In this incredible footage, a porcupine unwittingly walks into a leopard’s ambush. But will the waiting predator be able to overcome its prickly defences?
Debbie Cameron submitted this video to Latest Sightings. She filmed it while on a game drive near Satara Rest Camp in South Africa’s Kruger National Park.
Setting the scene
According to Debbie, shortly after a leopard she was watching disappeared into long grass, a porcupine arrived on the scene.
As both species are nocturnal and seldom seen, she was already very lucky. But what happened next had her reaching for her lottery ticket.
Heading for cover
Perhaps because it sought cover, the porcupine then moved off the road. To Debbie’s surprise, it unwittingly made its way straight towards where she last saw the leopard.
Sensing there might be action, she kept her camera trained on the prickly porcupine. This is an African crested porcupine (Hystrix cristata), one of around 30 species worldwide.
Well camouflaged
As the porcupine entered the long dry grass, the effectiveness of its camouflage became evident. Its black-and-white quills effectively break up its outline, making it difficult to see.
A porcupine’s quills are made up of stiffened, compressed hair coated in hard keratin. Covering most of the animal’s body, their quills are their sole defence against predators.
You call that camouflage?
As effective as the porcupine’s camouflage was, it was no match for that of the leopard. After snuffling around in the grass, the porcupine practically walked on top of the hidden predator.
In the image above, you can just see the back of the leopard’s head as it rises behind the still oblivious porcupine. As is plain to see, leopards are ambush predators that use their own cryptic camouflage to remain hidden until prey is within striking distance.
Even so, quite how or why the porcupine didn’t smell the predator is a mystery for the ages.
Not the wisest decision
Subsequently, the leopard sprang its ambush, launching itself onto the porcupine’s back. Since porcupine quills face backwards, this was perhaps not the wisest decision.
Accordingly, when it came down on its prey, it landed on a nasty bed of pin-sharp quills. Meanwhile, as the porcupine felt the cat’s weight coming down on it, it ran forwards, startled.
As for the leopard, its attack came to an abrupt halt as it felt several quills penetrate its outstretched paws. Since a porcupine’s quills are not anchored, several stayed embedded in the leopard as the large rodent fled.
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The one that got away
No doubt massively relieved to have escaped the leopard’s clutches, the porcupine wasted no time in fleeing back across the road.
Meanwhile, shocked to find itself impaled by several quills, the leopard had barely moved. Naturally, it would have had difficulty chasing the porcupine with the quills still embedded.
Microscopic barbs
Instead, it focused its attention on removing the quills with its teeth. However, since porcupine quills have microscopic barbs, removing them was both difficult and painful.
Since porcupine quills are often dirty, the leopard needed to remove every one of them before continuing. Even so, many a leopard has suffered long-term consequences when wounds got infected.
One by one, it removed the quills. Once it finished, it sank into the grass and disappeared from view.
For the leopard’s sake, we hope its next target isn’t nearly as prickly.
