Sabi Sands saw a slight role reversal as a warthog took issue with the presence of a leopard, and ended up trapping it in the branches of a nearby tree. The leopard, which might have tried to hunt the hog under different circumstances, was clearly having a bad day.
A ranger, Rob, spotted these two animals cautiously sizing each other up, and sent the footage in to Latest Sightings. It was a tense encounter that might escalate at any moment.
Trapped on the High Ground
With the warthog patrolling the ground nearby, the leopard didn’t dare descend from the safety it found in the tree. Without the ability to climb, the warthog couldn’t reach the big cat to attack it in the branches, so this was just a waiting game.
Hopefully the leopard wasn’t hungry, because it the warthog was going to keep it stuck in that tree until it decided to leave the area, and even then the leopard would need to wait a moment to make sure it was safe.
The big cat looked mildly annoyed at what it must have considered only a slight inconvenience, after all, the warthog couldn’t maintain the siege indefinitely, and it would have its opportunity to slip away if it waited for long enough.
Choosing The Right Battles
A leopard would predate on warthog piglets if the opportunity presented itself, but a healthy adult was a completely different matter. With its long tusks, this hog could pose a serious threat to the big cat if it wasn’t careful and any wound could be a big problem.
Leopards don’t live in prides, packs or clans like the other predators they compete with, so if they are unable to hunt for any reason, or slowed by an injury to the point they can’t catch prey, then any fight carries potentially lethal repercussions.
The warthog wouldn’t need to gore the leopard to death to defeat the big cat, so the leopard would remain safely in its tree, where it was sure that it couldn’t be injured and where it might have the opportunity to escape rather than fighting.
A Lengthy Standoff
Although the warthog had the upper hand in this situation, it wasn’t a guaranteed victory for it. Leopards might prefer to hunt smaller and weaker prey, but if the conditions are right then they are more than capable of hunting adult warthogs as well.
If this standoff became physical then it could well result in mutually assured destruction for the two animals, and so neither seemed particularly willing to escalate the confrontation further.
The result was a long standoff between the two with the leopard unwilling to come into range of those tusks, and the hog perhaps unwilling to let the big cat roam free around the area, particularly if its den was nearby.
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Who Will Blink First
After all of their deliberations, it was the leopard that made the first move. Leaning forward slightly, it lowered a large paw just a little as if it was about to start descending from the tree.
The warthog immediately fled the area with such rapidity, it was a wonder it ever had the courage to challenge the leopard at all. With the stalemate broken and the warthog gone, the leopard could safely come down from its prison and roam freely again.
It was a tense sighting that might have gone either way, but seeing the two animals facing off against each other would have made for an amazing experience regardless of how it turned out.