While celebrating his birthday in the Kruger National Park, Gregory Matthee’s luck just kept getting better. After watching two hunting attempts, he kept his fingers crossed as a third unfolded before him.
Gregory shared this remarkable footage with Latest Sightings. He filmed the action on the H1-3 road, just north of the S125.
Watch the video now:
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Third time lucky?
Gregory told Latest Sightings that before the sighting described below, he and his companions had already witnessed two failed hunts that morning. First, wild dogs chased impalas before seeing a cheetah and her cub also fail to catch these elusive antelopes.
Movement up ahead
Feeling their luck must improve, they then found a leopard lying low at the roadside. Subsequently, he tells us, the predator chased a porcupine from its hiding place in a culvert.
As we join Gregory at the sighting, he and his companions gasp in amazement at what they see. The leopard is sprinting after the porcupine in broad daylight.
In itself, this is somewhat unusual, as both species are most active at night. Furthermore, both feature highly on the wish lists of many visitors.
Just as they’re about to catch up, the porcupine veers off the road behind a large bush. Closely behind it, the leopard prepares to pounce.
A bed of quills
Consequently, as they reach the pair, the leopard jumps on top of the porcupine, stunning everybody. It’s like jumping onto a bed of nails.
A porcupine’s quills are its sole defence against predators. A hard layer of keratin covers compressed hair to form quills, the same material our fingernails contain.
Killing bite
With their hearts racing, Gregory and his companions watch as the leopard attempts to dispatch the porcupine. To do so, it must reach its head or unprotected underside.
However, by now the leopard has stunned the porcupine into submission, and it isn’t long before the leopard delivers a killing bite to its skull.
Subsequently, we see the porcupine twitch briefly before it lies still. The hunt is over.
However, as the leopard lifts its prize, we see that it has come at a painful cost.
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A painful price
After throwing caution to the wind in catching its prickly prey, the leopard’s belly looks like a pin cushion of porcupine quills. No doubt in lots of pain, the cat then begins the laborious process of removing them one by one.
This is easier said than done. Thousands of microscopic barbs cover the surface of porcupine quills. This means that once they embed in the skin, they don’t come out easily.
Furthermore, the quills are dirty. As such, there is a high chance of the wounds getting infected later on. For predators, this can mean a death sentence.
Worryingly, there are also quills stuck in its paws. It is going to take some time before this predator can walk comfortably, let alone run.
Was it worth it?
For the remainder of the video, the poor cat keeps finding more quills to remove. Despite securing a meal, we have to wonder whether it was all worth it.
Considering the lack of caution and the risks involved, this must be a young leopard with no previous experience with porcupines. Let’s hope it lives to learn from its mistake.
