, putting his special technique on job, Precision, Speed and Power, he attacked one of the deers, didn’t even give a chance to react. Typically the leopard’s strength and strategy is to strangle her to death by choking her windpipe. And this is what exactly we witnessed, holding the prey by throat. The alarm calls given by large group of deers are still echoing in my ears. This is yet another great natural history moments that we all were fortunate to witness. Sharing one of the many images I made during the hunting sequence…
June 2016, Kabini, Nagarahole Tiger Reserve, Karnataka, India

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