Leopard Predation Thread

[Tshokwane]

Credits to Heinrich Neumeyer.

This will probably rank as one of the most amazing kills in Pilanesberg National Park's history.


Acacia male, who is roughly 2 years old, managed to pull down a massive, fully grown female Kudu right next to the road!
Heart racing stuff!

Acacia had a perfect stranglehold on the Kudu's neck and she was lifeless after a minute.
She didn't make a sound.

After a LOT of failed attempts of pulling the much too heavy carcass away into the thickets, Acacia decided to start feeding right there and then.
He only managed to eat a fistfull of meat from the rump of the Kudu before he stood up and walked away. Later in the afternoon he returned, and much to the surprise of many day visitors, he pulled an unborn calf out of the Kudu and dragged it away to feed on it in peace.

The following morning on our return to the carcass, we found another leopard, Bokete male, feeding on it.
We stayed with him until he had his fill and walked off. The afternoon when we returned we found Bokete on the carcass again for a couple of minutes before he crossed the road in front of us.
A pride of 12 Lions as well as some Brown Hyenas and Black Backed jackals finished what was left of the carcass that evening. By the following morning we could only see the Kudu's tail in the distance.

After about 30 minutes of looking at all the tracks in the area, we also managed to find Acacia again as he popped out from the thickets!!! He also seemed quite surprised / confused that the carcass was gone!

An exhilarating couple of days and we managed to get some INCREDIBLE footage of it all 

Photographed on Ntswe Drive on Thursday 17 and Friday 18 November 2016.

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

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