The leopard carefully stalked the warthog, but despite all its effort, the warthog darted away, leaving it in a cloud of dust.
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It was a reminder that even the best-laid plans can go awry in an instant
Leopard Lies In Waiting To Make A Kill
The leopard positioned itself a few metres away from the warthog. It crouched down, watching the animal graze out in the open. The nonchalant warthog seemed to have no care in the world as it continued feeding.
It was business as usual for the lone warthog. As far as it was concerned, all was peaceful and well in the bushveld.
Leopards are extremely patient hunters. At times, they will wait for hours for the right moment to strike or for prey to come into range. This leopard waited a good few minutes.
Its muscles were taut with anticipation of a pending ambush.
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Leopards are masters of stealth. This means that their hunting strategies are finely-tuned.
They will usually stalk their prey silently, as this one was doing. Through stalking, they will get as close as possible to the animal of focus before launching a surprise attack.
The leopard crawled on its belly, keeping as close to the ground as possible. Its spotted coat helped it to blend in with the grassy environment.
A leopard’s spots are called rosettes. These are the irregularly-shaped, rose-like black spots which cover a leopard’s coat.
Leopard Springs To Its Feet Preparing To Attack
With determined focus, the leopard crept closer and closer to the grazing warthog. When it deemed itself to be close enough to its intended prey, it sprang to its feet, continuing to use stealth and careful steps to approach the animal.
This leopard showed it was a master at sneaking up. However, the question remained: was it able to ‘close the deal’?
The warthog was still completely unaware of the leopard’s presence, even though it was now just over a metre away from it. Possibly the wind was in the leopard’s favour, as the warthog kept its head down, blissfully grazing and unperturbed.
Unlike lions, leopards hunt alone. This means that they must be especially strategic and self-reliant in taking down prey. Their prey is usually smaller or medium-sized animals. This warthog was the perfect-sized prey for the hungry leopard.
Warthog Detects Leopard’s Presence
The leopard came right up behind the warthog, preparing to pounce on it and immobilise it by attacking its hind legs. However, at the very last moment, the warthog suddenly caught wind that it was under attack and gave chase.
It sprinted away with tremendous speed.
It was hard to say who surprised whom, but the warthog made the cleaner escape. The warthog’s fast retreat left the leopard looking completely bewildered.
Warthog’s Fast Escape Bewilders Leopard
The leopard seemed frozen to the spot as the warthog disappeared off into the distance. The ‘prey’ was gone in a flash. It left just a dusty cloud of sand in its wake.
The bewildered predator looked around, still fixed to the spot. Its countenance showed defeat.
However defeated the leopard was in this moment, it would no doubt continue in search of food at a later stage. A leopard has to eat.
What was certain was that one happy warthog got to live for another day!