This mother wildebeest had to face off against a leopard when her few-day-old calf was attacked right in front of her.
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12-year-old Muhammed Gardee captured this battle on camera and shared his footage with LatestSIghtings.com.
While driving with his parents along the H1-3 heading to Satara Rest Camp, the family came across a lone wildebeest calf. Its mother was not far off, but unfortunately wasn’t right by his side. Then, out of nowhere, a young female leopard appeared and went straight for the little calf.
Helpless and young, the calf had no chance of fighting back; the leopard was able to grab it by the throat. An easy meal, it must have been thought. But that only lasted for a few seconds until the mother realized what was happening. The calf let out a cry, and in an instant, the mother was there!
Being a lot larger than the leopard, she had no fear and charged in. The leopard let go and fled, but not very far. She knew she had already done enough damage to the calf that it would not be able to run. The mother wildebeest went into a frenzy as she tried very hard to get it to stand.
She would shove it and push it with her horns, trying her best to get him to his feet. But the little one could do nothing but cry and kick; he was injured. At one point, she tried so hard to help him that she actually tossed him a few meters and that only made the matter worse.
As soon as the mother moved a little away from her calf, the leopard, who had been watching this all, returned. She came to the calf and paused, not grabbing the calf but looking around frantically, waiting to make sure the mother was not coming back. As soon as she thought it was safe, she tried to take the calf, but just like before, the mother wildebeest came rushing in. She chased the leopard up a tree and again moved off.
This time, the leopard realized that if it wanted to be successful, it would need to be lighting fast. So, she quickly jumped down from the tree, ran to the calf, picked it up in her mouth, and off she ran into the riverbed.
