The female leopard’s role as a mother is demanding. She must hunt successfully while avoiding threats and protecting her cubs from predators. This footage was submitted Latest Sightings by Piet van Wyk at Mala Mala Game Reserve.
This mother demonstrated her loyalty to her cubs in a sighting which is as brutal as it is poignant.
Tussle in bush alerts game viewers
A tussle in the bushes just off the road alerted game viewers to the presence of a leopard. The leopard had caught an unsuspecting impala and wrestled with the impala in the shade of a tree.
The impala ram stood its ground, managing to stay standing in spite of the leopard’s fierce onslaught.
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Leopard suffocates impala
The leopard closed her mouth over the ram’s nose, suffocating the poor creature, which somehow managed to stay standing!
The stealth predator used the impala’s legs as leverage, pushing her legs against the impala’s legs to get a better grip of the buck.
Leopards normally kill by biting the throat or neck and suffocating the animal. They will usually clamp their powerful jaws around the throat, blocking airflow to the lungs and sometimes compressing major blood vessels. Smaller prey may die quite quickly, while larger animals can struggle for several minutes.
In some cases, especially during a chaotic struggle, a leopard’s mouth may partly cover the nose and muzzle of the prey, but this is not the main killing method. The goal is usually to control the neck and stop breathing.
The leopard’s grip twisted the impala’s neck at an awkward angle, but still the impala ram stood as still as a statue. This tragic scene and the impala’s firm stand was a testament to the impala’s will to live.
Impala succumbs to injuries
The impala eventually did fall, succumbing to its injuries.
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The leopard lay alongside the impala for a few moments, ensuring it would not rise again, before standing up and walking away from the site of the kill.
Leopard walks away from kill
The leopard walked past the game vehicle, crossing over the road and disappearing from view. This is when it became evident why it had left the kill.
This leopard was in fact going to fetching her little ones and they now appeared in the road, following in the footsteps of Mom!
It was a poignant moment when they emerged, and however cruel and callous the leopard might have appeared as she hunted down and killed the impala, it now became clear there was another side to the predator.
This was the leopard’s nurturing side as a mother. The leopard was fetching her ‘kids’ to come and eat. Lunch was ready!
Leopard cubs follow their mother to impala kill
The leopard cubs following their mother across some muddy sand and back towards where the impala kill lay waiting.
While leopards are usually solitary predators, hunting alone and often sited alone in the bushveld; they are also devoted mothers. When they have cubs, they will put all of their efforts into caring for, feeding and training the cubs.
Young leopard cubs stay hidden for much of their early life while the mother hunts alone. At first they survive entirely on milk, but after several weeks the female begins introducing them to meat.
Fetching cubs to a fresh kill is an important stage in their development because it teaches them where food comes from and allows them to observe feeding behaviour.