Watch the sighting here:
Charles Nel witnessed this curious incident and submitted his video and story to Latest Sightings. He filmed it near Biyamithi Camp in Kruger National Park.
What Can You See?
Charles said he was watching a male klipspringer staring intently from a granite outcrop.
He said, “Suddenly, a shrill scream rang out and we glanced towards where the klipspringer was staring. Next moment, a leopard jumped up onto the rock with a baby duiker in its jaws.”
To his surprise, instead of eating, the leopard draped its massive paw over the lamb. At times, it even licked it, as if grooming.
The leopard’s heavy paw pinned down the baby duiker, leaving it helpless.
Shifting Perspective
After a while, the leopard moved the stricken lamb. From the filming angle, it is not clear what is preventing the duiker from escaping.
As it turned to look at the leopard, one can only imagine what was going through its mind.
Shifting Positions
A little while later, as the duiker shifted slightly away from its tormentor, we see that the leopard’s claws are slightly embedded in the lamb’s fur.
Sensing it may be able to get away, the lamb crept its way toward the edge of the boulder.
Realising what was happening, the leopard dug its claws into the duiker’s rump and pulled it back. Then, when it was within reach, the leopard bit into the duiker’s lower back.
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Dropped!
As the leopard tried to secure its grip, the struggling duiker managed to wriggle free of both its claws and jaws.
As it fell from view, the startled leopard jumped to retrieve it.
Possibly stunned by the fall, unfortunately, the duiker didn’t get very far. Moments later, after being briefly obscured from view, the leopard emerges with the lamb firmly clamped in its jaws.
Nel said, “The leopard lay there licking the duiker, which must have been terrifying for the poor thing.
“Unfortunately, we were unable to know what happened to the young buck as we had to move away for other vehicles to view the sighting. But from other reports, the tragic, inevitable happened…”
The Leopard Doesn’t Change Its Spots
Uninformed viewers could be forgiven for thinking early on that they were about to witness a leopard behave contrary to its nature.
However, they are predators, and their instincts have been honed over time to hunt and kill. Numerous incidents have been recorded of leopards and other big cats appearing to toy with their prey.
This is identical behaviour to that displayed by domestic cats.
The simplest explanation might be that the cat is just not hungry at that point. However, the instinct to hunt overrides hunger. Generally speaking, if an animal attempts to flee from a predator, in all likelihood, it will give chase.
The chase instinct is so strong that sometimes predators will kill far more than they can consume.
When the behaviour is prolonged, it can be classified as play or practising their hunting skills.