This sighting, sent in by Nic Coleman and his trackers, shows the cruel games animals have learned to play in order to better ensure their own survival.
Nic Coleman works as a guide at AndBeyond’s Kirkmans Camp, and he captured this amazing footage near the Sand River out of Kirkmans Camp. They had been watching elephants when they heard the sound of the duiker’s distress.
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They came upon this young female leopard toying with a baby duiker it had just caught. Duiker and other antelopes sometimes leave their children hidden in the bush where they’re often safe, but in this case the baby had been detected.
A Cruel Game
The actions of the leopard seemed cruel as it carried the duiker in its mouth, completely uncaring about its loud cries. The duiker had no chance of escape, and couldn’t even fight back.
Trapped in the strong jaws of the leopard, the duiker could do nothing but cry out with fear in the hope that something somewhere might hear and come to its aid. The leopard eventually settled down in the shade of a fallen tree where it batted the antelope with its huge paws.
This was when the game started. This leopard had clearly never been taught not to play with its food, as it waited for the duiker to start running and then chased it down instantly.
A Cunning Trap
The leopard kept giving the baby antelope this tantalizing taste of freedom, only letting it get a few feet with each attempt before it leapt after it, no doubt scaring the poor duiker even further.
This kind of behavior might actually serve a purpose beyond just potential entertainment for the leopard and torment for the baby, however, as the leopard may have been setting a trap.
By trapping baby antelope in this way, and causing them to repeatedly cry out in fear, leopards can use them as bait to draw in their mothers, essentially setting a trap for adults.
A Calculated Risk
If the leopard can pull this off then it doesn’t even need to hunt, as the adult antelope come to them to find the source of the crying and then the leopard can kill them swiftly and easily.
This method of hunting is not without its risks, however, as the cries of the duiker might draw in more than adults, as other predators will also gravitate towards the noise to see if they can steal an easy meal.
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A Failed Attempt
The mother duiker did reportedly come towards the sound of its crying baby in this case, but it didn’t come close enough that the leopard could take it as prey. This meant that the leopard had to satisfy itself with the baby duiker alone.
The leopard played with the duiker for forty-five minutes before finally putting it out of its misery, and its plan to use it to entrap the mother had failed, meaning it tormented the baby for that long for nothing.
Even so, this kind of behavior could provide the leopard with more food and a greater chance of survival, something the leopard sorely needs. Nic told Latest Sightings it was “heart-breaking to hear the Duiker calling and trying to get away”, but that this was still “one of the most amazing sightings to ever witness”.