ON THE EDGE OF EXTINCTION - D - THE LEOPARD (Panthera pardus)

[Pckts]

Cedit to Alexander Hamilton on the original find


"But the best sighting I have ever had happened in August last year. On the previous afternoon game drive ranger Nick Sims had found a male leopard in the northern parts of the reserve after the leopard had managed to kill a young giraffe! When I caught news of this event I thought he was joking because leopards surely don’t hunt giraffe, do they?
My curiosity got the better of me and we headed to the area the following morning. As we approached the area excitement was reaching boiling point! We could make out the shape of a predator in the distance and in that moment silence engulfed the vehicle… the closer we got we could soon tell that it wasn’t a leopard, but two hyenas feeding on a giraffe carcass. Everyone in the vehicle expected to see a leopard in the area so naturally they were quite disappointed. However, I told everyone that the leopard could still be somewhere around. We drove in a few concentric circles and sure enough, Euce managed to spot a massive male leopard sitting no more than 50 metres away from the kill. It was the Anderson Male. I had never seen this individual before and had only heard ell and about his size. To say I was in awe would probably be the understatement of the century. He is truly enormous! He looked fixedly at the hyenas with eyes wide open, possibly for an opportunity to regain his prize. The hyenas managed to dislodge a leg of the young giraffe and hastily made away with it. The leopard, without hesitation, ran towards the kill and swooped it up in one fluid motion. This caught the hyenas by surprise and they immediately dropped the leg they had been chewing on and charged back towards the carcass. The leopard dragged it at astonishing speed towards a nearby Cassia tree with the now trailing hyenas hot on his heels. He reached the trunk and without a second’s pause, hoisted it up in one seemingly effortless motion.While the carcass was being hoisted, one of the hyenas managed to grab hold of the back leg of the giraffe. This was the make or break moment for the leopard. It turned into a tug of war with the leopard up the tree and the hyena dangling in mid air hanging on to the giraffe’s leg. We could not believe what was transpiring in front of us. The hyena eventually conceded, falling back to the ground, and the exhausted leopard had claimed back the kill that he no doubt worked very hard for!We were left speechless by this raw display of brute strength. We watched the Anderson male for another couple of minutes before deciding to leave him with his hard-earned kill."
http://blog.londolozi.com/2016/04/the-best-sighting-ive-been-in/

Anderson Male

*This image is copyright of its original author

Alexander Hamilton "Tingana from the northern Sabi Sands next to a vehicle,a good picture that shows the size of a large male leopard compared to a group of people.Tingana is the 3rd biggest leopard in the Sabi Sands but much smaller than the Anderson male.'

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

Reply