Despite the size of the world, animals can often end up far too close to each other for comfort. Usually when this happens, it’s high time for some good old fashioned posturing and intimidation tactics until one of them decides to leave.
When an elephant realized that two leopards had encroached upon its personal space, it took a dim view on their presence and began trying to encourage them to move on.
There’s Something In My Spot
The leopards appeared to just be enjoying a relaxing lie down in a place that they obviously considered to be safe. There were trees nearby that the leopards could use to hide in if the need arose, and the elevated position gave them a good view of the surrounding area.
Unfortunately, despite being in a good position to see any incoming threats before they got too close, the big cats apparently failed to detect the presence of the largest land animal on the planet until the elephant was standing right next to them.
It might have been a relaxing lie down for the leopards, but much like the house cat that jumps into a warm spot on the couch, they were about to discover that there was something much bigger and stronger that wanted to sit there instead.
Intimidation Factor
The elephant wasn’t really gearing itself up for a fight, and it just wanted to make the leopards leave the area. If it had a herd nearby, with calves, then the presence of the leopards could be very dangerous indeed.
There are very few, if any, animals with size and strength enough of their own to challenge a healthy adult elephant. An unprotected calf, however, might be likely prey for big cats or other predators in the area.
With its ears out as wide as it could push them and its trunk raised high, the elephant approached the leopards. These attempts to make itself look big were the best thing the elephant could do to try and convince the leopards that it wasn’t worth sticking around.
Never A Bad Time For A Snack
This elephant was giving it all it could to try and scare away the big cats, but the leopards weren’t having it and they looked unlikely to be dissuaded from continuing to sit in their spot on the rock.
Without really having much of a fallback option, the elephant decided that it was time to eat some grass instead. With the intimidation not working quite as well as it had hoped, the elephant needed some food while it thought about its next steps.
While it was ripping up grass with its strong trunk, the elephant continued to move threateningly towards the leopards in the hope that this might make them finally get up and move.
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A Delayed Success
The elephant had given up with the overt intimidation, as all of the head-shaking, ear flapping and trunk raising hadn’t elicited much of a response from the two leopards.
But as it was munching on the grass, and moving closer, one of the leopards finally decided that it wasn’t worth sticking around just in case, and leapt from the rock to another nearby.
When the first tried to make some distance between itself and the elephant, the other looked likely to follow. This elephant had won the day, keeping itself safe, but more importantly regaining its spot.